I used to print documents directly from my Ipaq rx3715 to a networked printer. I took the ability to print from this Windows Mobile 2003 device for granted as it came with HP’s Mobile Printing Solution. My need to print since dwindled and I have only started looking at it again over the last couple of days.

I didn’t expect to come across any problems but it turned into a nightmare trying to do it for free, as there is no free software available, and this feature is not built into Windows Mobile 5 phones. There are some commercial/shareware applications which will let you print but I like free stuff.

This article will show you what I have been able to find on this topic. I hope that it will help you find a solution that is practical for your situation. You will also find it helpful if you decide to start your own search for an answer, as I have put together all of my research into this single article.

An important question to ask yourself before continuing is “Why do I need to print from my device?” I am sure you have your reasons and that is why you are reading this article. Consider if it is just as practical to email the document to a colleague or print it out when you get back to your computer. There are also fax solutions which allow you to send and receive faxes from your Pocket PC. This may be more suitable for what you are trying to do.

If you are in a commercial situation where you do need to print things out on site for customers, your best bet is by far to get an infra red or Bluetooth printer in which you can beam files to. I have not played around with this from a Windows Mobile Device, but there are products available which are designed exactly for this purpose.

Currently on my device:

HP image zone has a print function, but when you set something up to print, it will only print when you reconnect your device to your desktop.

Acrobat Reader 2.0 also has a greyed out print option, as you need the HP Mobile Printing SDK installed for this to work, hence a Windows Mobile 2002/2003 device.

That is all the printing functionality I can find on my device currently. This is of no use to me personally.

The Past:

I used to love using HP’s mobile printing solution. It worked really well and I never came across any problems with it. Their website has a message saying that the software has been discontinued from October 2005.

From the HP website…

“Since 1992, HP has been committed to delivering a high-quality, complete printing experience for customers using mobile devices. Because customers can use similar mobile printing software offerings (see list, below) that are compatible with Pocket PC and Windows Mobile OS platforms, HP has decided to focus on other areas of its mobile printing and imaging strategy where solutions may not be so readily available. As a result, HP will discontinue HP Mobile Printing for Pocket PC and HP Mobile Printing SDK for Pocket PC, effective October 1, 2005. Any current customers / developers may receive basic phone support for six months thereafter, with all support for these products ending on April 1, 2006.”

So that leaves us going up the creek without a boat, legs or arms. They offer us some links to a couple of commercial packages which you will find later in this article. Thanks HP!

The software is still available but does not run on Windows Mobile 5 or 6 Devices. Try the following link for HP Mobile Printing. This should still work if you are using Windows Mobile 2002/2003.

http://www.yse-uk.com/download/details.php?file=37

The Future:

As I was trying to find a way to print on Monday (the whole day), I came across an article at NY Times saying that HP was introducing a new system to print from Mobile devices which would allow you to send the document you want to print to one of HP’s servers. Then when you get to a printer, you can put in your code and retrieve the file. This may be ok for some people but I wouldn’t trust placing my confidential documents on a server I have no control over.

Read the full article at the New York Times website (18/08/2007).

I am not fussed about printing full colour formatted documents, just the ability to print text documents would be great for me. The main problem with making all this work is that WM5 devices don’t have print drivers in them as our desktops do. There is a need for a unified driver which will work with most printers (or a particular brands printer range) to print out the majority of filetypes.

Commercial Solutions:

The best bet for you is to find a commercial solution for yourself. I try to stay away from commercial solutions as much as possible at Inspect My Gadget, but they do solve the problem and do it alright. They all have a trial period so you can try out the program and if you don’t like them, they won’t cost you money.

I would normally place a work-around solution above the commercial options in an article, but for once I don’t think the work-arounds are the way to go.

Bachmann Software – Printboy

FieldSoftware – Smartphoneprint 

Westtek – Jetcet print

All of these packages look like they will do the trick for printing on the run. Give them a try and see what you think. They are all much cheaper than buying a hardware solution, but then again, why would you want to print from your Pocket PC to a networked or desktop printer?

Work-arounds:

Solution 1: Wait until you get back to the office.

Solution 2: With HP having just announced their server based printing, it got me thinking. There is no reason why you can’t use an online storage system to upload your files to while you are on the run. Even things like G-mail would do the trick. If you upload the file, you will then be able to print it once you get to the office, or you could ask a colleague to access the data store and print it out for you. You could also email the document directly to your colleague.

Solution 3: There is a patent out suggesting that you will be able to email a document to a printer, which will then print it out. I have a brief recollection of this being possible already on some larger multi function devices. If you have a large multi function printer in your workplace, check to see if it has this function.

Solution 4: Use a Terminal Services Client or VNC to access your desktop over WiFi. These programs will allow you to see your computers desktop completely, allowing you to print documents. You are able to map drives on both your Windows mobile device and your desktop, so you will be able to transfer files between them. You can then open the application in you full blown office suite and print the document with all of its glorious formatting and pictures.

I hope that this article has been insightful for you and has answered some of your questions. If you have any better solutions, I would love to see them in the comments area below. Please stick around and check out some of the other articles at Inspect My Gadget.