Users need apps that can keep pace, bringing the full functionality of a desktop or laptop to the tiny computers everyone carries in their pockets these days. One of those critical functionalities is the ability to print from anywhere – something many of us working from home demand now.
Printing from anywhere has a completely new meaning now. It might mean living room, home office, bedroom, or even the backyard. Our homes have become our new work environment and we find ourselves multitasking so the ability to print from our mobile devices from anywhere in our home is a plus!
Mobile printing from an app makes it easy to move content from the digital realm to the physical, whether that content is an email, business presentation notes, or an invoice. As much as we like to claim we’re living in a digital age, we haven’t completely given up on paper, and people often want both a digital and physical copy.
Business apps are all about bringing the services of a work environment to a mobile device, and the best apps include the ability to print from mobile as part of their functions. Some of the best print-enabled apps for working from home include:
Dropbox
Many users likely are already familiar with Dropbox as it exists on a desktop, but the collaboration and productivity software exists as an app that users can carry on their mobile device. It gathers files in one central place and safely syncs them across all devices, allowing anytime access from anywhere. Even sending and receiving large files is a snap with the ability to upload documents and turn them into a Dropbox link.
The collaboration feature allows multiple users to work on files together via shared folders and add feedback via comments. The scanner feature turns Dropbox docs into PDFs, and supported file types include Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Collaboration doesn’t always happen just online, of course, and when it’s necessary to print something out and look at it as a hard copy, simply press the print button built right into the app.
Zoho Invoice
For small businesses that hustle hard, Zoho Invoice provides an easy way to create clean-looking invoices, automatically send payment reminders, and get paid faster online.
Users can send and manage invoices from anywhere using a mobile device. The app gives businesses the ability to track time for projects and invoice accordingly; get paid online; send friendly payment reminders to customers; manage expenses; and run reports to gain critical insights on business performance.
If a customer is not located in your immediate area – or even in your country – Zoho Invoice is multilingual and speaks 10 languages.
Like the idea of keeping backups files on both paper and in the cloud? Print out invoices and reports directly from the app for your old-school file cabinet.
Squid
Do you write faster than you can type on a small tablet or phone keyboard? Squid allows users to write just like one would on paper, using an active pen, passive stylus or even just a finger.
Users can markup PDFs, fill out forms, edit/grade papers or sign documents, as well as import images, draw shapes, and add typed text to notes. With a wave of a stylus or finger, quickly select, copy and paste, and move content between pages and notes – and even organize them into separate “notebooks” within the app.
The notes aren’t where it ends – using a presentation software device, the tablet or phone can project to a display or projector, allowing users to present or teach from their mobile device.
Notes can be exported to PDF, PNG or JPEG for printing, archiving and sharing – and with the built-in print functionality, documents and forms can be printed out without having to connect to a desktop.
Docs Viewer
Love Google Docs, but wish more file types were supported? Docs Viewer allows the use of Google Docs to quickly view more document types, including the standard PDF and Office Suites, as well as some rarer file types, including .XPS, .EPS, .CBZ, .TIFF and dozens more.
The app integrates directly with an internet browser, email clients, file managers and other apps, including Google Docs. Open from documents saved on your device or from a download, and save files for offline use with the “save” option, which converts files to PDFs.
All saved and PDF’d versions of files can be easily printed without leaving the app – no need to worry about finding a desktop that can convert some of the more unusual file types.
Mobile printing using the Mopria Print Service app is easy and gives users more convenience and flexibility. To try out Mopria and explore some of the other benefits of mobile printing, you can download the app here.
