How to Print and Scan at Home: A Simple Guide

Printing and scanning at home save a lot of trips to the library or the post office. You can print a boarding pass, a recipe, or a form to fill in. You can scan a signed document and email it straight to the bank or to family, without leaving the kitchen table. Most home printers these days do both jobs, and the steps are far simpler than they used to be.

This guide covers printing first, then scanning, in plain English. It works whether your printer is plugged into your computer with a cable or connected over your home Wi-Fi, which most modern ones are. If you are still choosing a laptop or computer, see our best laptops for seniors in Australia guide.

How to print something

1. Open what you want to print

This might be a document, an email, a photo, or a web page. Open it on your screen so it is in front of you. There is no need to do anything special to it first. If it is a recipe or an article on a web page, just have that page open.

2. Find the Print command

Look for the word Print, or a small icon that looks like a printer. In most programs it is hiding under a File menu in the top corner, or behind three little dots or lines. On a Windows laptop, holding the Ctrl key and pressing the letter P brings up Print in almost any program, which is a handy shortcut to remember.

3. Check the right printer is chosen

A small window opens showing your printer’s name, often the brand like HP, Canon, Brother or Epson. Make sure it is your printer that is selected, not Save as PDF or a printer you no longer own. If your printer is not listed at all, it may not be connected yet. Our guide on how to connect a printer to a laptop walks through getting it set up.

4. Choose how many copies, then print

You can usually set how many copies you want, and sometimes whether to print in colour or black and white. For most things the standard settings are fine, so you can leave them be. Tap the Print button, and after a moment your printer will whir into life and the page will come out. That is all there is to it.

How to scan a page

Scanning means making a digital copy of a paper document, so you can email it or keep it on your computer. Most home printers have a flat glass top under a lid, and that is the scanner. Here is the gentle way through it.

1. Place the page face down

Lift the lid of the printer and lay your page on the glass with the printed side facing down. Line the top corner up with the little arrow or marker on the edge of the glass. Close the lid gently so the page stays flat.

2. Start the scan

You can usually press a Scan button right on the printer itself, which is the simplest way. Or, on your computer, open the printer’s own app or the built-in scan tool and choose Scan. The scanner runs a bright bar of light across the glass, which takes a few seconds, and then shows you a preview of your page.

3. Save it, then email it if you need to

The scan becomes a file, usually a PDF, saved on your computer. Give it a name you will recognise, like Power bill or Signed form. From there you can attach it to an email the same way you would attach a photo. If you only need to send it to someone, scanning then emailing saves you a trip to post it.

No printer? Your phone can scan too

If you do not own a printer, your phone or tablet can still scan a page surprisingly well using its camera. On an iPhone or iPad, the Notes app has a built-in scanner. On many Android phones, the Google Drive app does the same. You simply hold the phone over the document, it tidies up the edges, and you get a clean PDF you can email. It is genuinely useful for the odd form, and it costs nothing.

When you do need to buy a printer, the all-in-one models that print, scan and copy are the most useful for a home. Officeworks, Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi all stock them, and the staff can point you to a simple one. Do check the cost of replacement ink before you buy, because that is often where the real expense lies over time.