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PrintCentral Pro (for iPad) Review

4.0
Excellent
By Tony Hoffman

The Bottom Line

PrintCentral Pro is a versatile iPad app that supports printing from your tablet to nearly any printer on your Wi-Fi network, even non-AirPrint or USB-connected models.

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Pros

  • Lets you print from an iPad to wireless printers on your Wi-Fi network.
  • Converts text documents to PDF.
  • Supports mobile printing to non-AirPrint and USB-connected printers.
  • Lets users with iPad data plans print over cellular networks.
  • Supports faxing from multifunction printers.

Cons

  • A bit pricey for a mobile printing app.
  • Setup issue in print testing.
  • Can't initiate scans.

With the widespread adoption of mobile devices for both personal and business use, the need for effective ways to print from smartphones and tablets has grown accordingly. The PrintCentral Pro iPad app ($7.99) is a versatile solution that offers a way to print to printers from multiple manufacturers, including non-AirPrint models and ones limited to USB connectivity. PrintCentral Pro lets you print from a variety of sources, including saved emails, the app's own proprietary Web browser, a number of cloud-based services, your iPad's photo albums, and your clipboard. It lets you send faxes, print over a 3G, 4G, or LTE cellular data network (if you have a Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad model, as well as data plan with a carrier), and convert documents to PDF. The app is feature-rich to the point of being overwhelming at first, but it's a good choice if you need to use a printer that doesn't otherwise support mobile printing.

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iPad Printing: One Goal, Many Methods
Many ways of printing from an iPad are available today. Apple's own AirPrint utility, introduced in 2010 as part of the iOS 4.2 operating system, allows at least basic printing functionality from the iPad's email client and some apps. Almost all new wireless printers are AirPrint compatible, but many older models are not. Nearly all major (and many minor) printer manufacturers offer iOS apps that enable printing from their recent Wi-Fi printers, and occasionally older models as well. Most offer considerably more printing features than AirPrint, and some offer the ability to initiate scans as well. Some third-party apps support multiple printer brands, and some companies offer software that in effect turns a PC or a Mac into a print server, allowing you to print over Wi-Fi even to a USB-connected printer, as long as there's a wireless access point on your network.

With all these choices, many of them free, why would you want another iPad print app? PrintCentral Pro adds versatility, by letting you print to multiple brands of printers, and even USB-connected printers, provided they are on the same Wi-Fi network as the iPad you're printing from. PrintCentral Pro can print from the app's built-in Web browser and from cloud-based sites. It supports faxing from multifunction printers (MFPs) with fax capabilities. It even lets you print over 4G, 3G, and Edge mobile networks—provided that your iPad is not a Wi-Fi-only model—although it's recommended that you set up a separate Gmail account just for this purpose.

Interface
You can use PrintCentral Pro with your iPad in either Landscape or Portrait mode. I found it most comfortable to use it in Landscape mode. Running down the left-hand edge of the screen are a column of icons, labeled Files, Email, Calendar, Webpages, Contacts, Images, and Clipboard. They all represent sources from which to print material. For example, when you sync an email account with PrintCentral Pro, the messages will appear on the right-hand side of the screen. You can check a message with attachments, and the attachments will be saved to a folder that you can access by clicking on the email icon. From Calendar, you can access and print out your iPad's calendar. Likewise, you can display and print your iPad's Contact list, or individual contacts. From Images, you can access your iPad's Camera Roll or Photo Stream. Webpages opens up a Web browser within the app, and lets you print, bookmark, email, or save pages either as image or document, and set a home page. Clipboard lets you print either text or a Web page saved to your clipboard.

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The Files folder contains several documents about using the app, a folder containing your saved email attachments, and another for material saved from your clipboard. A link titled Cloud Servers names several cloud services: Dropbox, Evernote, iCloud, and iCloud Drive, plus PrintCentral Pro's WePrint print server if you have installed it on a Windows or Mac computer. Tapping a Plus icon at the screen reveals about a dozen additional services, including but not limited to Google Drive, OneDrive, SugarSync, WebDAV, Box.net, and FTP. I synced PrintCentral Pro to both DropBox and Google Drive, and was able to print documents from these sources.

Above the column of icons on the screen's left-hand edge are three icons, for settings (Gear), information ("i"), and help (a question mark). The Settings section lets you control app settings like email fonts, text-viewing size, and whether to open email links in an external browser. Information gives you facts like the app's version number, available storage and free memory, your iPad's IP address and iOS version, and lets you contact EuroSmartz and rate the app. The Help section gives you extensive information on the app's copious feature set and how to set up its various functions.

Printing
Once you select a document (by clicking a checkmark), regardless of its source, you click a printer icon in the app's upper-right corner. There you will see a list of options. The first, Convert to PDF, is very handy, as you can convert a text or image document to PDF format, rename it, and save it to a location of your choice. If you're connected to a Wi-Fi network, you should see all the wireless printers on the network; from there, you can choose one that's listed as Available. The first time you use a particular printer, you will be asked to do a text and image printing test, one page each. If that is successful, you can then click on Printer Options and choose the number of copies, page range, and the like, and then hit the Print button.

If you have installed WePrint software, a free download from the EuroSmartz site, on your PC or Mac, your USB-connected printers should be listed as Available, and you can print from them. You may see two entries for one wireless printer, one for printing via Wi-Fi and one for printing through the WePrint app, and either way should work. If you have installed WePrint on more than one computer, you will see entries for each computer paired with each printer. If you have an iPad with a data plan (as opposed to just Wi-Fi connectivity), and have set it to print over an Edge/3G/4G network (which requires installing WePrint), an entry for printing over such a network will also appear.

Testing the App
The app's manufacturer, Eurosmartz Ltd., claims that it can print to all printers on a network with a Wi-Fi access point, even models limited to USB connectivity. Obviously there is no way for us to verify that it works with every printer, but with WePrint installed I was able to print from a printer with its Wi-Fi disabled, connected to a laptop via a USB cable.

I tested PrintCentral Pro with the HP Officejet Pro 8620 e-All-in-One ( at Amazon) and theEpson WorkForce Pro WF-5190 ($1,099.99 at Amazon) , each on a different Wi-Fi network, using an iPad Air 2 ($445.00 at eBay) . I ran into a setup problem in trying to print to the HP 8620. When I started the text-printing test from the app, which you must do each time you install a new printer, it kept on spitting out paper, one sheet after another. After I ran into this issue twice, I reinstalled the app, and when I launched the test again, it worked fine. Otherwise, I printed a number of documents in various formats, including from Dropbox, Google Drive, saved emails, Web pages, and the iPad's camera roll, and they all printed smoothly. I also converted documents to PDF, and stored them in several locations.

Conclusion
PrintCentral Pro is a powerful iPad app and a good addition to your repertoire if your printer is not AirPrint-compatible or only offers USB connectivity, or if you need to print from your tablet away from home. Even if your Wi-Fi printer already lets you print from your iPad, this app is worth considering as it lets you easily print from multiple sources, including a variety of cloud-based services, and it also convert documents to PDF format.

PrintCentral Pro (for iPad)
4.0
Pros
  • Lets you print from an iPad to wireless printers on your Wi-Fi network.
  • Converts text documents to PDF.
  • Supports mobile printing to non-AirPrint and USB-connected printers.
  • Lets users with iPad data plans print over cellular networks.
  • Supports faxing from multifunction printers.
View More
Cons
  • A bit pricey for a mobile printing app.
  • Setup issue in print testing.
  • Can't initiate scans.
The Bottom Line

PrintCentral Pro is a versatile iPad app that supports printing from your tablet to nearly any printer on your Wi-Fi network, even non-AirPrint or USB-connected models.

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About Tony Hoffman

Senior Analyst, Hardware

Since 2004, I have worked on PCMag’s hardware team, covering at various times printers, scanners, projectors, storage, and monitors. I currently focus my testing efforts on 3D printers, pro and productivity displays, and drives and SSDs of all sorts.

Over the years, I have reviewed iPad and iPhone science apps, plus the occasional camera, laptop, keyboard, and mouse. I've also written a host of articles about astronomy, space science, travel photography, and astrophotography for PCMag and its past and present sibling publications (among them, Mashable and ExtremeTech), as well as for the PCMag Digital Edition.

Read Tony's full bio

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PrintCentral Pro (for iPad) $7.99 at Apple.com
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