Hello there! Welcome back to another exciting post about document management!
Today, we will discuss another important part of your copier or printer: The paper you put in it.
Paper documents have been the standard for hundreds of years, and despite the creation of electronic documents, paper is still a popular choice in many cases.
There are many reasons why one prefers a physical copy of a document over an electronic one, the biggest reason being that a physical document can’t be modified as easily as an electronic one. While it is obvious that a physical document has been tampered with, it can be difficult to tell with an electronic one unless you have the ability to audit said e-file.
Another popular use of physical documents is for signature collection. While this can also be done electronically, not all industries prefer to go digital when it comes to signatures. The Health & Law sectors are some of the biggest users of physical files. Posters and blueprints are yet another example of popular paper documents.
But………Did you know that not all paper is the same? There are people out there who look at a ream of paper, see that it’s 8.5×11, and go “Excellent! I do have paper on hand!”. They load up this paper and go “Hmmm……This feels different from the paper I usually use. Must be a really good paper”. What they don’t realize, is that they just grabbed 8.5×11 Cardstock paper, which is radically different from regular printer paper.
You’re probably saying to yourself “Paper is paper, what can go wrong?”. Well, many things can go wrong, such as:
– Smudged output
– Gritty feeling documents
– Jamming
– Incorrect or inconsistent output
There’s two things to look at here: Size and type of paper.
With size, we’ll cover the most common sizes: Letter (8.5 x 11), Legal (8.5 x 14), and Ledger (11×17). These are the common paper sizes you will encounter in most office environments. There’s a wide variety of sizes, but these are the most common.
With types, we’ll cover the most common types: Plain, Letterhead, Thick and Cardstock. There’s a wide variety of types as well, but in the spirit of keeping it simple (The good old KISS method), We’ll just talk about the common types.
There’s also different weights of paper, but we won’t go too much in to that area at this time.
Let’s begin with using the right size and type paper for your documents. The majority of what you will likely print will be on Plain Letter size paper. This is the generic paper that you get by the ream from your local office supply store, or even on Amazon.
One thing I will open with here: DON’T CHEAP OUT. Don’t buy the bargain basement “Brand X” paper just because it’s 99 cents a ream. Shell out a few Washingtons and get a quality ream of paper, from brands such as Hammermill or Xerox. Note that SOME department and online store brands (such as Amazon Basics) are considered OK. Rule of thumb: If you spend less than $6 on a ream of paper, you’re going to get low quality paper. Low quality paper tends to leave behind more paper dust, which can eventually lead to jams and quality issues.
Next thing we’ll discuss here: Storing your paper. When you open a ream of paper, it’s best to use the whole thing. Trust me, your machine will take it. (You can split it between trays as well). If you must store a half-used ream of paper, ensure that it is stored in a cool and dry environment. Paper can and will soak up moisture from humidity, which will cause the paper to warp. Trying to run warped paper through your machine will result not only in poor print quality, but also very frequent jamming issues. Your copier will have the means to keep your paper dry and flat.
Now, types: Let’s use Plain and Cardstock as examples as these are two popular types. You will want to make sure you have the proper type of paper for your print job. Regular printer paper is thin and very flexible, while cardstock is a thick and rigid paper, which makes sense since the main use of cardstock is, well, making cards! Making sure you have the correct paper type loaded and set in your machine is important. Trying to run regular paper as cardstock can result in a print job that, well, doesn’t remain printed! This is especially important on laser printers as the fusing unit must open itself up a little bit wider to accommodate the thicker paper. If you pass plain through there, you will likely end up with a document that, unlike skittles, melts in your hand.
Likewise, if you run Cardstock as plain paper, you’ll likely encounter severe jamming issues. You MIGHT get lucky and your machine will pass one or two, but eventually your luck will run out, and……….*CLUNK!*……”You just got jammed!”
Ensuring correct paper size and type settings on your copier, as well as using properly stored, good quality paper can prevent a slew of issues, ranging from unexplainable jamming to poor output quality.
Did I mention size matters? If your document requires Ledger, then make sure your machine has Ledger loaded. While most machines can scale down to a smaller paper size, it’s not always successful. This kind of conversion can either result in shrunken, unreadable output, or large amounts of the document being completely cut off. In the case of spreadsheets, this can result in the output being spread unevenly across multiple pages. Likewise, printing a smaller document on larger paper will either result in the document being printed on just a small portion of paper (Wasting most of the sheet and just looking silly), OR the document being scaled up to fit the larger sheet. (Anyone need a gigantic Windows test print sheet?)
Not all types of paper can be used in the main trays. Thick and Cardstock paper are two of those that don’t do well in the main trays. For those, there’s what is called the Multipurpose, or Bypass tray. This is a tray that is usually found on the front or side of your machine, and can be used for special types and sizes of papers, from lengthy banner size sheets down to envelopes. Paper sizes and types that you can’t use in the main trays, can often be used in this tray with excellent results.
LABELS: Another thing people like to print out, is labels. Whether it be name tags, folder labels, postage stamps, they’re all the same………or are they? Before you bust open that box of labels you just bought, take a close look at them. Look for the biggest label you’ll see on these labels: What type of printer they are designed for.
Why is this important? Simple! There are labels that are designed to be used in Injket printers, and then there are those designed for use in laser printers. If you have a full size CopyLady machine, chances are you have a laser printer. Note that you CANNOT run Injket labels through a laser printer! What can happen here is labels peeling off the sheet while the print process is occurring. From there, these loose labels start wreaking havoc inside your machine, getting stuck to the internal parts of your machine, This can lead to frequent jamming issues, to severe print quality degradation, especially if they get wound around the fusing unit, or even the imaging drums. When this happens, a service call (and often times, parts replacement) are necessary to resolve the issue.
NOTE: You CAN run some labels designed for a laser printer through an inkjet. This shouldn’t cause any issues. When in doubt, check the box they came in. It will indicate what type(s) of printers you can run these through.
Now, let’s touch on things that have little to zero business being put through your printer/copier:
Wax-coated paper: It is generally a bad idea to run wax coated paper through any printing device, as the wax can come off and gum up internal components. This is especially true in laser printers with the VERY hot fusing unit at the end of the path. As we all know, heat + wax = sticky sticky! Don’t do it! Only reason you see printing on wax coated paper bags is because the manufacturer of those bags has the proper equipment to print then coat the bags. (The printing is done before the coating goes on)
Lamination/Projector sheets: It’s best to only run these through an inkjet, as these would melt and get stuck to the fusing unit on a laser printer, resulting in a terrible mess, as well as a service call to replace the fusing unit.
Cardboard: Cardboard is generally far too thick to run through any printer, inkjet or laser. Printing on these is usually done on special presses.
Cloth/Textiles: Don’t try this either, at least not on a standard inkjet/laser printer. You CAN however, do this using a special type of printer called DTG, or Direct-to-Garment. There are kits you can get to convert some inkjets to DTF, but these conversions are best left to the professionals. You can also print transfer paper using an inkjet. (Laser is no good for this since the transfer process is done using…..HEAT! All you’ll end up doing is transferring your design onto the rollers of the fusing unit, and in turn, onto anything else you print!)
Notebook paper: Notebook paper is usually smaller than standard letter-size paper, and much thinner than standard paper. As such, running this through your printer will likely end up resulting in a bad jam. Even if it does manage to get through, don’t expect the output to be within the lines on the paper.
Damaged paper: No. Just no. Don’t feed your printer/copier damaged, ripped up or crumpled paper to print on. All this is going to do is cause a severe jam, and could also potentially damage parts of the machine. With your luck, it could jam so deep into the machine that you’ll have to call us to come get it out! Use it for something external to your copier, like scratch paper.
Oddly-shaped sheets: Your printer/copier is expecting normal, 4-sided properly sized sheets of paper. What do you expect it to do with a bunch of random flower-shaped pieces? Trust me, if you do this, you’ll be calling us to clean it out, that is if it even manages to get it past the tray to begin with. Print first, then cut out your shapes. You can however, use custom sizes of paper by adjusting the settings on your machine a bit. (Make sure you do the same adjustments on your print settings)
Folders: Well, you might be able to print directly on a folder, but watch out for the label tab, as this can potentially get snagged on things inside the machine. Obviously don’t run plastic ones through your laser printer, and make sure you remove any staples or paper clips.
And, with that, all the reasons why the paper you feed your machine matters big time. It can make a huge difference in just how good your copy or print job comes out.
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