Google Workspace Printing Guide

Master Your Printer Deployment

An interactive guide to moving beyond Google Cloud Print. Learn to strategically configure, deploy, and secure printers in your Google Workspace environment using native tools.

Step 1: Choose Your Access Strategy

The most critical decision is how to assign printer access. Should you use rigid, location-based Organizational Units (OUs) or flexible, role-based Google Groups? Your choice impacts scalability and user experience.

Manage by Organizational Unit (OU)

Best for static, hierarchical environments where resources are tied to a physical location or department.

✓
Best For: Assigning printers based on fixed attributes like physical location (e.g., all printers in the Finance department).
✓
Key Feature: Policies are inherited. Settings applied to a parent OU automatically cascade to all child OUs.
✗
Limitation: Inflexible. A user can only be in one OU. Poorly suited for mobile users or cross-functional teams.

Manage by Google Group

Ideal for dynamic organizations, providing flexible access to resources across departmental lines.

✓
Best For: Assigning printers to dynamic teams, mobile/traveling users, or specific projects.
✓
Key Feature: Highly flexible. A user can be a member of many groups, gaining access to all printers assigned to those groups.
✗
Limitation: No inheritance. Membership is explicit and must be managed for each user.

💡 Pro Strategy: Use OUs to set a baseline of default printers for everyone in a location, then use Groups to grant specific, flexible access to special-use printers or for traveling employees. This hybrid model offers the best of both worlds.

Step 2: Follow the 3-Step Configuration Workflow

Adding and deploying printers is a straightforward process. Follow these steps in the Google Admin Console under Devices > Chrome > Printers.

Step 3: Interactive Troubleshooting

Even with perfect configuration, issues can arise. Use this symptom checker to quickly diagnose and solve the most common printer problems.

Solution: When Printers Don't Appear

  • Check Enablement: Verify the printer is actually enabled. Go to the printer's settings and ensure the "Allow for users..." or "Allow for devices..." toggle is switched ON for the correct OU/Group.
  • Verify Membership: Double-check that the user account (for user policies) or the ChromeOS device (for device policies) is in the correct OU and/or Group.
  • Check Network: Work with your network team to ensure firewall rules are not blocking IPP traffic on port 631 between the user's device and the printer.
  • IPPS Mismatch: See the solution for "Printing stopped for everyone" below, as it's a common cause.

Solution: For CSV Upload Failures

  • Get a Fresh Template: Download a new CSV template from the "Upload printers" dialog to ensure your headers and formatting are correct.
  • Use Exact Names: The most common error. The `manufacturer` and `model` strings must be *identical* to Google's database. Manually add one printer model, copy the exact strings the Admin Console uses, and paste them into your CSV.
  • Validate URIs: Ensure all URIs are correctly formatted (e.g., `ipps://...`) and that the IP addresses are correct.

Solution: For Traveling Users

  • This is a strategic failure, not a technical one. You are likely relying only on OUs for printer assignment.
  • Implement a Group Strategy: Create a Google Group for each office's printers (e.g., "Printers-London", "Printers-NYC"). Assign the location's printers to that group. Add the traveling user as a member of the group for the office they are visiting. This decouples printer access from their home OU.

Solution: When All Printing Suddenly Fails

  • You likely enabled a specific setting. Navigate to Devices > Chrome > Settings > Printing.
  • Check the "Data-in-Job" Setting: If you enabled the "Include user account and filename in print job" setting, this is the cause. This security feature **blocks all printing to any printer that does not use the secure IPPS protocol**.
  • Resolution: You must either 1) Disable this setting immediately, or 2) Embark on a project to update every single printer URI in your console to use `ipps://` and ensure every physical printer supports it.

Security Best Practices Checklist

Securing your print environment is a shared responsibility. Harden your physical printers and be mindful of the powerful settings within Google Workspace.

🛡️ Harden Printers

Change default admin passwords on the printer's web portal. Disable unused protocols like Telnet/FTP. Use an ACL to restrict access to trusted IP ranges.

🔒 Enforce IPPS

Always use the secure `ipps://` protocol in your printer URIs. This encrypts print job data in transit, protecting sensitive information on your network.

📧 Secure Scan-to-Email

For MFDs, use Google's SMTP relay service. This authenticates the device by IP and requires TLS encryption, preventing it from becoming an open spam relay.

🚨 Critical Security Setting Awareness

Enabling "Include user account and filename in print job" offers better auditing but will **immediately block printing to all non-IPPS printers**. Do not enable this without a full audit and migration plan for your printer fleet.

Extending Capabilities with Partners

For advanced features like secure print release ("Follow-Me" printing) or detailed cost accounting, Google's native tools can be extended by a rich ecosystem of Chrome Enterprise Recommended partners.

PaperCut

Comprehensive tracking, secure print release, and strong presence in education.

Printix

A fully cloud-native, serverless solution that integrates with Google Groups.

directprint.io

Deep Google Workspace integration for managing ChromeOS, Windows, and macOS.

ezeep

Cloud service focused on simplifying printer assignment and management, replacing print servers.