One of the easiest ways to join the eco-friendly computing club is to implement a strategy to decrease the amount, if not entirely eliminate, the printing of documents on paper.

There are still a surprising amount of people out there that must print out every email.

This strategy not only extends the life of the printer, but reduces the costs spent on paper, ink or toner cartridges all while helping the environment. It is more involved than simply deciding to not print, but implementing techniques that reduce the amount of printed pages without hindering data needs and requirements.

The following is by no means an exhaustive list of ways to print less, but is a good starting point to get the ball rolling.

1.) Do not print out emails, unless it is absolutely necessary to have a hard copy. There are still a surprising amount of people out there that must print out every email they receive. Bad habits die hard but they can be changed.

2.) Deliver documents electronically, instead of through the mail. Emailing Invoices, Statements, and Purchase Orders is an easy and quick way to distribute these important documents without using one piece of paper. This also saves an envelope and postage.

3.) Use a Document Management System (DMS) or Content Management System (CMS) to help organize electronic documents. The information needs to go somewhere, so it is best if it can be found when needed. Better yet select business management software with integrated DMS and CMS functionality.

The clunky old stand-alone fax machine that uses a dedicated phone line is now a dinosaur.

4.) Print documents with the output redirected to a file, stored in a portable format. This allows information printed from any application to be saved in a common format. Depending on the Operating System and installed software, there might already be a few printers installed. For example, if Microsoft Office is installed, the Microsoft Office Document Image Writer printer should be installed to create a Microsoft Document Image Format (MDI) document. There are printer drivers that create a PDF (Portable Document Format) or XPS (XML Paper Documents) documents, and others. Just be sure to select one that creates output in a widely used format, so they can be easily distributed and viewed. Not only do you have a permanent archive once the document in this format, you have a portable document that can be conveniently distributed at a click of a button.

5.) Invest in a paperless faxing solution. The clunky old stand-alone fax machine that uses a dedicated phone line is now a dinosaur in the industry. Many vendors offer network-ready faxing solutions, such as Equisys ZetaFax, that have capabilities to fax documents and images from the desktop, completely bypassing the need for a printed copy. Incoming faxes are usually stored as an image or a PDF document. Internet faxing solutions are gaining in popularity, and in some cases can be the most cost effective solution for paperless faxing. This type of solution typically delivers incoming faxes to an email address and sending outgoing faxes is as simple as sending an email with an attachment.

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