Wes Chyrchel

Do you know those people who print out emails? Drives me crazy. There will always be those people, but we don’t have to do it at work! The paperless office has been talked about for decades. Critics have slammed it for years and the paper manufacturers are freaking out, lobbying heavily that they have taken it upon themselves to sustainably manage many forests. If they go, so do all of these beautiful forests! Hmm, I don’t know about that. Sure, some say electronic documents harm the environment just as much with the devices carbon impact, but to that end, the paper industry is just as much at fault, because we need printers to print on paper.

The new computer tablets offer a little more flexibility and are very handy document machines. In fact, we exclusively use the iPad for client contracts. They read, sign and get emailed a copy immediately. It’s a great solution.

The one problem is that we can refrain from printing as much as we want, but that doesn’t mean someone else wont print. There are grandmas and grandpas all over the country printing out emails right now and there is nothing we can do. Or is there? What if we could prevent people from printing the stuff we send them? I’m not talking about the, “save a tree, please don’t print this email.” in your signature. I’m talking about removing the Print button altogether.

Introducing WWF! “A new green file format that can’t be printed out.” The WWF format was created by the World Wildlife Fund and it’s partners to save habitats for wild animals by eliminating the possibility of printing. The WWF file format uses the same technology as a PDF and can be opened by most PDF software readers. It’s a brilliant solution that just locks the PDF down. Technically you could always do this with PDF’s, but now you can send a message. We are taking action to preserve the environment and you should too!

To learn more about the WWF file format and how to convert your documents to WWF, visit Save As WWF. Also, watch the great video below.