18 Handy Tips To Reduce Printing Costs
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Print double sided
Printing double sided will ultimately cut your ink and paper usage in half saving you a lot of money on printing costs. Duplex printing can also be made automatic so you or anyone using your printer won’t have to change the setting each time. Not many people think of paper when they think of the term waste, but discarded paper is constantly going into landfills and this way of printing also has a huge positive environmental impact as it has influence of using less energy, water and paper.
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Save document as PDF
If it isn’t vital for your document to be printed, then keep it virtual and save it as a PDF. Backing up files on Google Drive for instance or emailing it to someone guarantees the safety of your work and minimises high printing costs all together.
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Use colour only when necessary
Colour ink cartridges cost a lot more and also take more time than black and white printing, ultimately using more power. Of course, colour is sometimes necessary for when printing graphs and tables, but only using colour when necessary will reduce your printing cost significantly.
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Reduce margin size
The larger the margin size, the lesser content will fill your page. Some people choose bigger margins and border designs for the style, however having smaller margins and borders will help you reduce printing cost through having more available space on your document for more content.
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Switch to ink saving fonts
I’m sure we all have a favourite font to use, and using a consistent font is important for any business. However, there are some fonts that are larger and use more ink and toner than others. To reduce printing costs, choosing an eco-friendly font that is smaller in size and has smaller holes in the letters will save you money on ink and toner cartridges and also is one step further in reducing waste and helping the environment.
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Always check work before printing
To decrease the possibility of you having to print your documents twice because of a spelling error, always double check and proof read whatever you are printing so you won’t have to pay double in printing costs. If it is a large document that will use a lot of ink and pages, asking someone available at the time to proof read for you can save wasting unnecessary paper and ink and can also lead to valuable input and suggestions. The print preview option is also a great way to check for layout issues and typographical errors.
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Print draft quality
If printing is a must before the final edit of your documents, printing as a draft copy can save you a significant amount of printing time and ink and will allow you to check hard copies of your work. This step is mostly for checking spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, therefore you will also be saving printing cost as images and graphs won’t be printed in draft mode, saving money on ink and paper again.
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Scan more copy less
Using the scan to email function is a great way to reduce printing costs through reducing paper, ink and toner usage and also gives the person receiving the document accessibility from anywhere that they can access their email. If you are not sure how to use this function on your printing device, there is a wide range of tutorials on YouTube that can show you how.
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Put your printer on sleep
While your printer is running, it continues to use energy even when not in use. Putting the printer to sleep mode after not using it for 20 minutes or more will reduce your printing cost substantially.
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Go digital when possible
Not many people consider keeping their work digital as they are so use to printing in their everyday routine. However, have a digitalised version of your work will reduce printing costs all together and is a safer and less time-consuming task. In this digital age, there are many different programs that can help to back up your work. Emailing documents instead is also a much quicker way then printing and minimises the stress of the issues that can go wrong with having a physical document.
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Pause with the print button
There are many reasons why a printer is running slow and or prints late due to pending tasks or cartridge issues, but being patient can save you the hassle of printing your document again and again, leaving you with multiple copies you don’t need and all that paper and ink wasted for no reason.
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Refill ink cartridges
Depending on where you live, there is almost always a place for you to refill your ink cartridges. This option is very sustainable and helps reduce the number of cartridges being disposed in landfills. If your cartridge is on the newer side you can refill them up to five times before having to buy a new one. Refilling your ink will save you a lot of money on printing costs, but make sure you check your printer mode and cartridge number before going in to refill.
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Look into value packs
Buying in bulk has always been a great money saving tip, this also works for toner and ink cartridges. Multi and value packs are available at all printing supply stores and are available for certain types depending on your printing needs. This tip will reduce your printing costs significantly rather than purchasing single cartridges.
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Minimise the use of personal printers
Multifunction printers are key in reducing printing costs if you are printing in an office space and have many people using the same printer. The larger devices are more customisable for usage, can help with the confidentiality of what is being printed and is fairly easy to maintain.
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Implement an MPS solution
Through using a managed print service (MPS) solution, you have the option to track everything by using a single server for all your printers. This step is especially important for businesses as you can get accurate reports and statistics to figure out the usage and print logs which makes it easy to find methods to cut down costs. This way you can also manage your printing activities efficiently in a cost-effective way saving you time and money.
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Reduce print density
An easy and sufficient way to reduce your ink and toner usage is to reduce your printer’s print density. The lower the density used means the lesser ink required overall saving you money on frequent ink and toner purchases. Most printers have print density settings, but if your ink or toner cartridges are a bit worn out you might need to increase the density to finish the job.
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Print only what is needed
When printing a lot of documents, it easy to overlook images, banners and content that doesn’t even need to be printed which uses valuable paper and ink. To reduce printing costs and paper waste, only select the pages or paragraphs that you need to print to minimise unnecessary printing.
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Use standard sized paper
Being smart about what kind of paper is going into the printer makes a huge difference. If you are printing oddly sized documents, the printer might need larger sheets of paper leading to a lot of paper wastage. Although purchasing cheaper paper means less spending, it usually consumes more ink resulting in little money saving. If you are printing a draft, using recycled paper is an excellent way to reduce waste and cost at the same time.