This year, a Dutch company developed Ecofont, which is designed to save printer ink and toner. It looks like typical Arial font, but it has tiny holes in it which can reduce you ink and toner usage by 20%. The font looks a little strange (kind of grayish) on the screen, but with a small enough size it looks just fine. It’s perfect for printing in-house home or office documents.

2. Draft mode

Most modern printers have a variety of print settings that vary from high quality, slower prints, to quick low quality drafts. Draft mode can save you small amounts of ink every time you print. It’s also an easy way to see how a document is going to look on paper, or provide a physical copy for quick hand revisions.

3. Revision/print preview

One of the easiest ways to save on ink and toner costs is to carefully re-read and revise documents before printing. How many times have you sent a document to the printer, only to realize afterwards that a small typo requires you to print it again? Print Preview will also let you view your document before it prints, so you can change any page attributes you don’t like before printing.

4. Turn it Off

When you’re not using your printer, turn it off. This one is better for the planet than anything, but it can also help keep your ink cartridges from drying out.

5. Refill

This isn’t so much an ink saving tip, as it is an in replenishing tip. Do some research on the cartridges your printer uses. If you can find a decent refill kit, give it a try. InkTec makes really good refill kits that are easy to use. Many HP cartridges can be refilled up to 7 or 8 times. This will save you a lot of money, and might even save a few cartridges from a landfill.

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