If you print a lot, then you have to worry about the printer driver’s standard requirements. With a permanent adjustment you save time, optimize the print quality and avoid misprints.
The printer users pay little attention to the printer settings, but there is a lot of optimization and savings potential.
Install the latest driver for your printer model
The manufacturers of printers regularly offer updated drivers for their devices – new printer drivers, which not only expand the respective range of functions, but also contain error corrections and partly reduce the consumption of ink and toner. On the manufacturer’s website, check if there is a new driver for your printer, download it, and install it if necessary.
Permanently optimize settings for the printing process
You can change the printer driver’s default settings as you wish. However, the adjustments made are only temporary for the particular print job and are reset to the default settings when the application is closed or when Windows restarts. If you want to optimize the print settings permanently, you must make the change yourself in Windows. Go to “Devices -> Printers and Scanners” in the “Devices -> Printers and Scanners” area. This is the same as the system control on your computer PC, but you can only add or remove devices, but you can not configure them.
Click the desired printer with the right mouse button and select “Print Settings” from the menu. You can also access the print settings by clicking on the “Printer properties” in the context menu and then on the “General” tab on the “Settings” button. In Windows 8.1 and 10, you can also double-click on the device in the printer folder and double-click on the “Customize print options” menu item. Windows will remember all of the settings below for all programs and print jobs.
Basic settings: First check the basic settings – in general, it depends on the respective printer driver, which setting options are offered to you and how the settings dialog was designed. Set the default paper size, orientation, and multi-tray printers to the custom tray – usually A4 size in portrait mode and “auto feed”. Standard paper is standard paper for office printers. If you are using a photo-print for outputting images only, set the photo paper location that is most commonly used.
Resolution and Duplex: For many printers, the resolution is set to a mean value, which is a compromise between print quality and print speed. If you have a maximum output quality, select the highest resolution. When printing document printing, rarely used extras such as double-sided printing or output in the reverse order are disabled.
If you have more than one printer, right-click in the printer folder of the Control Panel to select the most commonly used device as the default printer.
To optimize the extended print settings for your needs
Printer-specific features and output options are usually found in the extended driver settings on one or more custom tabs. For example, scaling of the printout, the inclusion of watermarks, company logos as well as headers and footers, reverse printing to invert the document as well as optimization settings like the adjustment of pressure density, toner fixation or shade avoidance.
Deactivate color printing: For color printers, the color output is usually preset. Often, printing is unnecessary – for example, in manuscripts or PDF documents. If you do not need any color, set “Grayscale” in the driver. Sometimes the output function “Print entire text black” is available. Thus, the printer uses only black toner or ink and leaves the ink cartridges at the output on the outside – that lowers the printing costs. By default, however, many devices produce pure text with all colors.
Saving energy : Energy saving options can often be selected in the driver settings or via the menu on the control panel of the device. Here, you specify the idle time after which the printer switches to the power saving mode and thus lowers the energy requirement.