Is there some way to default a Inkjet printer to Black & White only?

General Questions
#1

I’ve given up wasting money trying to keep a working color cartridge in my inkjet. They dry up so quick and there’s always one of the three colors that goes out.

Every, single time I print, I have to select properties, black & white only. even in the same Tab. Printing mail. Doesn’t matter if I just printed 70 seconds earlier. Every single time. Every single print I have to remember to make that darn change.

Is there some way to get it to default to black & white only?

using a HP 880C has two cartridges black and a color cartridge. I’m pretty sure all the HP inkjet drivers have a similar interface. What works with one HP should work with another one.

thanks

#2

Set up duplicate printer drivers and set one to “print grayscale only.”

I have an HP laser printer that can use PCL6 or PS3 print drivers. I set up the PCL driver to default to gray - if I want to print color using that driver (which I occasionally do), I have to manually override it as part of the print job. I print color using the PS driver. With my system set to use PCL by default, I can only accidentally print in B&W/grayscale, not in color.

#3

I think you’re describing a properties dialog that you get to somewhere during the process between clicking File>Print (or similar) and when the paper comes out.

You should be able to access a similar-looking dialog from the printer properties in Control Panel - and this should set the defaults.

#4

This, too. If the OP wants to live with default B&W printing and only select color for a few jobs, setting the OS-level properties will override most or all application settings.

I’ve dealt with a lot of users who don’t know that setting things through the Word print dialog is not persistent and doesn’t change the system setting.

Make the change from Control Panel | Printers and it will persist as the default for all applications. The duplicate printer driver setup can be useful if you do print a lot of jobs in color - makes the selection and change much quicker than diving down into printer menus.

#5

Yes. Are you using Windows 7? Click the ‘start’ button, then ‘devices and printers’, right click on your printer and choose ‘printing preferences’. A window will open up with your printer settings. For my printer, I select “quick print” and “print using black ink only”. For other printers, as I recall, you can choose “draft” and “black ink only”.

When I want to print color, I change the printer settings to “print using all available ink” when the print dialog comes up.

#6

Some printers make this hard as printing using some color will keep the color ink from drying up, thereby reducing complaint on failed printers and also by the way keep them selling more ink cartridges.

So you may be able to, but you may end up drying out your color print heads leading to frequent cleaning or it not working.

#7

Got it set. Thanks!!! It now defaults to b&w

My color cartridge is already shot. So there’s not much that can screw up by not using it. The jets are part of the cartridge.

it’s getting harder to find. mine uses a 45 for black and a 23 for color. Office depot gets $46.99 for the 23 and $38.49 for the 45. Ouch.

It never fails with color that one of the three will stop working. Leaving everything in a very ugly weird hue. Eventually I’ll buy a Laser printer and never worry about color again. Print everything in black.

#8

The first thing I do when setting up a printer is set default paper A4, toner save on and duplex on.

#9

www.theNerds.net. Just sayin’. :smiley:

Only a bit cheaper in your case, but very often the bottom price you can find.

#10

Just be glad you don’t need 8 individual color cartridges, like my Epson. But at least they last a long time, and I only have to replace the one that’s running out.

#11

I usually buy my ink on ebay. I only buy OEM (HP, Canon, Lexmark) cartridges, but can usually get much lower prices than at Staples or even Sam’s Club. You just have to be willing to look through a lot of listings and be patient with low bidding.

#12

Definitely get a laser. Decent black and white laser printers really aren’t that expensive these days, you can find one for under $100 without trouble. My Brother 2270DW has held up very well so far, with 5 grad-student-years of heavy use and two toner cartridge replacements.

If you print a lot, lasers are the more economical choice because inkjets have a ridiculous cost/page. If you don’t print very frequently, lasers are still the more economical choice, since inkjets will piss away ink with regular cleaning cycles, or will get clogged jets. In either situation, you have to buy a new set of ink cartridges once or twice a year, which quickly adds up to the price of an entry-level laser printer. Inkjets only make sense for medium-volume printing of photos or color graphics.

#13

Or get a printer with stock continuous ink supply: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=684055