The days of sitting over the Sunday paper, clipping coupons with a pair of scissors, are over. Big-box retailers, grocery stores, and even corner markets are online now, and so are their coupons. Searching for coupons online is easy: Just head to online stores or brand-name Websites for products you regularly purchase. Different sites have different methods for printing the coupons, though, so make sure you know what you’re getting into before spending time “clipping” your online coupons.
Step by Step: The Old-Fashioned Print Button
The easiest way to print coupons online is with the good old Print command.
Step 1. When you see the coupon on the screen, click File, Print in your Web browser.
Step 2. Select the printer, and click OK.
Step 3. Remember that this method will print the whole Web page, which is fine for many retail clothing stores; they often have single pages dedicated to large, storewide coupons (all sweaters 20 percent off, for instance). This approach rarely works with grocery and food coupons.
Step by Step: Printing From a Java Applet in Your Web Browser
Some coupon sites, such as Smart Source, use a Java Web applet to print coupons.
Step 1. Go to SmartSource.com in your Web browser.
Step 2. Click the Select This Coupon box for each of the coupons that you want to print.
Step 3. On the upper-right side of the screen, click Print Now.
Step 4. If you are prompted to install Java, click OK and then Run.
Step 5. Java will automatically install in your Web browser, and your “clipped” coupons will automatically output to your computer’s default printer.
Step by Step: Printing From Third-Party Coupon Programs
The biggest coupon site on the Web, aptly named Coupons.com, requires special software, separate from Java or your Web browser, to print “clipped” coupons. Many other popular coupon sites, such as Oprah favorite CouponMom.com, link back to Coupons.com.
Step 1. Visit Coupons.com in your Web browser. Click Register to create an account, which is required to print coupons.
Step 2. Once you’re signed in, on the Coupons.com homepage enter your zip code in the upper left and press Enter. This action will find stores in your area.
Step 3. Click the Clip box on all the coupons you want to print, and then click Print at the upper-right corner of the site.
Step 4. On the following page, click Install Coupon Printer. When the dialog box appears, click Save to download the Coupon Printer installer to your computer. Remember where the file is saved.
Step 5. Double-click on the installer file, CouponPrinter.exe, to install Coupon Printer on your hard drive. The program will automatically open after installation.
Step 6. In the program, enter the Coupons.com login and password that you created in step 1. Now you’ll see all your “clipped” coupons. Click Print.