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In honor of Earth Day, we decided to do an Earth friendly blog post.  In searching around for articles on how to be green with computers we stumbled across this article -  Living Green at the Office.

One of the suggestions is about cutting down on the number of pages you print.  Here are instructions on how to print fewer pages by changing margins, using Print Preview, printing only specific pages, and setting the print area in Excel.

Change Margins
You can set your margins to be smaller than they are, and include more text on a page.  Most printers have margins, so you cannot set the margins all the way to zero.  However, you could set them to half or three quarters of an inch.

Word 2003

1. Go to File > Page Setup.
2. In the Margins area, change your margins to be smaller.
3. Click OK.

Word 2007

1. Go to the Page Layout tab.
2. Click on the Margins button.
3. Select Narrow.  Or, for custom margins, select Custom Margins at the bottom of the list, and change the margins in the Margins section and click OK.

Print Preview
Sometimes things don’t print the way you expect them to.  Take a look at how your document or spreadsheet will print before you print it by using Print Preview.  This will help you spot a problem before you print.

In Office 2003, go to File > Print Preview.  When you are finished using Print Preview, click Close.

In Office 2007, go to the Office button, hover over Print, then select Print Preview.  When you are finished using Print Preview, click Close.

Print Only Specific Pages
Why print every page of a document if you only need the content on a few of the pages?  Instead, you can print only the pages you need.

1. In Office 2003, go to File > Print, or in 2007, click on the Office button and select Print. 
2. In the Print Range section select:
   Current Page - to only print the current page
   Selection - to only print text you have selected
   Pages - to specify which pages you would like to print
3. To begin printing, click OK.

Set Print Area in Excel
Sometimes Excel wants to print more than you expect it to.  It is always a good idea to check Print Preview before you print from Excel, or you could end up printing many pages you didn’t intend to.  To only print the content you want to print in Excel, use Set Print Area.

Excel 2003

1. In your worksheet, select the area you want to print.
2. Go to File > Print Area.
3. From the box that pops out to the right, select Set Print Area.

To later clear the print area go back to File > Print Area and select Clear Print Area.

Excel 2007

1. In your worksheet, select the area you want to print.
2. Go to the Page Layout tab and click on the Print Area button.
3. Select Set Print Area.

To later clear the print area, go back to the Print Area button on the Page Layout tab and select Clear Print Area.

Happy Earth Day!