A sorting device includes a base portion, a tray portion, and a tray driving portion. The tray driving portion includes a motor, a supporting shaft, an input member, an output member, a link mechanism, and an urging member. The input member includes a first boss portion movably supported on the supporting shaft, and is reciprocatable up and down along the supporting shaft. The output member has a second boss portion coupled with the first boss portion via a ratchet mechanism. The link mechanism converts a rotary motion of the output member to a linear motion of the tray portion. The ratchet mechanism operates such that, when a predetermined or heavier load is applied to the output member via the tray portion, the input member is pushed down against the urging force of the urging member and engagement between the first and second ratchet teeth is released.

A sheet stacking tray that includes a single pneumatic baffle which uses the pressure differential caused by the flow of air across a horizontal planar surface of the pneumatic baffle to hold the lead edge of sheets driven by an input nip into the sheet stacking tray above a stack especially for longer and lighter weight sheets as they are driven by the input nip to a registration wall.

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, a fixing unit, a door for accessing the fixing unit and a member positioned on an upstream side of the fixing unit in a conveyance direction of the recording material, a conveyance path for a recording material having a length in the conveyance direction equal to or longer than a predetermined length, and a control unit. The image forming unit forms an image on a recording material. The fixing unit fixes the formed image on the recording material at a nip portion. The recording material with fixed image is conveyed on the conveyance path. In a case where a predetermined recording material is conveyed to the conveyance path when a length of the predetermined recording material in the conveyance direction is shorter than the predetermined length, the control unit stops conveyance of the nipped predetermined recording material at the nip portion.

A control method for controlling a printing system includes selectively executing an inline job and an offline job. The inline job is for executing post-processing on a sheet printed by a printing apparatus by using a post-processing apparatus and the offline job is for executing post-processing on a sheet without executing printing by the printing apparatus by using the post-processing apparatus. The control method also includes restricting execution of the inline job if a sheet has been set in a paper feed unit that is a paper feed source of the offline job to be executed.

According to an embodiment, a sheet post-processing apparatus according to the embodiment includes a paddle member and a controller. The paddle member rotates around a rotating shaft, presses a plurality of sheets held on a processing tray against a stopper and aligns ends of the sheets in a sheet transport direction. After the ends of the sheets in the sheet transport direction are aligned, the controller further rotates the paddle member, and stops rotation of the paddle member in a state that the paddle member comes in contact with the sheets held on the processing tray.

An image forming apparatus can create various output products using a transparent sheet as intended by a user.

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion capable of forming a toner image on an envelope including a flap; a stacking portion configured to stack the envelope; a fixing portion configured to fix the toner image on the envelope; a display portion configured to display information; an acquiring portion configured to acquire information corresponding to a kind of the envelope; and a controller configured to control the display portion when a double-side mode is selected, so that a stacking method in which the envelope is stacked on the stacking portion in a state in which an orientation of the envelope is designated on the basis of the information acquired by the acquiring portion is displayed at the display portion.

A post-processing device for applying a post-process to a sheet fed from a device of a preceding stage is provided. The post-processing device includes a holding tray; an alignment mechanism; an output mechanism; and a control unit. In the case where a first sheet and a second sheet are different in size, the control unit performs a control in such a manner that, when the first sheet is fed, the alignment mechanism or the output mechanism shifts the first sheet to match the side edge of the first sheet and the side edge of the second sheet to be fed following the first sheet, and that, after the second sheet is fed, the output mechanism outputs the sheet bundle.

A sheet stacking tray that includes a single pneumatic baffle which uses the pressure differential caused by the flow of air across a cross process curved bottom surface of the pneumatic baffle to hold the lead edge of sheets driven by an input nip into the sheet stacking tray above a stack especially for longer and lighter weight sheets as they are driven by the input nip to a registration wall.

An image forming system including a printer that forms an image on a sheet and an inspection apparatus that inspects an image on a sheet delivered from the printer. A discharge mode for discharging a sheet inspected by the inspection apparatus and binding processing for binding a plurality of sheets as one bundle are set on a console panel. In a case where a first mode for discharging a first sheet determined as normal by the inspection apparatus to a first discharge destination, discharging a second sheet determined as defective by the inspection apparatus to a second discharge destination different from the first discharge destination, and discharging a third sheet conveyed subsequently to the second sheet, determined as normal by the inspection apparatus, to the first discharge destination is set as the discharge mode, and the binding processing is set, execution of the corresponding job is stopped.