Printers have a long shelf life. Depending on your use and how you or others treat it, you can expect most printers to last years. It also depends on the complexity of print jobs, the type of consumables, and ink being used.
The one thing that most people find challenging is buying printer ink. It is expensive, doesn’t last long, and tends to run out just when you need it. We have gathered some tips and ideas to make your printer ink last longer. With these tips, you are guaranteed to optimize your printer and get the best out of it without breaking the bank.
Select the Right Font- Did you know that choosing the right font can save up to 20% of ink? Font size and type makes a huge difference in the amount of printer ink being consumed. Avoid bold or thick text and pick skinny fonts such as Calibri or Times New Roman. You can also download special fonts that save printer ink from websites or online.
Train Employees- If you want to optimize your office printer, then it is vital that you train the employees to use it correctly. Have a demo session or ask a senior, experienced employee to teach it to new recruits or people struggling to use the printer. This saves you from wrong print jobs, wasting paper, and ink. Trained employees will know how to use the correct settings and avoid wasting paper and ink by configuring the print job smartly.
Use a Smaller Font Size- Keeping your font small saves you from wasting ink and paper. Having a 12-size font ensures you use lesser ink than 14-size font. Limit your large size fonts to headlines or headers and keep your text small and well-spaced. If you work in an office, ensure you inform employees about using the same size and style of font to save ink and paper.
Modify Printer Settings- The factory settings of each printer urges it to guzzle ink and drain cartridges. You can modify those settings and save ink by making it last longer. To update your printer’s settings on a Windows-based computer, select Start> Printers, right-click on your printer, and then select Printer Preferences. You can select setting it to draft mode, setting the color to print in grayscale, and setting document options to print multiple pages per sheet. By customizing settings you are minimizing wastage and reducing the ink being used per print job.
Use Print Preview- This feature is such a life-saver but many people tend to ignore it. Use Print Preview so you can see the document and how it may fit and look on the actual sheet. You can adjust the size, the color, the appearance, and correct any issues. Skipping print preview is bound to waste paper since you may to have re-print if the size doesn’t fit adequately.
Save The File- Offices, and firms are going paperless now. Bills, receipts, resumes, and documents are all sent to e-mail or digitally instead of being printed. Before you print the document, ask if it really needs to be on paper? Many teams prefer digital records or files. For people going on job interviews, send your CV prior instead of carrying it unless they ask specifically.
Print What You Need- Printing a web page or e-mail will print ads, photos, and extra images that waste your ink. They may also cause you to use extra paper since it may not fit on a single page. Use websites such as Print What You Like which let you print a page without any extras that hog and waste your ink.
Proofread- Check your document before sending it to print. You can ask someone else to review it for mistakes or errors. This will save you from printing the document again or printing a faulty document. Lack of proof-reading documents leads to wasting ink and paper as the documents need to be edited and printed without errors.
Ignore Out-of-Ink Warnings- These warnings are annoying and keep making a loud noise when you print. Your printer will warn you cartridges are low on ink but lab tests have found that ink cartridges contained anywhere between 8 to 45% of their ink when you get these messages. You can disable these warnings if you wish.
Inkjet cartridges have a tiny computer chip that monitors ink levels. This chip then alerts you when ink is getting low. In some cartridges, you can reset this chip for a more accurate assessment and warning. Saving your ink is easy if you follow the steps mentioned above and use your printer sparingly. Before you purchase a printer, do some research about the optimum efficiency of the cartridge and its quality to save your money and time.
