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Printing - Reducing Print Costs

Printing - Reducing Print Costs

This Document was authored by the CIS Handouts Team

Introduction

This handout gives suggestions that can reduce the number of pages you print. Many of these tips can be combined with one another that can greatly reduce the number of pages you print.
Duplex Printing

Duplex printing is printing on both sides of paper, which will reduce print costs. To make your document duplex print, follow these instructions:
  1. From the File menu, select Print
  2. In the dialog box that appears, click on the Properties button in the upper right hand corner.
  3. A new dialog box will appear. Click on the Layout tab.
  4. In the middle of the box, there is a section for duplex printing (see Figure 1). Click on Flip on Long Edge.
  5. Click OK and print your document.
 fig01
Fig 01

Multiple Pages on Each Printed Page

This is a great way to reduce the number of pages you are printing. This feature allows you to place 2, 4, or up to 16 pages of your document on one printed page. Combining this with duplex printing can drastically reduce your print charges.

  1. From the File menu, select Print
  2. In the dialog box that appears, click on the Properties button in the upper right hand corner.
  3. A new dialog box will appear. Click on the Layout tab.
  4. In the lower left hand corner, enter the correct number that you like in the Pages Per Sheet (see Figure 2)
  5. Click OK and print your document.
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Fig 02

Consolidating Multiple Files

If you have several separate files (e-mails for example) that you want to print, you can consolidate all of these files into one large file. This will save you money since there will be only one header page as opposed to many. To consolidate multiple files, do the following:

  1. Open a new blank file in Word*, Wordpad, or Notepad.
  2. Highlight everything that you want to print from one of the original files.
  3. From the Edit menu, select Copy, or type Ctrl+C.
  4. In the new file, go to the Edit menu and choose Paste, or type Ctrl+V.

Repeat steps 2 - 4 for each file that you want to print.

* - May lose some documentation formatting when pasting into Word.

Tips on Printing from Word and Excel

Microsoft Word and Excel both have several ways that can help you cut down on the number of pages you print.

Print Preview

The Print Preview tool is an excellent way to proof your documents and make sure they look the way you want them to. The Print Preview tool can be accessed by going to the File menu, then selecting Print Preview, or you can click on the Print Preview icon - - on the toolbar.

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Fig 03

 

Page Margins

Shrinking the page margins of your document reduces the amount of white space on your printouts. To shrink the page margins, follow these instructions:

  1. From the File menu, select Page Setup.
  2. Under the Margins tab, there are options for the top & bottom and left & right margin settings (see Figure 3). Making these numbers smaller will increase the amount that will fit on each page. Click OK to apply the settings.

Printing Selected Pages

Instead of printing an entire document, you can print only the pages that you need. Here's how:

  1. From the File menu, choose Print.
  2. On the left side of the Print dialog box, there is an area where you can specify the page range to print (see Figure 4). In the text field for Pages type in the pages you want to print.
  3. Click OK.
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Fig 04

Tips on Printing from Powerpoint

Always check the Pure black & white option when printing from Powerpoint. This will drastically reduce the time it takes to receive your printout.

Multiple Slides on Each page

Instead of printing one slide per page, Powerpoint will allow you to print several slides on a single page by following the steps below:

  1. From the File menu, select Print
  2. In the dialog box that appears, there is a menu in the lower left-hand corner that says Print what: (see Figure 5). Change this to Handouts. By selecting Handouts, you will be able to choose the number of slides per page.
  3. Click OK.
 fig05
Fig 05

Printing Selected Slides

Instead of printing all the slides in a presentation, you can print only the slides you need by following these instructions:

  1. From the File menu, choose Print.
  2. On the left-hand side of the Print dialog box, there is an area that says Print range (see Figure 6).
  3. In the text field that says Slides, type in the slides you want to print.
  4. Click OK.
 fig06
Fig 06

Slide Sorter Tool

Powerpoint has a tool called the Slide Sorter that is similar to the Print Preview tool in Word. You can use the Slide Sorter to preview your slides before you print them. Simply open the View menu and select Slide Sorter to view your presentation.

Tips on Printing from Netscape

Print Preview Tool

From the File menu, click on Print Preview. Your page will be displayed exactly as it will look when printed.

Printing a Selected Page Range

  1. From the File menu, select Print.
  2. In the Print dialog box, there is an area for the page range (see Figure 7). Type in the pages you want to print. If you're not sure which pages you want, use the Print Preview tool as described above.
  3. Click OK.
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Fig 07

Shrinking Text Size

Shrinking the text size of a webpage will allow more to fit on each page when you print. Under the View menu, click on the Decrease Font option, or you can just press Ctrl+[. You may do this as many times as you want.

Shrinking Page Margins

Shrinking the page margins of your document reduces the amount of white space on your printouts. To shrink the page margins, follow these instructions:

  1. From the File menu, click on Page Setup.
  2. In the dialog box that appears, the middle section specifies what the margins for the page are (see Figure 8). Change these values to what you want.
  3. Click OK.
 fig08
Fig 08

Tips on Printing from Internet Explorer

Shrinking Text Size

By shrinking the text size of a webpage, you can fit much more on each printed page. Under the View menu, go to Text Size. In the submenu that pops up, select which font size you want.

Printing a Selected Page Range

  1. From the File menu, choose Print.
  2. On the left-hand side of the Print dialog box, there is an area used for selecting what page range to print (see Figure 9). Type in the page range you want printed.
  3. Click OK.
 fig09
Fig 09

Printing from Webpages with Frames

If you want to print from a webpage that uses frames, Internet Explorer gives you several options of what to do. When you are ready to print, go to the Options tab in the Print dialog box (see Figure 10). Depending on what you want to print, you can print the webpage as it appears on the screen, print only a selected frame, or print each frame of the webpage individually.

 fig10
Fig 10

Shrinking Page Margins
  1. From the File menu, select Page Setup.
  2. 2. In the lower portion of the dialog box that appears, you can change the margins of the pages you print (see Figure 11). Change these values to what you want.
  3. Click OK.
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Fig 11

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