Draft Setting: Save on Printer Ink

In the not too distant past, businesses required tons of paper forms, which were either mailed or kept around the office. In the electronic world of today, most documents have become digitalized and are even transferred by electronic mail. But often these forms have to be printed in order to be signed or stamped. Compared to the dot-matrix printers of the past, printers today use up more ink to get those crisp, pixel-perfect documents and graphics. More ink equals more money, and it's important to know how you can help your bottom line by reducing printing costs, and better utilizing your ink cartridges and printer.

One of easiest and quickest ways to save ink is by the click of your mouse. Just make some slight changes in the printer settings of your printer's menu. Printers usually offer a variety of different print settings from a basic Draft to sharp Photo quality. Each setting is used for a specific purpose. If you want to print the pictures you took on your vacation, you'll need the Photo quality setting. For professional documents and resumes, you would find the Automatic Sharpening quality most appropriate. For normal use, it would make most sense if you use the Draft setting. This setting uses less ink, which means that you save more money.

Usually printers automatically stay at the last used setting. If the last time you used the printer was with the Photo quality settings, your printer will probably give you photo quality for your current print job as well. So, it's best to check your printer settings every time you start a print job. Another money saving setting is the black and white color setting. Color cartridges cost more than black ones, so it makes more sense to just print in black and white when color is not necessary.