Anyone Printed Off a USB Flash Drive at the Office Store?

Remy

Remy

Well-known Member
Location
California, USA
I've never used a flash drive. I don't want to get printer ink. It's expensive and I don't use it a lot and I swear the cartridges clog up.

I do want to print some free patterns I have saved on Ravelry (knit and crochet site) and also some vintage embroidery patterns that no longer have copyright protection. Well at least I don't think they do. However sometimes I get a notice that something I saved was removed from Pinterest due to a copyright complaint. But those have usually been cross stitch patterns.

Is this easy to do? Do I just buy the flash drive, save the patterns to it and then take the flash drive to Office Depot etc.? Thanks for any responses.
 

Your local library may be able to print the documents for you for free. As long as it is not a specialized program or exclusive file type you should be able to take it to the library or your local office supply store to print. Office Depot offers a self serve printer. You can email the file to the printer and then go to the store to print it. Call your store and they can help you; most Office Depot locations offer this service. When you email the file, you will receive an ID number to retrieve your document on the printer. They also allow you to upload the document online and you can pick it up at the store.
Walgreens, Staples, UPS and other stores offer similar services.

I would call the library first, they would most likely be the least expensive only charging for the paper. My local library allows you to print by uploading or emailing the documents.

Don't buy a USB drive until you check around. You probably will not need it.
 
Good Advice. I too have given up on those crazy ink jets that cost "an arm and a leg" and now just have a black and white laser. However, I have 3 pages I need printed for my autobiography so I am heading off to Staples.
 

s76l42 said:
Your local library may be able to print the documents for you for free. As long as it is not a specialized program or exclusive file type you should be able to take it to the library or your local office supply store to print. Office Depot offers a self serve printer. You can email the file to the printer and then go to the store to print it. Call your store and they can help you; most Office Depot locations offer this service. When you email the file, you will receive an ID number to retrieve your document on the printer. They also allow you to upload the document online and you can pick it up at the store.
Walgreens, Staples, UPS and other stores offer similar services.

I would call the library first, they would most likely be the least expensive only charging for the paper. My local library allows you to print by uploading or emailing the documents.

Don't buy a USB drive until you check around. You probably will not need it.
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Thanks for this reply. Very helpful. I did read online (the office depot site I believe) that you can e mail the file. But what if I want to send 20 or 30 separate pattern files? If not more. There are a number of things I've wanted to have printed. Haven't done it due to not wanting to mess with my printer or buying another cartridge.
 
Remy said:
Thanks for this reply. Very helpful. I did read online (the office depot site I believe) that you can e mail the file. But what if I want to send 20 or 30 separate pattern files? If not more. There are a number of things I've wanted to have printed. Haven't done it due to not wanting to mess with my printer or buying another cartridge.
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You're welcome Remy, Call them you may be able to upload that many at once depending on the size or compress them in a zipped file. If not, then get an inexpensive thumb drive. But like I said check with your library first, they may do it for free or very low cost.
 
Packerjohn said:
Good Advice. I too have given up on those crazy ink jets that cost "an arm and a leg" and now just have a black and white laser. However, I have 3 pages I need printed for my autobiography so I am heading off to Staples.
Click to expand...
Printers have come a long way. You pay more initially for a LaserJet but well worth the savings. The newer EcoTank printers are much better, instead of expensive cartridges, printers of this type have a large ink reservoir that can be filled with inexpensive bottles, with a full tank yielding thousands of prints.
 
You mention expensive printer inks so you are not writing about black and white (B&W) printing from usual laserjets that use toner cartridges. Easy to buy low expense B&W laser printers that last a long time. So are referring to color ink printing. I have had a few Epson color printers and all wasted large amounts of ink due to running cleaning cycles for nozzle clogging. Thus a decade plus ago gave up and since have been content to occasionally use a FEDEX store 3 blocks away for any non fine art color printing. The quality is better because such businesses purchase more expensive large commercial level equipment. Cost per print at most just a few bucks for even 11x17 sizes. For B&W my Brother 8.5x11 printer is still fine after 2 decades.

However one will need a freeware image resizing application to properly fill target paper media sizes. This is what non tech savvy people tend to be confused about and most free application advertisements only make such worse by dumbing down feature descriptions so customers won't need to understand.

https://fixthephoto.com/best-free-photo-resizing-software.html

Most printing is performed on 8.5x11 inch standard size paper media. One should size jpg images to fit such paper with an image's largest dimensions with at least a small border because printers are not designed to print at extreme edges. Thus an image intent to fit 8.5x11 might print to fill just 8.0 by 10.5 inches leaving a half inch border. If such an image is saved at 200 pixels per inch (PPI), that creates an image of 1600 (8.0x200) by 2100 pixels (10.5x200).

However if an image's PPI is set to say 100 pixels per inch (without downsizing file size), the resulting printed image doubles in printed size to 16 by 21 inches. When one copies an image from a web source or application or uses a screen capture app for something viewed on a pc monitor, the PPI value might be anything without a concern for whatever to be able to print at a specific size on paper media. If the image is saved at 400 PPI, a resulting printed image would be printed at half the size to 4.0 by 5.25 inches. If an image file has a too low pixel per inch value, say with the 100 pixels per inch case, the resulting printed image may not be sharp enough because the printer does not have enough detail to work with especially for color prints of photographs one want quality with. But even 50 pixels per inch would work well printing say an Excel worksheet using various color cells. Having a higher PPI than necessary for maximum quality a printer is capable of has no effect on quality because printers will merely throw away the excess pixels beyond dot per inch (DPI) capabilities.
 
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@Remy

s76142 gave you good advice, but answering the ? "is it easy?" ...yes. It is very easy to download files onto a flash drive and take it to a printer. Just hand them the drive and they will print the contents for you.

(just noticed this was posted on Thur. how'd it go?)
 
Murrmurr said:
@Remy

s76142 gave you good advice, but answering the ? "is it easy?" ...yes. It is very easy to download files onto a flash drive and take it to a printer. Just hand them the drive and they will print the contents for you.

(just noticed this was posted on Thur. how'd it go?)
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I don't move on things fast, so I haven't done anything yet. I did get a flash drive at Walmart yesterday. I might try that route. Last time I was at Office Depot to make copies, you can only use a credit or debit card even at self copy. Thought that was odd, but had no problems. There is usually someone to help if you need t ask a question.

And thank you for asking. That was nice.
 
Update: Took the USB to an office store. The knitting patterns printed fine. All the ones I saved for embroidery patterns were printing up really small. I finally gave up. The nice guy working the printing area enlarged them for me and didn't charge since he said I already paid to print them. I don't know why they were printing up so small and he didn't either. Did the USB device compress them? I wouldn't think so. The knitting patterns were fine full page. I'm at a loss.

So there were a number of things I didn't print.
 
Remy said:
Update: Took the USB to an office store. The knitting patterns printed fine. All the ones I saved for embroidery patterns were printing up really small. I finally gave up. The nice guy working the printing area enlarged them for me and didn't charge since he said I already paid to print them. I don't know why they were printing up so small and he didn't either. Did the USB device compress them? I wouldn't think so. The knitting patterns were fine full page. I'm at a loss.

So there were a number of things I didn't print.
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What type of file are the embroidery patterns? It sounds like they were designed to be printed on larger paper. What size paper did the office supply store try? What are the dimensions of the pattern?
 
Remy said:
Update: Took the USB to an office store. The knitting patterns printed fine. All the ones I saved for embroidery patterns were printing up really small. I finally gave up. The nice guy working the printing area enlarged them for me and didn't charge since he said I already paid to print them. I don't know why they were printing up so small and he didn't either. Did the USB device compress them? I wouldn't think so. The knitting patterns were fine full page. I'm at a loss.

So there were a number of things I didn't print.
Click to expand...
Open them on your PC, in Microsoft Word (If have it) select A4 and see if fits, or again when open one right click it, and then properties there will show the size, and if too small open with photos and resize. NO the USB would NOT compress them, seems to me when he printed them should have a preview window open to see the fit , fundamental really?
 
kburra said:
Open them on your PC, in Microsoft Word (If have it) select A4 and see if fits, or again when open one right click it, and then properties there will show the size, and if too small open with photos and resize. NO the USB would NOT compress them, seems to me when he printed them should have a preview window open to see the fit , fundamental really?
Click to expand...
Thanks. I was wondering if I should resize them first. But I was doing self printing and no preview. I went the office store. I may try Kinko's next.

He did size them up at no change from the ones I printed.
 
s76l42 said:
What type of file are the embroidery patterns? It sounds like they were designed to be printed on larger paper. What size paper did the office supply store try? What are the dimensions of the pattern?
Click to expand...
They were different sizes since I got most off of Pinterest. Standard paper size.
 
Remy said:
Thanks. I was wondering if I should resize them first. But I was doing self printing and no preview. I went the office store. I may try Kinko's next.

He did size them up at no change from the ones I printed.
Click to expand...
But all printers have PREVIEW before you print,to check layout,borders, etc,does your printer not have this option (Must have) what printer is it!
 
kburra said:
But all printers have PREVIEW before you print,to check layout,borders, etc,does your printer not have this option (Must have) what printer is it!
Click to expand...
It was at the office store. No preview. I actually had expected there would be. Because there were a few pages from the knitting patterns I would not have printed if I viewed the pages. I did look at them on my computer before downloading but then didn't remember everything once at the office store.
 
JPEG images are designed to be small; they are really not an idea file format for printing. They are also not the highest quality image and very difficult to resize. Does the site offer another file format?
 

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