How To Use Less Printer Ink In An Office

2010-08-16

Printers are affordable because their manufacturers make money selling printer ink cartridges. Here are a few steps that you can take to save office printer ink and money.

Draft Quality Prints

When printing documents just for your information use the draft setting in printer options. This will print a lighter copy but perfectly legible. To make this the default setting change the printer options.

Use the Copier

To make multiple prints of the same document use the copier instead of your printer. The cost per print is lower.

Paperless Meetings

Instead of printing out documents like meeting agendas or reports simply email them to the participants.

Change the Font

If you normally use a heavier font like Arial, change to a lighter font such as Century Gothic. One font developed especially to save ink is Ecofont. Lighter fonts can use up to 30% less ink than heavier ones.

Final Draft

Make all of your revisions before printing out the document. Reprinting wastes ink and paper.

Text Only

If you are printing a document you may not need to print the pictures which use substantially more ink. Printing the text only will save ink. When printing information from a website use the print version if one is available.

Print to a File

Instead of printing a receipt or confirmation from the internet simply print it to a PDF document which you can save on your hard drive.

Black and White

Print your documents in black and white instead of color since color cartridges cost more and use more ink overall.

Print Preview

Before printing select the Print Preview option to look at the document to be printed. Then you can correct any errors before printing. Also you may be able to reduce the size or opt not to print certain pages.

Lower Resolution

Depending on your printer you may be able to reduce the lower graphic resolution. The option is usually under advanced settings. Resolution is measured in dpi (dots per inch), and 300 dpi is usually high enough for most text printing.

Multiple Pages

When printing a document you may be able to print more than one page on a piece of paper. You can select this option in the printer settings.

Use All of the Ink

Before the ink actually runs out your printer will warn you that the ink is low or even empty. Usually you have at least 10% left. So print until you actually see the ink is out.

Using ink efficiently is an eco-friendly choice that will also save you money. Another green choice is to recycle your cartridges instead of throwing them away.