COMPUTER - PRINTER - 20.10.2010

Smart printing in five steps

Go digital

We all print too much, that much is clear. And yet, printing is much less essential in this digital age. Why should you print e-mails when you can save them in easily accessible folders? Why send out paper invoices when most customers will be happy with an electronic copy? Why print photos when you can admire them on your computer, television or digital photo frame? Granted, a paper copy of an important document may give a feeling of greater security, but a backup on an external hard drive is equally safe. So go digital!

Opt for A5

Do you often print documents in Word? Try printing them as a booklet in the smaller A5 format. You can configure this in File; Page Setup or in the Print screen. Select “Book Fold” beside Multiple Pages. This not only saves paper, but it often looks better too.

Tip. Always open a print preview to make sure it actually looks like what you had in mind.

Economical fonts

Did you know that the font also has a major impact on the price of printing? The Ecofont (http://www.ecofont.eu), a font developed in the Netherlands, makes tiny holes in the characters: this produces a considerable economy in ink or toner without affecting readability, allegedly up to 20 to 25%. You can download the Ecofont free of charge from http://www.ecofont.com/en/products/green/font/download-the-ink-saving-font.html. However, a study by Printer.com has shown that you can make your printing even more ink-efficient: by choosing Century Gothic instead of the popular Arial font, you can save up to 35%! In the comprehensive test (both for private and for business use), Century Gothic scored even better than the Ecofont.

Be selective

In the past we reviewed nifty tools such as FinePrint (http://www.fineprint.com), which displays every print job in a preview first. In this view, you can delete several or all pages or images before giving the print command - this is very convenient if you often print webpages. Moreover, FinePrint lets you opt for smaller and combined printouts.

A smart way of printing webpages is offered by the PrintWhatYouLike web service (http://www.printwhatyoulike.com). After dragging a “bookmarklet” to your browser’s toolbar, you can access this service in one click.

Save ink

Specifically for inkjet printers, try the InkSaver tool (http://www.inksaver.com). It automatically reduces ink consumption. You can specify beforehand how much ink you wish to save (between 0% and 75%) - it’s best to make a small trial printout to appreciate the result. InkSaver works for both black and colour inkjet ink, but not for laser printers.

Tip. Check the Ask me before every print job option: this lets you determine whether or not you want to use InkSaver each time. You can try out this tool free of charge for two weeks, then the price is £19.98. Not a bad buy, considering ink cartridges may cost £20 or more.