photosmart 7520

[jwin7831]

Printer offers 3 print options

IDS off

IDS Hi quality grayscale

IDS black ink without HK

Can someone tell me what these mean?  And which one would be the most economical for everyday printing.

Thank you

[DavidSMP]

Hi @jwin7831,

A warm welcome to the HP community. A very good day to you.  I reviewed the post about seeking information about the quality of printing that is most economical.I will be glad to assist you with this.

Superb description and excellent diagnosis of the issue before posting. Kudos to you on that score.  You are a valued HP customer and I take it as a privilege to share this platform with you.

For better clarity and to assist you better, I would require more information regarding this.

• Are you trying to make copies directly from the printer?
• Did you try all 3 settings and check the most cost effective option and which consumes the least amount of ink?

The HQ Grayscale will use less CMY than say Normal mode printing, but will not be a drastic reduction. However, the Black Ink Only feature does reduce the CMY usage quite a bit. (c-cyan, m-magenta, y-yellow)

The Black Ink Only feature will limit the color usage to only the amount that goes under the black ink to ensure a long-standing printout and the true-black tone that is expected. This also is how the engineers have developed the printheads to perform self-maintenance. This keeps a small amount of color ink fresh in the nozzles and prevents damage.

The most economical printing would be fast draft and black ink only.  The grayscale setting uses the color cartridge to print grayscale because this provides better quality.  The quality is better with grayscale but it will use more ink.

So the best and economical option would be print in draft mode for everyday printing.

Please keep me posted. I will keep a watch for your reply.

Hope this helps.  Let me know how this goes. I genuinely hope the issue gets resolved without hassles and the unit works great.   Please reach out for any issues and I'll be there to assist you. 

To simply say thanks, please click the "Thumbs Up" button to give me a Kudos to appreciate my efforts to help.

 If this helps, please mark this as “Accepted Solution” as it will help several others with the same issue to get it resolved without hassles. 

Take care now and have a splendid week ahead.