How to Make Your Printer Public

This September I decided to share my laser printer so anyone on the internet could send me printed messages.

Within a few days I got hundreds of fun print-outs from people all over the world.

Using Google Cloud Print, you can easily make your printer public too. Here's how to do it:

If you're using a cloud-ready printer, follow your manufacturer's instructions to link with Cloud Print.
Otherwise, add your printer using Google Chrome. It will be available whenever your computer is in the same network as the printer.
Another way to add a printer is to install cloud-print-connector on a server like a Raspberry Pi. Try this if you have a server at home and are comfortable with the command line.

Once your printer is connected it will appear in the list at google.com/cloudprint.

Select your printer and click the green share button.

Change the sharing settings to "Anyone with the link has access"

Then, set a page quota so people can only send a few pages per day. My quota is set to two pages per day.

Now Share!

Share the link with your friends or on social media and start getting printed messages from friends all over the world.