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Comment by smeej | Hacker News Reader

I'm surprised how many people are writing about their solutions for printing. I thought by now most people had done what I've done and just set things up not to need to print.

Xournal allows me to fill out anything I could print from PDF with a stylus on my touch screen. If I want to read and highlight something, I convert it to PDF and read it in Logseq with the same stylus. I can highlight in four colors and it automatically collects my notes!

If I need to mail/ship something, I just have the ship shop print it.

What are people intentionally printing to paper for, often enough that it's worth having a printer?

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> What are people intentionally printing to paper for, often enough that it's worth having a printer?

If I'm being honest, mine is a mid-range document scanner that also happens to have a color laserjet attached for the occasional form or whatever that has to be on paper and will still be cheaper for me to print at home then get it from the print shop.

50 page ADF with duplex scanning is something you get in the ~$200+ price range of standalone document scanners, and they tend to not have a flatbed either for the occasional photo or copy of a page from a book. I'd love to be 100% paperless, but even for my very digital life I haven't managed to get that far yet.

Many places still ask you to physically sign and then scan/post back things. E.g fill in a pdf with a computer then print and manually sign with a pen.

It is not every day, but frequently enough that not having a printer is a pain.

I scanned a copy of my signature probably a decade ago and have yet to find anyone who can tell the difference between my adding that to a doc and sending it back, and actually printing, signing, and scanning it back.

Write your signature. Scan it in. Apply it to documents that want signatures.

To some people, this doesn't "feel right" the same way that it doesn't "feel right" that I have rolling star-base office chairs around my dining room table. They are far more comfortable than any "dining room chair" I've ever been in.

In both cases, when people don't take my good advice, I shrug and move on.

Ok sure so use a pen or use the printer to write your signature - that doesn't change the need sometimes to go give the doctor/school/solicitor/etc a physical copy.

You can keep your "good" advice, but please do move on.

In fairness, that’s different from the print/sign/scan workflow you mentioned first.

I also have a printer for those rare occasions. More commonly, I copy-paste my signature image onto the digital form and send it right back.

When they need a physical copy, they should be providing the physical blank.

I am a musician and need to print sheet music for the ensembles that I play with. I personally like reading off of an iPad, but there are plenty of situations where that is difficult or impossible.

I've also printed a lot of maps for climbing/ hiking/ mountaineering.

There are a lot of situations where having a printed copy of something can be critical, either for performance or safety. I like virtual reality, but a lot of us are still operating in meat space.

> What are people intentionally printing to paper for, often enough that it's worth having a printer?

Shipping labels, government processes that require hard copies, and legal documents that require real signatures rather than electronically signed ones.

Sometimes I print out code docs and other software things to trick my brain into a different perspective. Being able to touch the information on an object in space is useful to me. Not buried next to other distractions on a computer. Helps me focus on the task at hand.

I also sketch out code on pen/paper sometimes for similar reason.

1. Shipping labels

2. Boarding passes (yes, I suppose I could pay the airline $30 for the privilege, but it doesn't take _that_ many flights to break even on a basic laser printer. I could also use mobile passes, but airlines are sometimes weird in not supporting those for specific flight/booking combination, and they need power).

Which airlines charge to print a boarding pass at the airport? I haven't ever encountered this charge, but maybe it's a regional thing? I've ways been able to walk up to the self-serve kiosk, enter a few details, and print the thing right off.

The largest european airline does: https://help.ryanair.com/hc/en-us/categories/12488813755537-...?

Air Baltic also does unless you buy a more expensive ticket. (Otherwise they are much better than Ryanair.)

Many people are using mobile/digital boarding passes these days.

> but airlines are sometimes weird in not supporting those for specific flight/booking combination, and they need power

> What are people intentionally printing to paper for, often enough that it's worth having a printer?

For me personally, sometimes I think better when I have paper than with a computer or tablet. If the limiting agent is my thinking, then I'm better off with paper.

Some things require an ink signature. That’s probably 50% of the tiny amount of printing I do.

I've yet to find anything accepted electronically where a scanned copy of my ink signature (from 10 years ago) added electronically to the form was distinguishable from printing it and signing it today.

Anything not accepted electronically, the entity requiring the signature also provided the blank form.

That's why I'm stumped. I genuinely have not had a need to print something in 10+ years.

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