Green Hands USA: America Volunteers

Does your office use too much paper? Adobe might have a solution for you. Their new LeanPrint software promises to reduce the amount of paper and toner you use -- and therefore your costs -- by 40%.

How does it work? When someone in your office goes to print something, the software rejiggers everything so the print job uses less paper and less toner. Color charts are converted to black and white, web ads are removed (as are headers and footers), text is laid out in columns to optimize paper usage, and charts are reconfigured so they don't split across pages or get pushed onto another page. All of this gets previewed before printing, so the user can make sure that the details they want do get printed.

While LeanPrint is doing all of this, it also keeps track of how much $$ your organization is saving by not using all of that paper and toner. This is a pretty important feature, since it shows how well the software can pay for itself. It's available on an annual subscription basis ($36 per computer) or for a one-time license fee ($99 per computer).

If you're already doing everything you can to minimize your company's printing (remember, the goal should be the paperless office, right?), then you might not need this software. But if you find yourself going through ream after ream of paper, it might be worth exploring.


Photo by Chanzi via Flickr. Used under Creative Commons license.