How office print volume has actually changed since the pandemic
The pandemic was supposed to be the death of office printing. The data through 2025 tells a more interesting story — a sharp drop followed by partial recovery, with the new baseline notably lower than 2019 but not by as much as predicted.
"Print is dead" predictions accompanied office shutdowns in March 2020. Volumes did collapse — by 35-45% in many measured offices through the height of remote work. Five years later, the story is more nuanced. Volumes recovered partially as hybrid work normalised. Some categories of print declined permanently. Others rebounded fully. The 2025 office print baseline sits roughly 18-25% below 2019 — a real decline, but far from the collapse predicted at the time. This article unpacks what happened.
The volume timeline
The reference point
Average European office print volume sat at established mature-market levels — declining gently year-over-year at roughly 3-4% as digital workflows replaced specific print categories. The trajectory was a slow downward curve.
Volume collapse
Office attendance dropped to 10-20% of pre-pandemic levels at the height of lockdowns. Print volume followed proportionally — typical offices reported 35-50% volume declines for the duration of strict remote work mandates.
First rebound
As offices reopened partially and hybrid models took shape, print volume recovered to roughly 65-70% of 2019 baseline. The recovery was uneven by sector — legal and accounting bounced back faster than tech and marketing.
New baseline forming
Office attendance settled at 60-75% of pre-pandemic levels across most developed markets. Print volume stabilised at roughly 75-82% of 2019 baseline. Some pandemic-driven workflow changes (e-signature adoption, document portal usage) became permanent.
The settled state
Print volume holds at roughly 75-80% of 2019 baseline across measured offices. The underlying decline trajectory resumed at approximately 3% annually — similar to pre-pandemic decline rate but starting from a lower base.
The recovery percentage by office category
| Office category | 2025 print volume vs 2019 |
|---|---|
| Legal firms | ~85-92% — heavy paper-based workflows persisted |
| Healthcare clinics | ~88-95% — regulatory and patient-facing print stable |
| Public administration | ~78-85% — slow digital transition continuing |
| Accounting firms | ~75-82% — partial digitisation of tax workflows |
| Education (K-12) | ~80-88% — paper-based learning persists |
| Education (universities) | ~55-65% — strong digital migration |
| Marketing agencies | ~50-60% — most workflows digitised |
| Tech companies | ~40-50% — heaviest decline |
| Manufacturing offices | ~80-88% — shop-floor print recovered fully |
| Retail HQ | ~70-78% — partial digital migration |
Five drivers of the volume change
Why the decline persisted but did not collapse
- Hybrid attendance reduced base demand — fewer days in office mean fewer print transactions per worker per week, producing structural baseline reduction
- E-signature adoption replaced printed contracts — DocuSign, Adobe Sign, and Spanish-market equivalents removed a significant print category permanently
- Cloud document collaboration replaced printed drafts — Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace collaborative editing eliminated the routine cycle of printing drafts for review
- Regulatory and compliance print persisted — many statutory documents still require print delivery or paper copies, sustaining a floor of demand that digital cannot replace
- Vertical-specific paper workflows resisted change — legal, healthcare, public administration, and education retain paper-based workflows that produce sustained print demand regardless of broader digital trends
What the volume mix shift looks like
Beyond aggregate volume, the mix of what gets printed has changed. Routine office productivity print (drafts, internal memos, working documents) declined steepest as cloud collaboration replaced it. Client-facing print (proposals, contracts, deliverables) declined moderately as e-signature reduced the binding ceremony but presentation print persisted. Regulatory and compliance print declined least because the underlying obligations did not change. Marketing print declined moderately as digital marketing took share but retained a base for tactile applications.
Implications for office equipment specification
The post-pandemic mix shift affects MFP specification. Lower aggregate volume means smaller devices suffice for many offices that previously needed larger ones — a 30-staff office in 2019 might have needed a 50 ppm device; the same office in 2025 may be adequately served by a 35 ppm device. Higher color ratio per total volume — color print declined less than mono — means colour capability matters more in the device specification. Stronger emphasis on scan capability — replacing print with scan and digital workflows shifted scanner demands upward — means single-pass duplex scanning is now baseline rather than premium.
The 2030 outlook
Through 2030, office print volume likely continues declining at roughly 3% annually from the 2025 baseline. The decline rate is similar to the pre-pandemic trajectory but starting from a lower level. By 2030, office print volume may sit at roughly 65% of 2019 baseline. The decline is gradual rather than collapsing because the verticals that retained workflows in 2025 will continue retaining them through 2030, and new office formation in growth markets partially offsets decline in mature markets.
What this means for fleet planning
For offices planning multi-year MFP fleet refresh: size devices for current actual volume rather than projecting from 2019 levels, expect continued modest annual decline but not collapse, retain colour capability in fleet specification because colour share has held up, invest in scan capability proportional to the workflow demand it has absorbed, and review fleet size at each contract renewal cycle to adjust for ongoing baseline shifts. The pandemic accelerated industry changes that were underway but did not transform the print landscape as completely as 2020 predictions suggested.