If you are using a printer or need to use it soon to print multiple copies of a document, it would be helpful to know more about the details of collate printing because it will help you get a successful result from multiple print clones of your original multi-page document. If it seems strange to you and not have heard about it yet, there is nothing to worry about because you can keep reading until the end of this text and learn what does collate mean when printing and find more details about this topic.
What does collate mean when printing?
First of all, it is great to go deeper and find the exact meaning of Collate in print. In a simple world, this phrase refers to taking several different printed pages and putting them together into a complete set. And the best thing is that you can use a system so that the printer does this by default and does not have extra trouble for you. So, this collection, arranging, and assembling process in a specific order would help prepare booklets, catalogs, manuals & collated color copies.
Also Read: “How to Connect HP Printer to WiFi?”
How to collate on your printer?
Now that you know what layout means when printing, you may want to use this option, and make things easier for yourself. If so, and if you don’t know how, this paragraph is written for you, so don’t waste time and keep reading.
- Pay attention that the Collate option (represented by a symbol featuring three pieces of paper) would be ticked by default. So, the first step is to check if the collate option is selected when you click ‘Print Document’.
- If it is okay, confirm you want to print, and the printer start collating your documents and print them in the order you want.
- But when this option is not chosen by default, you should look at the options menu to find the “collate” under Settings, whether using a touchable printer or an old one, then do the same process.
The benefits of collate printing
Also, it would be helpful to spend a few moments and read about the benefits of collate printing, which would help you make the best decision because you look at this concept from different points of view, such as:
- Reduce paper waste:
The first and most important point is that it is a great way to increase efficiency, which causes you to collect your documents more effectively and organize them efficiently to avoid paper waste because there are not multiple copies of the same document.
- Reduce the Print cost:
Just because it has an impressive effect of reducing paper waste, this way is very helpful in saving more money and decreasing printing costs.
- Save time:
As you read above, one of the most common cases that people use this method is when they want to print a large number of collated documents, like a seminar or instructive lecture. And that is because it helps them save more time by not having to paperclip or attach the pages.
- More convenience and accuracy:
And finally, all of them will cause you to take this route more easily by reducing the risk of misplacing or mixing up pages and no extra work to do.
When should I use collate?
In the above text, we mentioned briefly that this way is helpful if you print more than one document copy, but if I want to count some of the cases in which this method will specifically be useful, I can name:
- Printing a booklet: For example, when you are a teacher and want to frequently collate printed test booklets from page 1 to page 2 and onward to the end.
- Also, it will be helpful if you want to make information packets, product manuals, calendars, brochures, and books.
- And if you want specific pages to be checked before combining copies, this way would be a great option.
- And other examples you can use this way are Marketing information packets, Instruction manuals, Product information, Program literature, Professional portfolios, Flashcards, Event and wedding table cards, Custom playing cards, trivia cards and tarot and oracle cards, Recipe cards, Devotional decks, and Note cards and stationery.
What happens if I don’t collate?
When you don’t like to use the collet printing technique, it means that you are using out-of-order printing, which is the exact opposite of the first options in functions and features. Uncollated printing means you order the printer to print three copies of 5 pages, so the result is 111, 222, 333, 444, and then 555. Therefore, if you want to order the documents after they are printed by yourself, or if you do not need them in order, you must deselect the default Collating option before printing the document.
Collate printing vs uncollated
In conclusion of this topic, it would be great to make a comparison between the Collate printing technique and the uncollated one. The below chart shows the main differences between these two methods in summary.
| Uncollated | Collated | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | compiled randomly or in an unspecified order | Compiled in a specific order |
| Purpose | When your piece has more than one page and those pages are printed separately. | When your piece has more than one page and is printed in the order you specify. |
| Examples | A stack of custom postcards | Custom flashcards printed with animals, uppercase and lowercase letters. |
Conclusion:
Previously, you learned what does collate means when printing and read all details about this topic, like why to use this method, when it is necessary to use it, and how to enable this option on your printer. Also, we talked about the main differences between this method and the Uncollated way. So the next time you want to print marketing information packets, product information, instruction manuals, program literature, or professional portfolios, use it and make the process much easier for yourself.
FAQ
- What is an example of collate printing?
There are different examples, like booklets, brochures, manual guides, and like this.
- Should I collate or not print?
There is no general answer to this question, and it would vary based on your purpose, for example, if you want to print more than one document copy, you can use collated printing.
- What does collate mean when printing double sided
Fortunately, you can use the ‘collate’ function for printing double-sided and print all pages in the correct order.
