Quick Answer
Five settings changes, all free, typically cut an office's consumable spend by 20–40%: default to mono, print double-sided, enable toner-save for internal documents, release jobs at the printer, and route volume to your cheapest machine. Most take under ten minutes to set up.
In What Is Cost Per Page? we showed how to work out what printing actually costs your office. This post is the follow-up: how to bring that number down without ordering a single new machine or cartridge. Every change here is a setting you or your IT contact can make this afternoon.
AED 0
Cost to implement all five
10–15%
Of office pages are never collected
20–40%
Typical consumable saving
1
Default Every Printer to Mono
This is the biggest single lever. A colour laser page costs three to four times a mono page, and most colour output in an office is accidental: an email with a blue hyperlink, a spreadsheet with a coloured header row, a web page with a logo. None of it needs to be in colour.
Set the driver default to black and white on every workstation, and set the printer's own default to mono too. Staff can still choose colour per job when it matters; they just have to ask for it.
Where to find it: Windows → Settings → Printers → Printing preferences → Colour / Quality. On Canon i-SENSYS and imageRUNNER, the setting is also in the device's Function Settings menu. On HP, look under Colour Options; on Brother, under Advanced → Colour Mode.
Typical saving: 15–25% of total consumable spend in offices that were printing colour by default.
2
Print Double-Sided by Default
Duplex doesn't reduce toner, but it halves paper and it halves how often the tray needs refilling. On a printer doing 3,000 pages a month at AED 0.04 per sheet, that's around AED 700 a year in paper alone, and it's the setting everyone means to change and never does.
Almost every business printer sold in the last ten years has automatic duplex. If yours doesn't, it's a strong signal that machine is due for replacement anyway.
Where to find it: Printing preferences → Finishing or Layout → Print on both sides. Set it at the driver level so it applies to every application, not just Word.
Typical saving: 30–45% of paper spend.
3
Turn On Toner-Save for Internal Documents
Toner-save (sometimes called draft or economy mode) lays down less toner per page. Text stays perfectly readable; solid blacks come out slightly lighter. For emails, internal memos, drafts and reference copies, nobody notices. For proposals, invoices and anything a customer sees, switch it off.
The cleanest way to run this is two printer profiles on each workstation: "Internal" with toner-save on, mono, duplex; and "Client" with full quality. Staff pick the right one from the print dialog.
Where to find it: Printing preferences → Quality → Toner Save / EconoMode / Draft. On Canon it's usually under Quality → Toner Saving; on HP, EconoMode; on Brother, Toner Save Mode. Save the profile using "Add a printer" with a different name so both appear in the list.
Typical saving: 20–30% more pages per cartridge on internal output.
4
Release Jobs at the Printer
Walk past any shared office printer at 5pm and look at the tray. That pile of uncollected pages is typically 10–15% of everything the office printed that day: duplicates from "did it go through?", jobs sent to the wrong printer, and documents that were printed and then edited again.
Secure print (also called PIN release or pull printing) holds the job on the printer until the person walks up and enters a PIN or taps a card. Jobs that are never released are deleted automatically, usually after 24 hours. It also stops confidential documents sitting in the tray, which matters for HR and finance.
Where to find it: Built into most Canon imageRUNNER and i-SENSYS MF models (Secured Print), HP LaserJet Pro and Enterprise (Job Storage / PIN printing), and Brother business models (Secure Print). Enable it in the driver under Job Type or Output Method, and set a default PIN per user.
Typical saving: 10–15% of all pages, plus a real reduction in confidentiality incidents.
5
Route Volume to Your Cheapest Machine
If you worked through the cost-per-page exercise, you already know which of your printers is cheapest to run. Usually it's the workgroup laser with the high-yield cartridge, and it's usually not the small desktop printer three people keep using because it's closer.
Make the cheapest machine the default printer on every workstation. Keep the expensive desktop units for what they're actually needed for (a manager's confidential printing, a reception desk) and take them off the general list. If a desktop inkjet is costing AED 0.40 a page and the workgroup laser is AED 0.07, every job you redirect saves 80%.
Where to find it: Windows → Settings → Printers → Set as default. On a domain, your IT contact can push this through Group Policy in one step. Rename printers in the queue by cost band ("Main – Low Cost", "Desk – High Cost") so people see the difference every time they print.
Typical saving: Varies most by office, but often the largest of the five where small inkjets are in daily use.
The Five at a Glance
| Setting |
Saves |
Time to set up |
Impact |
| Default to mono |
Toner |
5 min per PC |
High |
| Duplex by default |
Paper |
2 min per PC |
Medium |
| Toner-save for internal |
Toner |
10 min per PC |
High |
| Secure / PIN release |
Toner + paper |
30 min per printer |
Medium |
| Route to cheapest machine |
Toner |
5 min per PC |
High |
Start here: if you only do one thing today, do number one. Defaulting to mono takes five minutes and delivers the largest single saving of the five.
Did You Know?
🗑️
Uncollected pages go straight to the bin.
Industry studies put abandoned print jobs at 10–15% of office output. That's toner and paper you paid for and never used.
🎨
Most "colour" pages are 95% black.
A page with one blue hyperlink still fires all four cartridges. Mono-by-default stops that without anyone noticing.
🔒
PIN release is a security fix too.
Payslips, contracts and medical letters left in a shared tray are a common data-protection complaint. Secure print closes it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will toner-save mode damage the printer or void the warranty?
No. It's a manufacturer-supplied setting and has no effect on hardware or warranty. It simply reduces the amount of toner applied per page.
Do I need special software for PIN release?
Not for the basics. Most Canon, HP and Brother business printers have it built in. Dedicated print-management software adds reporting and quotas across many printers, which is worth it above roughly ten devices.
Staff will just switch colour back on. What then?
Some will, and that's fine: the goal is to make colour a choice rather than an accident. In practice, offices that default to mono see colour volume drop by half or more even with no restrictions.
How do I know if the changes are working?
Note each printer's page counter and cartridge date before you start, then again after 30 days. Compare cartridge replacements over the next quarter with the previous one. The difference is your saving.
Want Help Setting These Up?
Tell us which printers you have and we'll walk you through the settings for each model, or visit our Print & Imaging Lab in Dubai and see them configured live.
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