Today, we launched a new Alexa-enabled printing feature for all customers with a second generation Echo device or newer. The new feature allows customers to easily setup and control hundreds of printers from manufacturers including HP, Brother, Canon, and Epson. You can use skill connections in the Alexa Skills Kits (ASK) to enable customers to print images, PDFs, and web pages provided by your skills to their connected printers.
With the new print feature, it’s easy to connect an Alexa-compatible printer. Customers just need to say “Alexa, discover my printer” or click on “Add Devices” and select “Printer” in the Alexa app. For more information, you can visit the Printing with Alexa page here.
Once a printer is set up, customers can ask Alexa to print a variety of materials for learning, household organization, entertainment, and more, including:
· “Alexa, print a third grade multiplication worksheet”
· “Alexa, print my to-do-list”
· “Alexa, print a Sudoku”
· “Alexa, print a salmon recipe”
You can use ASK skill connections to enable customers to print from your skills once they've enabled a compatible printer. As we announced last year, skill connections enable a skill to use another skill to perform a specific task, so you can do more for your customers by extending your skill's abilities with minimal changes. You can use three pre-defined skill connections tasks to print different types of documents for customers, namely:
- AMAZON.PrintImage
- AMAZON.PrintPDF
- AMAZON.PrintWebPage
To learn more and get started, visit the Alexa Skill Connections developer documentation.