Printing in color when not necessary? Big savings. Grayscale

[Paper Roses]

The computer folks all know this but for those of us who just plod along, hoping to find solutions, a quick hint.

I have an HP printer, my second one. I was constantly replacing empty cartridges. When I needed to print something, the colored areas would print, even though all I needed was black and white.

A neighbor told me I should change the setting to grayscale. OK, I never heard of grayscale.
In for a dollar.

I searched Google and found how to do it. Your route should be similar.
For my HP F4180, go to:
Control Panel
Printer & Fax's
Select: Printing Preferences
Select:Print in Grayscale

I rarely need color so this is ideal for me. Everything prints in B&W. Should I need color, I have to go back and change the setting to print color.

My printer does not scan to e-mail any longer. The old one was no problem but the new printer does not like my computer for some reason. That part is not a catastrophe for me but the saving for printing grayscale is great.
I think my computer does not have the correct drivers for this printer. It is old but does the job for me.

PS, my cartridge for #21 ink was 12.99 or so at Walgreen's, it was about $20.00 at Staples. Pays to shop around.

[emilyg]

1. Thanks.

[avaistheone1]

2. You can also

set your printer to "Draft" or "Fast/Economy" printing. That will save ink as well.

On my printer menu it is found under Properties then, Printing Shortcuts.

[kcass1954]

3. I got rid of the color printer, and have an inexpensive laser.

The printer was $49 when I bought a computer 4 years ago. I use one after-market toner cartridge about every 15-16 months, at $30-35 each.

If my son needs something printed in color for school, we stick it on a flash drive and go to office big-box.

I also set the default printer to my pdf-maker - makes my son think twice about printing.

Ditto on the shopping around. Dell wants $60-something plus shipping for my toner. I order from www.ldproducts.com when they have a free shipping special.

[mopinko]

4. find the setting "run past empty"

you will get 2-3 times as many copies, depending on the brand, as you do if you believe your printer. it does not really measure the amount left, it just counts the pages you have printed.
it is usually in the settings for things like service pages, stuff like that. you do have to keep an eye on print quality, unless, like my hp, it actually does measure toner, it just doesn't tell you how much is left. mine eventually stops when it is actually out of toner.

[midnight]

5. I will have to try setting my computer to grey scale. This looks like I could save a lot on ink..

[lbrtbell]

6. Another tip:

If you need to print in color, you don't need to go into those preferences to do so.

Just click PROPERTIES (or the equivalent) on the dialog box that comes up when you start to print. Set to color printing there, and it will only print in color while you have that document (text and/or image) open.

If you want to print that same document in color later, just do a CTRL + S (= save) before you close that document, and it will always be printed in color. Otherwise, leave it alone, and you'll print in B&W unless you change the settings.

I've found I can greatly extend the life of my cartridges, by simply cleaning them with a Q-tip and distilled water when they start to streak. Even though I have to print out a test page (my HP printer automatically prints a page to calibrate), it still lets me use the ink cartridges MUCH longer.

As someone else mentioned, draft mode will save you a lot of ink/money, too. Change the printer settings as you suggested, except be sure to select DRAFT (or its equivalent), as well as grayscale.

Finally, be sure to set your browser so it will NOT print background images. In Firefox, the steps are File > Page Setup, then UNCHECK "Print background (colors & images)". The steps are similar in IE and Opera. :)