Dramel Notes: paperless

The paperless office isn’t yet here for many of us, and printers are still a fact of life. If your printer isn’t working quite right on a Windows PC, here are some simple troubleshooting tips that can fix it.

Obviously, the first steps are the most obvious. Verify your printer is plugged in, powered on, and connected to your computer (or the Wi-Fi network, if it’s a Wi-Fi printer). These may seem obvious, but sometimes we forget to check the simple things before checking the more complex ones.

Check the Paper

First, ensure your printer is in proper working state. Verify that the printer has paper loaded if it isn’t printing. Even if you’ve loaded paper, you may need to properly align the paper so the printer can use it. Check the inside of the printer to ensure there isn’t a paper jam preventing the printer from working. If there is, you may need to manually remove the jammed paper and clear things up.

Check the Ink or Toner

Of course, you’ll need enough ink (if it’s an inkjet printer) or toner (if it’s a laser printer) before you can print. Even if you’re just printing in black-and-white, some inkjet printers may refuse to print at all until you refill their color ink.

To check your printer’s ink levels on Windows, open the Devices and Printers window in Windows. You can do so by opening the Control Panel and clicking “View devices and printers” under Hardware and Sound. You may be able to select a printer by clicking it and view this information at the bottom of the window, or right-click a printer, select “Properties”, and look for the ink or toner levels.

Many printers report that sort of information here, although not all do — it depends on the printer and its drivers. You may also be able to see this information on the printer itself, if it has a built-in status display.

Check the Print Queue Dialog

Problems with printing could also be caused by issues with Windows. To ensure nothing is going wrong, open the print queue dialog in Windows. You can open a printer’s queue by right-clicking that printer in the Devices & Printers window and selecting “See what’s printing”. If you see an older document that can’t print with an error, right-click the document here and remove it. If a printer job is paused, you can resume it from here.

You should also click the “Printer” menu here and verify that “Use printer offline” isn’t enabled. If this option is checked, remove the checkmark to disable it.

Install, Update, or Reinstall Your Printer Drivers

You may need to install, update, or reinstall the printer drivers if it isn’t working properly. Printers should ideally “just work” and have their drivers automatically installed by Windows, but this doesn’t always work. To do this, visit your printer manufacturer’s website, download their driver package, and run the driver installer. It’ll walk you through installing the printer drivers and detecting your printer.

Use the Printer’s Diagnostics

You might need to use a diagnostic function that will clean the printer’s heads or nozzles, or realign them. This option will be in a slightly different place in each printer, depending on the printer’s software. On Windows, open the Devices and Printers window, right-click a printer, select “Properties”, and examine the options here to see what options are available for your particular printer. These options are provided by your printer drivers, and you may find them somewhere else — for example, in a printer configuration utility located in your Start menu.

This can help fix problems with poor print quality, too.

Set Your Default Printer

Windows 10’s “November update” changed the way default printers work on Windows. By default, every time you print to a printer, Windows will automatically make it your default printer. This would be inconvenient if you wanted to leave one particular printer as your default one and occasionally print to another one.

To disable this, open the Settings app from the Start menu or Start screen, select “Devices”, select “Printers & scanners”, and disable the “Let Windows manage my default printer” option.

You can then select a default printer by clicking or tapping it in this window and clicking “Set as default”. You can also right-click a printer in the Devices and Printers window and select “Set as Default Printer”.

If your printer has a physical control panel with buttons on it, you may need to press the “OK” button one or more times if it’s displaying a status message. Some printers may just not print until you press “OK” and verify you’ve seen a displayed status message. This control panel may also display more detailed error message that will point you in the right direction and give you something to search for if it isn’t working properly.

Lots of things can go wrong with a printer, and some printers — especially older ones — may display confusing error messages. If your printer shows a particular error message and you’re not sure what it means, you should try searching the web for that particular error message.

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Paperless is here to stay — and for very good reasons, too!

Here, I want to explore five of the best digital alternatives to traditional Christmas greetings cards and show you how paperless can make this festive time of the year even more memorable.

If you are looking for seasonal inspiration for family or for work, check out these digital choices to complement or replace the paper card this Christmas.

1. E-Cards For All Occasions

Probably the biggest direct competitor is the electronic card (or e-card). There are many paid and free e-card services available online, but creating your own from scratch using email clients like Microsoft Outlook and Apple Mail are my preferred choice.

This gives you the chance to get creative and have fun with family, friends or colleagues, and really gives Christmas that personalized touch.

For those of you with family and friends overseas, or for people working away during the festivities, e-cards can also provide an instant means to say something special at the right time.

For business purposes, you can also use affiliate tracking software to make sure your message was received and fuel further conversation.

Here’s an example of e-cards in action. In this case, it was the team at Vertical Leap (my place of work) getting festive and donating to Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day:

2. SMS From Santa

For younger members of the family, what better way to say Merry Christmas than with a call or SMS direct from Santa Claus? Santa can chat directly to your children or even text your phone with a personalized message.

In this example from Personalisedsantaletter.co.uk, text messages will be sent over the festive season, and throughout the week building up to Christmas day.

This can be great for checking children have been good, reinforcing what they are hoping for from Santa, and making Christmas morning extra special for you and your family.

Here’s an example of the type of personalizing that can be achieved to make your children feel truly special this Christmas:

3. Video Greetings

Depending on how tech savvy you are, video greetings can be a fantastic way to wish people well over the holiday season.

Basic video greetings can be recorded and send from mobile to mobile, or you may wish to use some of the paid-for retail offerings. Examples of this include MoonPig and VideoGram, although many other alternatives are available (including free options).

Here’s the video explainer from MoonPig:

4. Audio Greetings

Saying (or even singing) your seasonal messages can be fantastic means to share personality this time of the year.

An audio message can be an easier option for the less technical savvy, and can be attached to emails, sent via SMS, or included as part of a digital or traditional card or message.

5. DIY Digital Photo Collages

From static images to photo slideshows and more, collages can be an excellent way to get everyone involved with the festive fun.

They are quick to create, provide lots of follow-up opportunities – including personalized gifts – and enable you to create whatever your imagination can come up with. It is also a great way to humanize your brand.

Almost every mobile phone includes app functionality for creating collages, as do most basic office applications.

Here’s some my work team showing a basic collage for Christmas:

Conclusion

At this time of the year, wishing colleagues, friends, family members and loved ones good will, regardless of the medium, is a great thing to do.

With the growth of digital alternatives to the traditional paper greetings cards, e-cards, audio, and photo collages, give you an immediate method to communicating when it is likely to matter the most. Whatever your medium, make sure your messages are well received this Christmas time.

Merry Christmas to you all and a happy New Year!

Image Credits

Feature Image: Stokkete/Shutterstock.com
In-post Photos: Images by Vertical Leap. Used with permission.
All screenshots by Lee Wilson. Taken December 2015.