Ink Save Options for Printers:
Draft Mode, Economode, Toner Saving Mode

How Does PretonSaver™ Compare to Toner/Ink saving Modes?

Most printers today offer the ability to save toner/ink by printing in “draft mode”, “Economode” or “toner saving mode”. Although these modes offer ink/toner savings, they are substantially different from the method used by PretonSaver.

Low Quality Printing with Low Savings

The printer’s “draft mode” may work in one of the following ways:

• Reducing printout dpi (dots-per-inch) - changing the dpi from 600 to 300. This method may result in about 5% -10% savings but will have the side effect of a light printout.
• Reducing toner density levels - the printer will change the print density from 3 to 1. This method may generate 8% to 15% savings, with a much lighter output.
• Half toning - changing the color from black to gray. This method generates marginal savings for non-color documents and will have the side effect of a low-quality light printout.

PretonSaver uses several ink saving technologies that not only offer much greater savings than toner saving mode, but also yield high quality results that are virtually the same as regular printing.

Saving Ink with Pixel Optimizer™ a Smart Pixel Removal Technology

Unlike the printer’s draft mode, which simply reduces the density levels or printout’s dpi, PretonSaver uses a technology that employs sophisticated algorithms to selectively remove wasteful pixels. The selection of the specific pixels which will not affect the quality is what makes this technology unique and outstanding. During printing the spaces left by the removed pixels are covered by excess toner/ink from adjacent pixels, creating a printout that looks almost identical to a regular printout.

Identifying Elements to Further Increase the Savings

In order to maximize savings even further without degrading the quality, PretonSaver uses a technology that identifies the different elements on a page and correspondingly applies different optimization algorithms. The toner and ink save levels reached on text can go as high as 70%, 70%, while the graphics and images can benefit from 20%-30% savings. This selective approach yields high quality documents while saving up to 70% on ink or toner. The printer’s draft mode does not have this capability, which means that the reduction in dpi or toner density levels is applied to the entire document regardless of the different elements it is composed of.

Printer Dependency

“Draft mode” is a setting that is specific to certain printers; some have it while others don’t. This means that in a large corporate environment with hundreds of printers, the ability to manage and enforce these settings across multiple printers is either time consuming or virtually impossible. PretonSaver is a software-based solution that is completely printer independent. In a corporate environment print policies are set across the entire enterprise. In addition you can easily define print rules for active printers, users, groups, and applications. Rules include page and color usage privileges and quotas, enforcement of Duplex printing where available, automatic omission of images for specific users/applications, and much more.

Saving on paper

PretonSaver Enterprise™ offers print rules and policies that can reduce the overall print volume by up to 20%. This additional savings is translated into a lesser paper and toner consumption. All on top of the important issue of reducing the environmental stress caused by printing.

Ease of Use

“Draft Mode” requires special printer property settings. Since the result of the “draft mode” printing is of a “draft” quality, these settings must be activated and de-activated for various printing purposes. In contrast, as a software-based solution, PretonSaver provides control as you print or alternatively can be set by your network administrator.

Printable Version of Ink Save Options PretonSaver vs. Economode.

Click here for 64-bit version

Compare Preton to ink save options such as InkSaver, Ecofont and Ecoprint.