What Does Collate Mean When Printing? Printing is rather easy when you print a single page or a few pages.
Navigate and select the number of copies, and the printer does the rest. It would print all the pages, from the first page in a logical order to the last.
What happens when you only need several pages of a multi-page document? It could be difficult to print them correctly; therefore, printing technologies have the collate function. Let us see what this function is all about and how it helps in the printing industry.
What Does Collate Mean When Printing?
Collate Printing means printing pages in a multi-page document sequentially. The pages in the collate option will be printed in sequence, one set after the other.
In a non-collated option, the printer will produce multiple copies of the document’s first page, then multiple copies of the 2nd, etc. With collate, it will print all the pages, then repeat.
Should You Collate When Printing?
There is a lot of printing lingo, and you might feel inadequate if you are not clear on it. Collating is a crucial printing technology that can make everything more convenient. So should you use collate when printing?
Eventually, it boils down to the size of the documents you want to print. Collating is not something that most people with light printing tasks need to do. You don’t need to collate if you need to print two copies of a two-page document.
It will be easier to arrange the documents after printing. But if you had a multiple page document of around 60 pages long and you need 20 copies.
Such tasks are common in the printing industry, and it would be tedious to print them and then arrange them.
The printer would begin by printing 20 copies of the first page in a normal printing mode. It will then print 20 copies of the second page and 20 copies of the third page. Once it is one, you will have to pick out each page and arrange them into 20 batches.
This will be tedious, and you might miss the correct order. The best thing will be to use the collate function printing option in such a case. This will print the data for you in logical sets and produce a complete set of each copy before the next.
This automated collation will make your job much easier. You will only need to wait for each set to finish and take them out of the printer. So if you have a large document and need several copies, you should use the collate function.
The Benefits Of Collated Printouts
Having printing skills might be a great asset, especially for office printers. These skills are also important for offering professional printing services. Such printers have numerous users, and speed is crucial.
Collation is a critical skill in such a situation, so there are many advantages to having this skill. Most printing technologies integrate this in their printers, so you must be familiar with this printing lingo. Here are the benefits of using the collate option;
Reduces chances of mistakes
A human mind is a powerful tool, but it has its weaknesses, and one of them is apparent in repetitive tasks. If you have to print multiple copies of a large document, you might have difficulty concentrating.
You will get bored by the task at hand and lose concentration. This distraction increases the chance of disordering the sheets of paper. You eliminate this printing problem by using the collate function.
Through collated printing, you will only need to worry about separating the complete sets from each other. Your printer will use the collated printing feature to print all the pages in sequential order. You will not have issues with misplacing individual pages.
It is faster and easier
Collated printing offers you the chance to do an hour’s worth of sorting in minutes. You will collect the collated copies in their sequential order without doing any work. This makes your print jobs much easier than with uncollated printing.
Additionally, it will take less time to gather the collated copies and separate them rather than the non-collated option.
You can have documents collated in many printing software, so it is something you must always consider for multi page documents.
What Are The Most Common Types of Binding For Collate Copies?
A good printing service provider will have ways of binding the printed documents for their client.
It would be best if you had them in a specific sequence but collating will do it for you without any printer issues. Let us see how you can bind the documents for your customers;
Staple and tape
This is the best choice for an office job that doesn’t need much flare. It is simple, cheap, and takes very little time. If you use an office printer, you will want to move quickly.
Staple along one side, preferably the left side, since it will be easier to read. The size of staples will depend on the sheets of paper you are binding. Make sure you use staplers with large enough pins to go through the complete set.
Get wide tape, preferably a strong, durable option covering both staple pins. Put the tape on the left side and stick it along the printed document’s edge. Don’t spill over at the top or bottom since it will prevent the document from opening.
Hole punch and brads
This is the best choice for thicker printed documents that have more pages. You will need a hole punch to make holes on the left side of the paper. Make sure you don’t punch through the texts or images, but not too close to the edge, so it doesn’t tear.
Place brads into each hole and close them to keep the document together. If it is an art or fun project, you can use braids, rope, or any other material that can hold the sheets of paper.
Binder clips
This can handle a medium-sized batch of papers that are not too many pages long. This is the simplest one, but it might not be very effective. Get some binder clips and pin them on your document’s left edge, and you are all set.
The issue with this is that binder clips come off rather easily. You might lose some individual papers in the middle of the stack. If the stack is too large, the binders will not be strong enough to keep the papers in place.
Book rings
This is the best choice if you have many sheets of paper that you will use repeatedly. Get a hole punch and make three holes on the document. Put the holes on the left side, top, middle, and bottom.
Insert the book rings in the hole and lock them in place. You can punch one hole on the top right and use one book ring if you want to. Book rings are soft so that they won’t tear the paper even with frequent use.
How To Do Collate Printing
Microsoft Word is one of the most popular options for creating pdf documents. Therefore, it is important to know how to use Microsoft Word to automatically collate your print jobs. Luckily, Microsoft Word is very user friendly so let us get to it;
To begin, you must have a multiple page document. Collated printing refers to printing your documents in sequential order, so you must need collated copies of several pages. Once the document is ready, press the control (ctrl) and p key simultaneously.
This key combination is a shortcut to the printing window with a print preview. Alternatively, you can go to ‘file’ and see the print tab in the dropdown menu. Click on it to get to the print preview page.
You will see a small collate tab on the printing window with two options, the collated option, and the non-collated option.
The choices for paper order will be 1,2,3 1,2,3 or 1,1,1 2,2,2. You can select the one you prefer and then click the print icon.
The’ copies’ tab is on the right side of the print button; enter the number of collated copies you want.
If you choose the collated option (1,2,3), the printer will print the documents collated. Afterward, it will print the collated copies depending on the number you select in the copies tab.
Microsoft Word offers offline collation, so you can automatically collate your pdf documents anywhere.
This makes Microsoft Word an invaluable asset to any printing industry that might need large documents collated.
Bottom Line
If you were wondering what does collate mean in printing? Then you have an answer. There are new printing technologies that offer more convenience and speed. Collated printing means you get your documents in sequential order from the printer.
Uncollated printing brings about a lot of work sorting the pages in the correct order. The more pages there are, the easier it is to make mistakes in the page order. Collating can also help you group text pages with similar characteristics.