Print double-sided and save money

Double-sided printing, or duplex printing as it's often referred to, is not usually a standard printer feature, unless of course you specified it at the time of purchase. But if you do have a duplex-enabled printer, it could go some way to reducing the amount you spend on printer ink and paper.

Make sure you tell the printer

Be aware that double-sided printing is normally an 'on-demand' feature, even if your printer is duplex-enabled. In other words your printer may well be set up to automatically print single pages, and double-sided printing will need to be selected as a part of the print request. If unsure, just before you print, there is normally a 'button' on your PC screen which you can click on to set up the print run. This button may be called Configure, Advanced, Properties or something similar. Printer manufacturers each have their own software and often have different naming conventions.

However, if you look further into the printer options available, you will normally be able to see a) whether you have double-sided printing available to you, and b) if, yes how you can request it. You may even be able to configure the double-sided printing so that it 'folds' at the top of the paper or along the side.

Double-sided printers

So how do you know if your printer can prints double-sided? In the IT industry, double-sided printing feature is better known as a 'duplex' printing. Most printer manufacturers have made it easy to identify a printer model that is duplex enabled by adding one or more characters after the model number.

There is now seems to be a convention where the following three characters may be used individually or collectively to indicate what printer features you will be buying:

• C = Colour printing
• D = Duplex or double-sided printing available
• N = Network ready - has it's own Ethernet card

For instance, an example of printers offering all or some of these features would be the Brother HL-4050CDN or Samsung ML-3471ND. However, these characters are not used universally across all manufacturers but they will help when you see them. Obviously, we would always ask you to check the detailed specification of a printer first before purchasing, to make sure it meets your requirements.

And if your printer won't print double sided, it may be possible to purchase an add-on feature. But if there is no upgrade path available, consider buying a printer capable of double-sided printing next time around.

Use both sides of the paper

If it's just not practicable or possible to print on both sides of the paper, an added thought that could help you paper is to use the other side (normally blank) as scrap paper for hand-written notes.

However, we would suggest the following caveats.

• Never use a piece of paper that has personal or commercially sensitive data already on it
• Never use paper where the content on the reverse could get confused with something else your doing
• If your subsequent notes are sensitive, ensure you dispose of the piece of paper in a secure manner

Still only print if you really need to

However, before we start to feel good about ourselves, are we really doing everything we can to reduce our paper and printing costs? Firstly we suggest that you 'think before you print'. If you don't need to print out that email don't. Secondly, and provided your printer has the capability, use the double-sided printing facility whenever it's practicable.

And then of course there's the issue of disposal and the potential for recycling. We seem to have got the message that paper should be recycled whenever possible, However do be mindful of data protection issues, including any mysterious bar codes - unless of course you know exactly what they mean.

How much money could I save?

We suggest that you may want to look at the Energy Saving Centre's tip about saving a penny. In approximate terms every sheet of paper probably costs a penny, and the print consumables - ink or toner - possibly about the same. Not much you may think, until you add it up over the course of the whole year!

By adopting some of these suggestions, you may well just save yourself or your business a whole load of money, as well as preserve the odd tree.

This article is published by the Energy Saving Centre on behalf of Village Internet, helping small businesses in Swindon and the surrounding area to reduce their operating costs by using their IT Manager service.