Ghacks Christmas Giveaway: FinePrint

Martin Brinkmann
Dec 19, 2008
Updated • Apr 14, 2016
Software
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91

Five days to go before the Ghacks Christmas Giveaway ends. We have given away lots of licenses to many popular software programs and today's program is no exception to that rule. FinePrint is a printing software that can be used to manage print jobs before they are send to an actual printer on the computer system. It is basically a tool to reduce paper and ink usage on a computer system without reducing the quality of the prints.

If you regularly print out websites or documents you must have noticed that they do not fit perfectly on paper all the time. Websites are usually to large to fit correctly on paper which will move some elements - usually those on the right side that do not fit on the print - to a second paper. This could leave you with menus that will be printed on their own paper, something that is not normally needed at all.

FinePrint offers ways to deal with those pages and a few additional features that make it an interesting software for everyone who prints out those documents regularly.

Installation of FinePrint should go through without problems. It adds itself as a virtual printer to the computer system suggesting to the user that it should be set as the default printer on the system. Either way print jobs can then be send to the software application where they will be listed in the main interface.

You can send multiple print jobs to FinePrint and the software will display them all in its interface. One of the major features of the software is to remove pages that are not needed in the printout. You can flip through the pages and zoom in on them to find out if a page is needed or not. Pages that are not needed can be removed easily with the click of the button.

FinePrint will display the paper savings in the status bar which should give you an indication of its effectiveness.

Removing papers from a print job is one thing, combining pages on one paper is another. The printing software can print 1,2,4 or 8 sheets of the print job on a single sheet. It can also print them double-sided if the printer is supporting that feature. Printing 8 pages on one sheet is good for eagle-eye users or archiving purposes.

Additional options are available to save computer ink. Graphics can be removed from the printouts and the quality can be set to grayscale to use only black ink when printing. You can define borders, margins and bindings and also add stamps (confidential, proof, internal use etc) to the papers.

If the document is ready for printing you can simply send it to one of the connected printers by pressing the printer button in the FinePrint interface.

The only thing that is missing is the ability to remove or move objects on a page as well. Other than that is is a great application to save paper. Could be very handy in office or for users who regularly print out websites and other documents.

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Comments

  1. Rajaneesh said on December 2, 2009 at 3:21 pm
    Reply

    Wow excellent software. I hope many people will start using softwares like this, which will help our environment and save trees.

  2. Alfie said on December 2, 2009 at 12:54 pm
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    Just in time for my 70th Birthday?

  3. sc said on December 2, 2009 at 10:20 am
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    Have always wanted to have this. Hopefully, I’ll be lucky this year.
    Thanks.

  4. Sling said on December 31, 2008 at 5:51 pm
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    FinePrint is a nice program.

    It’s good for you to print your jobs to a shared printer, since there are chances that someone else may take your printouts away, especially when your printed jobs get embedded into others’ ones. It can allow you to put a banner (e.g., your name on the first, or every page of your printed job), you (of course, other users) can easily find your printed jobs from a stack of paper.

    However, it does have some shortcomings. Nowadays, more and more scientific journals put some banners (like, where and when you download their PDF file) on each page of a given PDF file. These banners generally run vertically on each page. I’m not sure whether the latest version of FinePrint can handle these banners well. The earlier version can not handle these banners well. For example, it generally prints these vertical banners horizontally that make normal words illegible. It sometimes can handle part of the vertical banners with tightly squeezed fonts.

    Sometimes, FintPrint can not handle well embeded images in a given PDF file (the images in the preview is OK, but the actual printout is not.).

    Sometimes, FintPrint converts the English words in a given PDF file to strange characters.

    If FintPrint can get rid of this shortcomings, it’ll be very useful.

  5. Mario said on December 30, 2008 at 8:28 pm
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    I used it in my previous office. Really one of the best program of this kind!

    Mario

  6. Bob Gest said on December 30, 2008 at 7:03 pm
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    Would love to have a license. I imagine I could save over a thousand trees.

  7. inter said on December 30, 2008 at 2:29 pm
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    4 trees!
    Thanks

  8. enzonline said on December 30, 2008 at 2:14 pm
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    10000 trees!!!
    Thank You!

  9. Cesar Ney said on December 27, 2008 at 12:58 am
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    Lets sava millions of trees.

    Excellent giveaway!

    Thanks!

  10. Tommy09 said on December 26, 2008 at 1:00 pm
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    Nice blog. Fineprint looks like a helpful utility.
    It would be great to win and therefore help saving some trees.

  11. Bookman said on December 26, 2008 at 7:44 am
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    This program is very well designed – It remains really unobtrusive until it is required – ie when you print and only then does it automatically appear (if it is the default printer) and that’s when it does it’s magic.

  12. thomas said on December 24, 2008 at 10:07 pm
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    Great features – Microsoft better hire these guys and make it a default in Windows OS. I intend to save a lot of trees….

  13. tux said on December 23, 2008 at 1:25 pm
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    Would love a copy. The processing options are nice.

  14. John said on December 23, 2008 at 2:01 am
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    Great features – Makes you wonder why this sort of thing isn’t built in to the operating system by default given how many times we end up getting “surprised” by what our print outs look like… ;-)

  15. Michael Malone said on December 22, 2008 at 8:52 pm
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    I would save at least a hundred trees with my copy, thanks.

  16. barney_ghl said on December 20, 2008 at 7:17 pm
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    Fiddlesticks! Looks like I missed one!

  17. Alfie said on December 20, 2008 at 5:53 pm
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    Great software. Not as many trees as my daughters would save as they go through reams of paper on my printer!

  18. Ravi said on December 20, 2008 at 2:11 pm
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    Interesting to see this software here. I had installed similar software from HP but could not get around to use it (cryptic instructions). I could use FinePrint until all websites have printer-friendly pages to start with :-)

  19. Jose said on December 20, 2008 at 11:30 am
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    I need it to can print tons of technical docs to my postgrade…

    Would love to win this one!

  20. Rick said on December 20, 2008 at 7:34 am
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    This is great software…I have been a fan of it and FinePrint PDF Factory… With FinePrint and the sister product PDF Factory; I really save alot of trees because I don’t have to use even one tree…

    Whomever gets the license for FinePrint; it is really great software!

    Rick

  21. ALberto Rodrigues said on December 20, 2008 at 6:57 am
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    I would like to save some trees. Nice soft.

    Add me.

  22. Hannes said on December 20, 2008 at 6:13 am
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    I would save a thousand trees ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhBrOwlPz8U ) at least! ;)

  23. Mario Filipe said on December 20, 2008 at 4:46 am
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    Nice offer, I would really like this one.

  24. Shawn said on December 20, 2008 at 1:26 am
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    Been a fan of this program for ages… the book printing method is great and the way it prints is quite ledgible.

    Add me to the draw on this one… I’d love to start making mini-books for the holidays..

    Shawn

  25. Arturo Barrera said on December 20, 2008 at 1:21 am
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    Looks like a winner to me!

  26. James Bond said on December 20, 2008 at 12:38 am
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    Fantastic soft!I need it!

  27. Reva Skie said on December 20, 2008 at 12:35 am
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    This would save at least a tree a year and countless wasted ink nags I generate from my SO.

  28. mickay said on December 20, 2008 at 12:35 am
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    It is going to be a hard winter at the place I live. That’s why, I need to save some trees on printing, in order to make my stove alight for all the winter time.

  29. Jovin said on December 19, 2008 at 11:33 pm
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    Very nice software package! Great way to save on ink, and paper.

    Would love to win this one.

  30. Michael said on December 19, 2008 at 11:32 pm
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    my printer says “offline until fineprint installed” :lol:

  31. bowlby4 said on December 19, 2008 at 11:08 pm
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    FinePrint is a great program. I highly recommend it.

  32. NetFlexx said on December 19, 2008 at 10:43 pm
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    Thx – put me in. Trying to save a lot of trees ;o)

  33. Tom said on December 19, 2008 at 10:38 pm
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    CU CU

  34. giglmania said on December 19, 2008 at 10:19 pm
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    cool program, nice, i try again …

  35. Bob Clark said on December 19, 2008 at 10:15 pm
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    Count me in – but I’ve not read the fine print

  36. Matthias said on December 19, 2008 at 10:12 pm
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    I’m in.

  37. Mezan said on December 19, 2008 at 8:29 pm
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    Hi Martin, this is definately very nice software, i used it once when i had to submit a 200 page project report, and it definately saved ink, I have a hp inkjet 3900 printer, and combining this software with the hp’s software gave me great results! Thanks for this giveaway :-)

  38. Marc said on December 19, 2008 at 8:28 pm
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    Count me in, please. Hope I’m lucky this time …

  39. Votre said on December 19, 2008 at 8:18 pm
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    Sounds great. I’d like to enter my name for this one.

  40. Jacques PYRAT said on December 19, 2008 at 8:07 pm
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    I would save a lot of trees because prviewing would make me choose not to print a lot of crap ;-)

  41. BlogWurm said on December 19, 2008 at 7:56 pm
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    At the moment I use PDFcreator to archiv all my documents, but Fineprint has more options and better quality.

    I think I would save at least one or two trees.

    So it would be great to win one license.

  42. Carolina Johnson said on December 19, 2008 at 7:49 pm
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    We are printing out a lot so would make a good use of this programme!

  43. Beverley Kerry said on December 19, 2008 at 7:34 pm
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    Wow – I so badly need this! I would save a LOT of trees (and a lot of money from going into the swear box!) ;)

  44. Steve Fox said on December 19, 2008 at 7:26 pm
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    great way to go green!

  45. Ethan said on December 19, 2008 at 7:25 pm
    Reply

    Very nice piece of software. I could save a least one tree! :)

  46. Dan said on December 19, 2008 at 7:10 pm
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    Beam me up!

  47. Mark said on December 19, 2008 at 6:59 pm
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    I never win at these advent comps, but hey, let’s throw my name in the hat for this one!

  48. Tom said on December 19, 2008 at 6:58 pm
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    I have used an earlier version of this program. It prooved to be so handy in several occasions. For instance saving a print when working on a computer with no printer connected to print it on another computer. Also printing a booklet was sometimes very neat. And of course, I have saved dozens of trees, because i was able to see if the print output was ok before sending it to the printer.
    I would love a copy of this program.

  49. john said on December 19, 2008 at 6:38 pm
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    It is very useful

  50. wim said on December 19, 2008 at 6:18 pm
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    a very green present, may i be so bold to ask for 1?

  51. sarana said on December 19, 2008 at 6:09 pm
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    Thanks!

  52. Doc said on December 19, 2008 at 5:52 pm
    Reply

    It could be very useful for me!

  53. s c said on December 19, 2008 at 5:43 pm
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    I would love to have this software. Thanks.

  54. Chris Wuestefeld said on December 19, 2008 at 5:27 pm
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    The giveaways just keep getting better. Sign me up!

  55. Christian said on December 19, 2008 at 5:20 pm
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    Sounds tempting. Less Paper, less toner, less storage. Why didn’t I came across this earlier? I wouldn’t only save trees for the paper but also for the shelves I store it in. Might be a small forest ;-)

  56. sergio said on December 19, 2008 at 5:17 pm
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    looks like a great program. Save tons of paper.

  57. yooman said on December 19, 2008 at 5:14 pm
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    I have a lot of prints, so this software will make me reducing the costs.

  58. tinwheeler said on December 19, 2008 at 4:53 pm
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    Now this I could really use. Send it to me ASAP.

  59. MerleOne said on December 19, 2008 at 4:51 pm
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    Hi,
    I am desperately looking for something likethis since InkSaver publisher seems to have gone belly up.

    Then how many trees ? I’d say I hope to reduce by 25% my paper usage.

    Thanks !

  60. Rodrigo Teixeira said on December 19, 2008 at 4:46 pm
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    Count me in!
    My father prints a lot, this would surely help saving some trees.

  61. Ken said on December 19, 2008 at 4:38 pm
    Reply

    Wow Martin, you certainly have nailed the cream of the shareware crop on your giveaway.

    While fineprint is fantastic and a huge paper / ink saver for its n-up and graphic removal abilities, I think the most overlooked feature is it’s ability to preview a job on screen before you send it to the printer.

    How many times have you printed a web page or email that has spanned three pages, when the relevant data is only on the first page? FinePrint shows you the print job, and easily allows you to delete individual pages before submitting it to the printer.

    For those that don’t win, I highly recommend this program!

  62. antonio said on December 19, 2008 at 4:19 pm
    Reply

    I’d love to save some trees here in Italy!! please help me!!

  63. Ed said on December 19, 2008 at 3:53 pm
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    yeh wooh! Trees! Lots of trees! Yeh!!!

  64. Johan Gustavsson said on December 19, 2008 at 3:52 pm
    Reply

    I Could have use for this great program!

  65. Even said on December 19, 2008 at 3:45 pm
    Reply

    It should save a tree if I could use it I think.

  66. William Becher said on December 19, 2008 at 3:34 pm
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    I will save about 5 trees by day!

  67. Jacob said on December 19, 2008 at 3:31 pm
    Reply

    Great prog, would like to get it.

  68. Paul. said on December 19, 2008 at 3:26 pm
    Reply

    I would like to save as much trees as possible.
    So the best thing to do, for me, is first off all is cross main fingers and than wish that i win a licence of fineprint. Looks like a ferry good app.

  69. Christian said on December 19, 2008 at 3:21 pm
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    I registered my copy of FinePrint 1.25 more than 11 years ago. I would definitely love to win a newer version. Count me in, please.

  70. Adam said on December 19, 2008 at 2:54 pm
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    Sounds fantastic. I’ve always wanted something along these lines.

    oh … and I figure around 3 trees.

  71. toe said on December 19, 2008 at 2:51 pm
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    love to save trees with the help of duplex print + fineprint multiup. It would cut down on paper wastage.

  72. Kosher-X said on December 19, 2008 at 2:46 pm
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    I hope to win a license for this one, at least. Until now, no luck.

  73. Stephen Talbot said on December 19, 2008 at 2:46 pm
    Reply

    Fine Print is a grrrrrreat program, at least a tree or two ;-)

  74. Jan said on December 19, 2008 at 2:39 pm
    Reply

    Nice to have to print emails and websites and parts of them.
    It saves trees (i think 3 a year) and money

  75. nk said on December 19, 2008 at 2:34 pm
    Reply

    thanks Martin!

  76. Ganesh said on December 19, 2008 at 2:15 pm
    Reply

    WOW!
    Great software.
    Would love to have this

  77. Raymond said on December 19, 2008 at 1:55 pm
    Reply

    Finally a program to correctly print websites.

    Ray

  78. Thomas said on December 19, 2008 at 1:55 pm
    Reply

    I wouldn’t save any tree, but I would be soooo cool! :-)

  79. cicom3nd3z said on December 19, 2008 at 1:50 pm
    Reply

    Count me in, please.

  80. Amit Kapoor said on December 19, 2008 at 1:21 pm
    Reply

    I want one too. Thanks.

  81. Gary said on December 19, 2008 at 1:10 pm
    Reply

    Count me in !

  82. Alpha said on December 19, 2008 at 1:09 pm
    Reply

    I will live to have this software as a student it will help me a lot

  83. WhACKO said on December 19, 2008 at 1:04 pm
    Reply

    This has proven to be a really useful program, saves ink, paper and saves loads of trees!

  84. Jerry said on December 19, 2008 at 1:03 pm
    Reply

    I love this app. It’s just brilliant. Save a lot of paper. At least cut half of the number of trees usually chopped up. Could I get it?

  85. Leigh said on December 19, 2008 at 1:03 pm
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    Great software. Would definitely use this everyday.

  86. lexus said on December 19, 2008 at 12:58 pm
    Reply

    Wonderful program! Excellent giveaway!
    Save the trees.
    Could I have one…

  87. Steven said on December 19, 2008 at 12:56 pm
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    I would love to have this great gift.. we would save lots of trees!!!

  88. Lawwe said on December 19, 2008 at 12:25 pm
    Reply

    Seh gutes Proggy

    cu
    Lawwe

  89. august said on December 19, 2008 at 12:19 pm
    Reply

    wow!!! i would love to have this one… ty

  90. Nicolai H said on December 19, 2008 at 12:17 pm
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    I hope that it work with my HP-internet printer, because the software that follow with my printer makes my computer 3x slower :( And I can’t print without the software :(

    I will deffently save alot of trees with this software :D

  91. Dan said on December 19, 2008 at 12:06 pm
    Reply

    Very nice software package! Great way to save on ink, and paper.

    Would love to win this one :)

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