Manage local and network printers

Set up native printing for Chrome 59 and later

As a G Suite administrator, you can use your Google Admin Console to set up Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS). CUPS uses an Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) to support printing to local and network printers. When you add a printer, it automatically appears in your users’ list of Chrome printers, so they can print without setting up Google Cloud Print. You can specify printers that users in specific organizational units can use.

Note: Currently, native printing isn’t available for devices in kiosk mode.

We recommend setting up native printing if you:

  • Need to print to legacy printers—You can set up printers that don’t have Google Cloud Print support for your managed users.
  • Have special privacy requirements—You can set up local and network printers so that print jobs never leave the physical site.

Manage native printing

Add printers
  1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

    Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

  2. From the Admin console Home page, go to Device managementand thenChrome management.

    If you don't see Device management on the Home page, click More controls at the bottom.

  3. Click User settings or Public session settings.
  4. On the left, select the organizational unit you want to add a printer to.
    Note: To add a printer for everyone in your domain, select the top-level organization.
  5. Scroll to Printing and next to Native Chrome OS printing, click Manage.
  6. If you want t​o add a single printer:
    1. Click Add a Printer.
    2. Enter the printer details.
    3. Click Save and then Save and then Save.
  7. If you want to add a file with a list of printers:
    1. Click Upload Printer List.
    2. Choose the plain text file (in JavaScript® Object Notation [JSON] array format) that contains the printer list you want to upload.
    3. Click Open and then Save and then Save.

Example format of bulk upload file

    [{
        "description": "Ricoh Testing",
        "display_name": "Ricoh",
        "manufacturer": "",         "model": "",
        "ppd_resource": {
            "effective_model": "Ricoh Aficio SP C222SF"
        },
        "uri": "ipp://192.168.1.3",
        "uuid": ""
    },
    {
        "description": "Lexmark Test",
        "display_name": "Lexmark",
        "manufacturer": "",
        "model": "",
        "ppd_resource": {
            "effective_model": "Lexmark MS610de"
        },
        "uri": "ipp://192.168.1.5:631",
        "uuid": ""
    }]
Control color printing
  1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

    Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

  2. From the Admin console Home page, go to Device managementand thenChrome management.

    If you don't see Device management on the Home page, click More controls at the bottom.

  3. Click User settings or Public session settings.
  4. On the left, select the organizational unit where you want to control color printing.
  5. Scroll to Printing and next to Native printers color mode, choose an option:
    • To let users print in black and white or color, choose Allow any printing modes.
    • To prevent users from printing in color, choose Black and white printing only.
    • To let users print in color only,  choose Color printing only.
  6. At the bottom, click Save.
Edit a printer's details
  1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

    Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

  2. From the Admin console Home page, go to Device managementand thenChrome management.

    If you don't see Device management on the Home page, click More controls at the bottom.

  3. Click User settings or Public session settings.
  4. On the left, select the organizational unit where the printer was added.
    Note: You can only edit a printer’s details at the organization level where it was added, not where it's inherited.
  5. Scroll to Printing and next to Native Chrome OS printing, click Manage.
  6. Choose the printer you want to edit and click Edit.
  7. Edit the printer’s details and click Save.
  8. Click Save to update the printer list.
  9. At the bottom, click Save.
Turn off or remove a printer
  1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

    Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

  2. From the Admin console Home page, go to Device managementand thenChrome management.

    If you don't see Device management on the Home page, click More controls at the bottom.

  3. Click User settings or Public session settings.
  4. On the left, select the organizational unit where you want to disable or remove a printer.
    Note: You can only remove a printer at the organization level where it was added, not where it’s inherited. However, you can disable a printer at any level.
  5. Scroll to Printing and next to Native Chrome OS printing, click Manage.
  6. Find the printer you want to remove or disable.
  7. Click Disable or Remove and click Save.
  8. At the bottom, click Save.
Turn on a printer
  1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

    Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

  2. From the Admin console Home page, go to Device managementand thenChrome management.

    If you don't see Device management on the Home page, click More controls at the bottom.

  3. Click User settings or Public session settings.
  4. On the left, select the organizational unit where you want to enable a printer.
  5. Scroll to Printing and next to Native Chrome OS printing, click Manage.
  6. Find the printer you want to enable.
  7. Click Enable and then Save.
  8. At the bottom, click Save.
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