Ideal office paper for the office

We certainly won’t pay attention to, nor do we have any reason to pay attention to, the parameters of the paper on which we occasionally jot down a few notes. It is different when choosing office paper, which can affect printing costs, print quality, and last but not least, the wear or overall lifespan of the printer. But do you even know what criteria you should take into account when choosing it?

Paper format won’t cause you any headaches

The format of office paper won’t be the slightest problem. Standard printers usually work with the classic A4 format. You don’t have to worry even if your company printers require A3 format, or even larger dimensions, which are naturally no longer offered as sheets, but as paper rolls.

Even with such a large paper format, you can choose according to various criteria. Available are matte graphic paper, universal paper, tracing paper, as well as specialty papers and artist canvases. However, let us return to classic office paper in A4 format.

Pay close attention especially to the paper parameters

For printing simple office documents and presentations, standard office paper will be sufficient, the kind you may have been using in your office until now.

However, if you need to print documents of greater importance, and therefore of higher quality, you will need to look for office paper with different parameters. Office papers differ from each other in four basic parameters.In grammage, whiteness, opacity, and texture. We will briefly explain what it is about in the following lines.

1. Paper weight

As the term itself suggests, paper weight refers to the weight of the paper. More precisely, it is about the weight of paper with an area of 1 m2. With this parameter, of course, a direct proportion applies. The higher the grammage of office paper, the rougher and thicker the paper is.

Standard office paper is easy to recognize not only by its favorable price, but also by its weight, which ranges from 80–90 g/m2. As we have already indicated above, you will use this paper for the everyday printing of basic documents.

Office paper with a weight of 100–120 g/m² has proven effective for printing flyers, brochures, and promotional materials. In the end, we were left with paper with a weight of 200–250 g/m², which is a perfect choice for printing invitations or presentation materials with the highest priority.

2. Paper whiteness

When choosing paper, one must not forget the fact that office paper can come in various shades of white. These depend on the type and amount of optical brightener used. Whiteness, or if you prefer paper brightness, affects print results. The whiter the paper, the higher the print contrast and, to some extent, the more vivid the colors, so printed documents look better at first glance.However, in practice, lower paper whiteness means less contrast between the text and the background, thus reducing eye strain when reading long texts.

3. Paper opacity

Opacity is essentially the ability of office paper not to let light pass through. Show-through of printed text to the other side can be a serious problem with double-sided printing, so do not overlook the opacity rating. The opacity of office paper is measured as a percentage according to the methodology of ISO 2471. The measured percentage expresses the amount of retained light. In this case, it therefore applies that the higher the percentage of opacity a office paper has, the more effectively it can eliminate unwanted show-through of content from one side of the sheet to the other.

4. Paper texture

The last parameter we will look at today is the texture of the paper.Office paper is primarily intended for printing documents and, if necessary, for copying. In general, papers with a smooth surface are therefore recommended for laser printers. Inkjet printers handle both smooth and textured paper surfaces equally well.

However, the texture of the paper can play an important role, especially when printing photographs. You can choose photo papers with a glossy, semi-gloss, satin, or even matte finish. Ultimately, it depends only on you which paper you choose.

Tips in conclusion

All the mentioned office paper parameters, or the information provided on the packaging, can precisely define what type of printer and what printing tasks the given office paper is intended for.

If you do not overlook them when choosing office paper, you can be sure of the quality of your prints as well as extending the lifespan of your printer.

Not sure how to choose photo paper? You can find several useful pieces of information in the guide on how to choose photo paper for your printer.