How To Print More Pages with Same Cartridge and Make It Last Longer

             One time cost of Printer wasn’t an issue for me but what mattered was recurring expenses of Ink Cartridges / Toner. Either the Price of Refill Ink is too high or the duration it lasts is disappointing. So, here I have summed up some Tips to Save ink by optimizing Printings.
To save ink, you need not give up printing. There are several tricks and utilities that you can apply to dramatically reduce ink consumption and lengthen the time until the next refill or purchase of cartridges.

Optimize Printer Options

By default, Printing options are set to Normal after installing Printer but some ink saving tweaks can be applied.
Print can be taken out in 3 qualities so it has to be selected according to the use of that print – Normal, Fast Draft and Best. 

 

Fast Draft / Low Quality

I would suggest “Fast Draft” mode if printing something just for yourself (like this Blog Post just for reference) or informal use which doesn’t involve any official document. In this mode, spreading of ink isn’t dense and quality is not so fine but completely readable. Also, prints come out faster so it adds to another advantage of saving time along with ink.

 

Resolution / Low DPI

DPI refers to Dots per inch and number of dots is directly proportional to ink spread. Keep the Resolution low whenever possible and only set it maximum when printing a photo and where high quality fine prints are desired.

Print in Black / Grayscale

Do you know you can force any color document to print in B/W (Black and White). Printer properties has option to print in Grayscale from where you can select “Black Ink only”. If not saving ink, you will probably save money as Black ink is cheaper than color cartridges.



The Features and Options mentioned above with official Drivers (in my case HP Inkjet Printer). Search for Updated Compatible Drivers and scan for outdated drivers which acts as mediator between Printer and your Computer.

Special Fonts and Apps to Save Ink

Configuring Printer to as above will result in significant savings of Ink but there are some more stuffs. Use of Printer Friendly Fonts and Programs to modify Print documents can result in more cost savings.
PrintWhatYouLike is a Web App which make webpage editable and ready for printing. You can remove unnecessary elements from pages like Advertisement Banners before printing.

Choose Font Wisely

Changing Font can save Ink so, here is a comparison chart given by Matt Robinson which will help you decide:



So, Recommended Font is Garamond. Again, It is a healthy habit to see Print Preview instead of printing job directly.

Use Digital Prints (PDF, EPUB, MOBI on Readers)

With the rise of high-resolution displays, tablet and books e-ink, printing has become increasingly unnecessary. Thanks to documents in digital format, you can view and distribute content without printing.
Use Print to PDF software like NovaPDF which acts like virtual printer to print any document as PDF. You can further use this PDF document on desired device.
Convert eBook to any Format for any Device and read it later on your iPad, Nuke, Kindle, Tablet or even on Mobile Phones.

Think Before Ink

Last but not the least, all optimization settings and tweaks will go in-vain if you print unnecessarily. So, just don’t hit CTRL+P but ask yourself a question next time before you print.

1. Do I really need a Print of This?
2. Is High Quality Print Necessary?
3. Why don’t I just print it digitally?

I shared what I have been implementing since I bought my first printer. Did you find these Tricks useful?