How to save ink and toner

Divide the cartridge price by its rated page yield, which is listed on the box or the maker's website. For example, a $30 cartridge rated for 300 pages costs about 10 cents per page. Yields are measured with standard test pages under ISO/IEC methods, so pages full of photos or dark graphics will use more.

High-yield or XL versions cost more up front but usually much less per page. Compare cost per page, not cartridge price, before you buy.

Draft, fast, economy or toner-save modes use noticeably less ink or toner. Text stays readable, so use these for anything you aren't handing to someone else.

Selecting grayscale or black-and-white printing avoids using color ink on documents that don't need it. Some color inkjets blend colors into black in their normal modes, so this setting can save color ink even on text.

Use print preview, choose a page range, or print just a selection. Printing two or four pages per sheet and printing double-sided both save paper, and turning off background graphics in web browsers avoids printing colored page backgrounds.

Low-level warnings often appear well before a cartridge is empty, so keep printing until quality actually fades. When a laser toner cartridge starts to fade, gently rocking it side to side can redistribute the toner for more pages, if the manufacturer's instructions allow it.

Inkjets use ink for cleaning, especially after long idle periods or sudden power loss. Print something regularly, switch the printer off with its own power button, and avoid running cleaning cycles unless a nozzle check shows a problem.

If you print hundreds of pages a month, a refillable ink-tank inkjet or a laser printer usually costs much less per page than a cartridge inkjet, even after the higher purchase price. Our guide to inkjet versus laser explains how to choose.

Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, select your printer and click Printing preferences (Windows 10: Settings > Devices > Printers & scanners, select it, Manage, then Printing preferences).

Look for print quality (choose draft or economy), color (choose grayscale or black only) and double-sided options. Names and locations vary by driver.

Click OK. Settings made here become the defaults for all apps, and you can still switch to normal or color quality in an individual print dialog when needed.

In any app, choose File > Print or press Command + P, and select your printer.

Tick Black & White if it's offered, and look in the quality or media options for a draft or lower quality setting. Turn on two-sided printing if your printer supports it. Option names vary by printer and driver.

Open the Presets menu and choose Save Current Settings as Preset, giving it a name such as Draft. Choose that preset whenever you want to print economically.