There are a few suggestions to minimize ink usage, prolonging cartridge life:
- Use draft mode when appropriate. For everyday printing draft mode print quality may be adequate, and the ink usage is typically half that of normal or best modes.
- Never select cleaning modes unless necessary - and it is practically never necessary. Running cleaning cycles from the toolbox or front panel will use ink.
- Do not use an external switch. If an external switch such as an outlet switch or power director is used bad things happen. In the best case the printer will use more ink when the printer is turned back on. In the worst case the printhead may be left uncapped, requiring cleaning cycles to recover.
- Print until the print quality degrades or the printer blocks further printing, rather than replacing at the first warning of low ink. The first low on ink warning is generally designed to give an advance warning the ink is getting low so you can have a replacement ready.
- When possible print few longer print jobs rather than many short jobs. For example, if you need ten copies of a single page it is much better from an ink usage standpoint to print them all at once compared to ten single page jobs. There is some ink usage overhead at the start and end of every job.
