Printing Notes from iBooks on iPad

One of iBooks 1.2 new features is the ability to print or email notes that you've made. There was a bit of interest in notes on Quora this morning (with which I've been experimenting) so I thought I'd talk a bit more about them here.

First, how do you insert a note? Simple. Just select some text with your finger, and then click Note in the pop-up menu that appears.



If you're reading a non-DRM protected book, you'll also have the option of copying the text. I like to copy the referenced text first and copy it into the note so that when I email or print the note, I can remember where the note came from. I have found that if you first copy the highlighted text and then press very close to the beginning of the selection, you'll be offered the opportunity to create a note as well, where you can then paste the copied selection. (Click anywhere else and you'll have to select the text again.)



Click outside of the note to close it. The referenced text is highlighted and a little post-it note with the date appears in the margin. If you click the note, you can change the highlight color or delete the note entirely.




To email or print notes, go to the table of contents by clicking the bulleted list icon next to the Library button in the upper-left corner.



You can preview the notes (and bookmarks) by clicking the Bookmarks tab, but it's not required.

And then click the "Away" button in the upper-right corner. You'll have the choice to either email or print the notes.



But what if you have an oldish printer like me? Can you really print? I was under the impression that you could share a printer with any computer on your network, simply by choosing the appropriate option in Print Preferences. But that doesn't work automatically from an iPad.

And Apple has released a technology called Airprint, but it only works with a select few HP printers. I talked to Epson and they just have a little app that lets you print photos from the iPad, and only if you have a wifi-enabled printer, which I don't.

Then I asked on Twitter, and within minutes, Gabriele Alese quickly pointed me to a tool called Airprint Activator. It somehow links up the printer sharing and Airprint capabilities and gave me access to my oldish Epson R200 from the iPad. Absolutely brilliant!



Thanks so much to Gabriele and to the folks at Netputing for making this possible!