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Issue: I use FedEx's ShipRush program to batch print packing slips for daily Ebay/Amazon orders everyday. This service automates a lot as-is but doesn't utilize very much of the actual paper that the order is printed on. Each order takes up less than 1/3 of the total space offered by your standard 8.5x11" printer paper.

I am tasked with handling several dozens of orders per day so you can imagine the amount of wasted paper given the months/years that I've been doing it this way (not to mention I'm not the only one using FedEx software). I estimate a modest 6400 pieces of paper wasted annually by the company I work for.

Question/Solution: I'm wondering, can this community offer any input for a solution or work-around to this issue? Here's what I envision. I know of a GitHub repo that confronts a similar issue regarding images (Image-Stitcher) I'm thinking of modifying this script (or a similar process) to interact with Window's Print Spooler API that would in effect combine [3] item's within the Spooler cache to print on one page, rather than 3 individual pages. Is this even possible given the nature of print spooler? Or the way the document is cached?

Notes: I'm not looking for someone to make the script for me, I'm pretty familiar with Python and other Windows API. I'm curious, is it even possible to alter the Print Spooler on this level before/during the time it's being sent to the printer? If so, is there a specific tool/command/function that will point me in the right direction?

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    I guess you can try to catch print jobs like this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15748386/how-to-catch-printer-event-in-python – Fabricator Jun 17 '15 at 00:11
  • Sure, you can catch print jobs, but combining multiple print jobs into a single one is going to be a complex problem. I can envision a few solutions to this but none of them are easy. And doing it in Python would just make a hard problem even harder. Given your estimate of 6400 sheets of paper saved annually, it would take many, many years to reach a non-negative ROI. – Carey Gregory Jun 18 '15 at 15:26
  • @Carey Gregory. Non negative ROI compared to what? The labor cost of creating "n" lines of code? I realize 6400 pieces of paper only amounts to 100-200 dollars a year however that's just my individual/personal computer. It's it's doable then I can scale it for dozens of other coworkers. With all due respect, I'd appreciate it if you left the ROI determination up to me because I'm interested in hearing about your "few solutions". Regardless of assumed practicality or in/exclusion of Python. –  Jun 18 '15 at 17:28
  • Sorry, didn't mean to overstep my bounds. I simply meant that it costs money to write, deploy and maintain code and it didn't sound to me like the level of savings you described would be worth the complexity it will require. But if you can scale it up to make it worthwhile, then more power to you. I'll write an answer for this, but it's going to have to be fairly general. – Carey Gregory Jun 18 '15 at 18:18
  • PS- What platforms do you have to support? I was assuming Windows but you didn't tag the question. If Windows, which versions? – Carey Gregory Jun 18 '15 at 18:24
  • No harm intended, no harm done. Just Windows, primarily 7 and up. I'll edit the tag, newb mistake on my part. Don't mind it being general, any pointers or suggestions I can run with would be a great start. –  Jun 18 '15 at 20:53

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