Collated printing means to arrange printed sheets of paper in a proper order. As we know when you want to print a document on your printer there are several options available. Firstable you can enter the number of copies you want to print, to increase or decrease the number of copies.
Then you can select other options like: reverse print order - make sure that the option is not already selected in the printer settings. Otherwise, the print order will not be reversed.
Next option is Collate or Sort - which sorts the pages (in case there are two or more copies of the print). You can also sort in reverse order printing.
Then you can select other options like: reverse print order - make sure that the option is not already selected in the printer settings. Otherwise, the print order will not be reversed.
Next option is Collate or Sort - which sorts the pages (in case there are two or more copies of the print). You can also sort in reverse order printing.
Printer can sort multiple print jobs. For instance, if you print 2 copies of a 3-page document and you do not want to collate them, the pages will be printed in this particular order: 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3 called Offset.
As you want them to be collated, the pages will print in this order: 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 called Collate.
When do you need collated printing?
While printing a book, checks or multi-part forms for example because their pages have to be collated in order before the book or other document could be bound. Sometimes you do not need your document to be bound however the numerical order has to be kept, for instance when printing promotional packets, folders or instructional handouts.
Mind that collated printing cause faster consumption of laser printer's toner. When I bought my first ever laser printer (about ten years ago), the seller warned me that using the "Collate" when printing multiple copies of the same document is not a good idea. He explained it this way, that when you print a few copies of the same page, the toner cylinder is only once exposed. Then, with the same "image" there can be any number of copies printed, using only the toner.
So if you print a few copies without collated order, then for each page - the cylinder is exposed only once, and then will print a few copies of the same page. However If you print with the option to sort it (collate) before printing each page of each copy, the cylinder will have to be exposed again. Which of course will reduce its life and will wear out faster.
So with or without the option to consume the same amount of toner, but excluding sorting (collate) option can significantly save the cylinder. I must admit that collate printing is more convenient for me (and perhaps for all), but I do not want to unnecessarily waste the toner cylinder. In such case it's obvious to avoid collated order.
So if you print a few copies without collated order, then for each page - the cylinder is exposed only once, and then will print a few copies of the same page. However If you print with the option to sort it (collate) before printing each page of each copy, the cylinder will have to be exposed again. Which of course will reduce its life and will wear out faster.
So with or without the option to consume the same amount of toner, but excluding sorting (collate) option can significantly save the cylinder. I must admit that collate printing is more convenient for me (and perhaps for all), but I do not want to unnecessarily waste the toner cylinder. In such case it's obvious to avoid collated order.
