Route A · Epson · fully automaticGive your Epson its own email address
Works on nearly every Epson since 2012 · after this, you never touch anything again
Check the printer is on your wi-fi.If you have ever printed from your phone, it is. If not: on the printer’s screen, look for Settings (a wrench or gear) → Wi-Fi Setup, pick your network, type your wi-fi password.
Turn on Email Print.On the printer’s screen: Settings → Web Service Settings → Epson Connect Services → Register, and say yes to what it asks. It prints a sheet when it is done. No screen on your printer? Do the same from a computer at epsonconnect.com: Sign up free, then Register a printer; it finds any Epson on your network.
Find the printer’s new email address.It is on the sheet the printer just printed, and under Settings → Web Service Settings → Email Address. It looks like abc123@print.epsonconnect.com. Too ugly? Log in at epsonconnect.com and change it to anything, like paws-hallway@print.epsonconnect.com.
Give that address to the Subscription Desk.Open your settings link, find “A printer’s email address” under Delivery, paste it in, press File my subscription.
Prove it: from your own email, send any PDF to the printer’s address right now. Paper should come out within a minute. If it did, you are finished, forever: tomorrow’s edition prints at your chosen hour with nobody touching anything.
Route B · any printer + a Mac · fully automaticTeach your Mac to print the morning edition
One-time setup · works with every printer a Mac can print to · after this, it prints itself
Open Script Editor.Press ⌘ and the space bar together, type Script Editor, press Return. It is already on every Mac.
Paste in the print script.Copy it with the button, paste it into the empty window:
on perform mail action with messages theMessages
tell application "Mail"
repeat with m in theMessages
repeat with a in mail attachments of m
set f to "/tmp/paperboy.pdf" as POSIX file
save a in f
do shell script "lp /tmp/paperboy.pdf"
end repeat
end repeat
end tell
end perform mail action with messages
Then File → Save. Name: PrintPaperboy. Where: Documents. Leave File Format as Script. Close it.
Make Mail run it on the morning edition.Open Mail → Mail menu → Settings → Rules → Add Rule. Description: Paperboy. Set the condition row to: From, contains, paperboy. Under “Perform the following actions” choose Run AppleScript, click Choose, pick PrintPaperboy from Documents. Click OK; when it asks to apply to existing messages, click Don’t Apply.
Tell the Mac to be awake for the delivery.Open Terminal the same way you opened Script Editor, paste this (it schedules a daily wake five minutes before a 06:00 paper; change the time to suit your slot), press Return, type your Mac password when asked:
sudo pmset repeat wakeorpoweron MTWRFSU 05:55:00
Laptops: leave the lid open (a closed lid sleeps through everything). Plugged in helps.
Keep Mail in the morning cast.Rules only fire while Mail is open. System Settings → General → Login Items → add Mail. Done.
Prove it: email yourself any PDF from another account (or ask us to resend today’s edition), and watch the printer wake up. From then on it is tomorrow’s paper, every day, hands off.
Route C · any printer + Windows · fully automaticTeach your PC to print the morning edition
One-time setup · free tools only · after this, it prints itself
Install SumatraPDF.Free, tiny, and the one PDF reader that prints politely from a command line. Download the installer at sumatrapdfreader.org, run it, accept the defaults.
Make the morning edition land in a folder.Go to make.powerautomate.com and sign in with any Microsoft account (the same one as your PC). Click Create → Automated cloud flow → name it Paperboy → choose the trigger “When a new email arrives (V3)” → Create. In the trigger’s Advanced options set From to the paper’s sender address (it is on every edition email). Click New step → search OneDrive → “Create file”. Folder path: /Paperboy. File Name: click the field and pick Attachments Name. File Content: pick Attachments Content. Save the flow.
Check OneDrive syncs that folder to the PC.Open File Explorer; you should see OneDrive → Paperboy appear after the first delivery. OneDrive comes signed in on most Windows machines.
Print whatever lands there.Press the Windows key, type Task Scheduler, Enter. Action menu → Create Basic Task. Name: Paperboy. Trigger: Daily, five minutes after your delivery slot. Action: Start a program. In “Program/script” paste:
Let the PC wake for it.Finish the wizard, tick “Open the Properties dialog”, then in Conditions tick “Wake the computer to run this task”. OK.
Prove it: put any PDF in the OneDrive Paperboy folder, right-click your task in Task Scheduler → Run. If a page comes out, the route is live, mornings included.
Route D · phone onlyThe thirty-second ritual
No setup · any printer your phone can see
The edition is in your inbox at your chosen hour.Typeset, with the print file attached.
Open the attachment, tap Share, tap Print.AirPrint (iPhone) and default Android printing both find the household printer by themselves.
Put the phone down.That was its last job of the morning. The paper takes it from here.
On the roadmap: a tiny helper, one download, that makes Routes B and C a single click. If you want it, say so on the waitlist; loud demand moves it up the queue.
House recommendationsPaper & press settings
Ordinary A4 paper.A newspaper should not be glossy.
Both sides, flipped on the long edge.The edition is exactly two pages: front page and The Back Page become one sheet you turn over.
Black and white, draft mode.That is the intended look, and it sips ink. The comic is drawn in pen and ink on purpose.
A two-minute film of the whole thing is at the printers. It will hang here when the glue dries.