3 Ways to Save on Inkjet Printer

It's one of the most expensive consumables in the world of computing. The hardware comes as cheap as chips but to maintain it,  is costly. In fact, they say the inkjet is seven times more expensive than Dom Perignon Vintage  champagne. Too bad it doesn't taste that good!

The good news is depending on how you use it, you can save money on every drop without modifying your printer or computer, and without using alternative printer inks. Here's how.

1. Print in draft. 

Printing in draft(2), general mode or quick print(1) (the name depends on the model of your printer) makes the print out less colourful by using less ink than setting the outcome print into photo mode or photo quality. If you are using word processor, draft mode ignores the formatting of texts thus uses less ink.

This menu can be accessed with the printer's settings menu or the word processing application (5) you are using as shown below.

If colour is not important, you can also use greyscale (4) to further save on colour ink.

2. Use multiple page printout.

If it is practicable to print 2 pages or more(3) in one print page then do it. This obviously uses less paper and ink as it is not the full size that is printed but a scaled down copy.  Although this may not always be available as an option depending on the printer's model, a free application that can do this is available at http://www.clicktoconvert.com/iprint/.

3. Use less ink consuming fonts. 

Yes, you can save on ink by carefully selecting the type face you use. It's been long time that I use times roman on all school projects when I was in college. I did not know much about fonts that they have an impact on how much ink you could possibly consume and also the fact that there was not much font choices to select from then. Plus the shadow of the typewriter was still hanging over me, I thought every font is not so different. Times roman is not really a bad choice as it always appear to be on the 4th or 3rd space of the most ink saver font. Garamond has been studied to give you the most savings, and special font face like ecofont.

Fonts that uses less ink

The later is particularly designed to use less ink by integrating 'holes' within it's body. As this is not readily available with word processors, a free version of it can be downloaded at http://www.ecofont.com/en/products/green/font/download-the-ink-saving-font.html

Specially designed ink saver font

Printer Can't Locate the Opened File

My colleague has problem printing a document yesterday. He said he has not encountered this message on his computer before. It was a fax document that is located over the network.  Hitting print could only produce an error saying "cannot access the file". We even tried saving it to his desktop. The file can be opened, but printing it produced the same problem.

I am not really into IT and my colleague started to dial the technical department for help. It was a long qeue and the automated voice was saying he is third in the line. And we were running out of idea.

I remembered a quick fix with websites that do not allow right clicks for copywrite protection. And the rule that anything you see in the computer screen can be copied in some way or the other. There's no need for a special software, but a built in one. In fact it is just sitting there in your keyboard waiting for the user to unleash it's hidden talent. And most user is not aware of it's existence. Paired with a native image program, they can be a powerful tool.

How Print Screen and Paint Program saved the day.

The Prt Scr (1) button is located at the right top upper keys on the keyboard. The location depends on the computer make. The paint menu(2) can be accessed by pressing start>all programs>accessories>paint.

With the necessary button and program, we can now proceed to print the "can't be located " file.

Open the file and hit Prt Scr button.
Open paint and press paste(3).
To trim the image, press select(4)>rectangular selection(5) then adjust the image using the guide lines(4a).
Hit crop(6) save it to an acessible location like the desktop and the printer did not have any problem accessing the file.

How to Print From Anywhere Wirelessly

Wi-fi technology makes life easy and simple. Easy in the sense that connected gadgets with the same wi-fi station can communicate and function as much as like the wired counterparts. Simple in the sense that the use or wires is eliminated, so no more spaghetti type connections which is annoying sometimes. Wireless connection adds more space usage flexibility and can be so much useful in situations that space is an issue. Ease of use specially in the area of outputting your work into a hard copy, like printing your documents or photos from a wi-fi enabled device. This you can do anywhere, within the range of your wi-fi devices. You do not need to go and sit down by side of the printer to do that. You do not need to open up your computer or laptop as long as you have a copy on your device. You can print anywhere wirelessly!

What do you need?

1. A router

2. Wi-fi enabled devices (laptop, PC's) or wi-fi enabled mobile devices (smart phones)

3. Wi-fi enabled printer

The wi-fi enabled printer I have for this is the KODAK Hero 3.1 which has ports for memory cards (Memory Stick, SD card, MultiMediaCard), and can support Cloud Printing for those who has a cloud account.

Kodak Hero 3.1   £66.62 delivered

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Setting up the printer.

1. If you've just bought your printer, remove all the self stick protection film and the cardboards protecting the paper feeder slots. The print head and the print ink are still in their packaging and they are located inside the printer. You need to lift the main cover to access this.

2. Connect the printer into the mains and select your language and location. Then you'll be prompted to install the print head and the print ink.

3. You will then asked to calibrate the printer and print a test page. 

4. Setting up the printer into wi-fi 

Once you have successfully set up your printer, a menu will ask you to choose wi-fi  or usb printing.Obviously wi-fi should be selected. You need to select your wi-fi access from the list and key in your network key.

If you do not know your network key go to http://192.168.0.1  and enter admin as user name and password as the password. This is with the presumption that the default username and password are  not yet changed. Then go to the wireless section and see your wireless access key. Then  key in to your printer's wifi setting.

5. Setting up your wi-fi enabled laptop

Insert the installtion cd and once installed you will be asked to choose between USB or  wifi as a printer mode. Click wifi and the driver for wifi will be installed. The computer will also ask you to check if there is an update for the software and it is recommended to search for updates. Once installed,your computer will look for the printer and it should detect your printer. From that point you are ready to print any where.

6. Setting up your smartphone 

Whatever brand you have, go to it's market place, (iPhone at apps store, Android at Play Store) and search for Pic Flick. Install it and you are ready to print wirelessly. 

How to print from your smart phone?

Open up Pic Flick and choose your picture or document then send it to your printer! That's it!