A sheet sorting apparatus comprising a first tray, a second tray, a conveyance unit, a tray detection unit, a stacking amount detection unit, and a control unit configured to control the conveyance unit to not convey the sheet to the second tray, in a case where the stacking amount detection unit detects that the amount of sheets reaches the predetermined amount, wherein the control unit is configured to permit the conveyance unit to convey the sheet to the second tray, in a case where the tray detection unit detects that the first tray is detached from the apparatus main body in a state where the stacking amount detection unit detects that the amount of sheets reaches the predetermined amount and conveyance of the sheet to the second tray by the conveyance unit is stopped.

An image forming apparatus includes a load detection sensor located on a feeder to detect whether a print medium is loaded on the feeder, an overload detection sensor to detect an overload state of a discharger, and a controller to detect a width of the print medium according to a combination of a feeder load state of a feeder load detection signal of the load detection sensor and an overload state of a discharger overload detection signal of the overload detection sensor and control an image former to perform printing by applying different print modes according to the detected width of the print medium.

A sheet stacking device includes a stacker, a detector, a blower, and a moving device. A sheet is stacked on the stacker. The detector detects a stacking amount of the sheet on the stacker. The blower blows air to the sheet stacked on the stacker. The moving device moves the blower with respect to the stacker based on the stacking amount of the sheet detected by the detector.

A sheet sorting apparatus comprising a first tray, a second tray, a conveyance unit, a tray detection unit, a stacking amount detection unit, and a control unit configured to control the conveyance unit to not convey the sheet to the second tray, in a case where the stacking amount detection unit detects that the amount of sheets reaches the predetermined amount, wherein the control unit is configured to permit the conveyance unit to convey the sheet to the second tray, in a case where the tray detection unit detects that the first tray is detached from the apparatus main body in a state where the stacking amount detection unit detects that the amount of sheets reaches the predetermined amount and conveyance of the sheet to the second tray by the conveyance unit is stopped.

A sheet processing device is for binding sheets together. The sheet processing device includes binding units differing from each other in maximum sheet count, the maximum sheet count being a maximum number of sheets that can be bound at a time; a sheet tray configured to hold sheets until all to-be-bound sheets are placed therein, the number of the to-be-bound sheets being a largest one of the maximum sheet counts of the binding units or smaller; and a stacked-sheet-count limiting unit situated in a thickness direction of the sheets held in the sheet tray. The stacked-sheet-count limiting unit is configured to limit the number of sheets held in the sheet tray by varying a distance from a sheet support surface of the sheet tray on which the sheets are placed, depending on one of the binding units by which the sheets held in the sheet tray are to be bound.

A sheet sorting device includes a plurality of trays, a tray shifter, a tray stop position detector, and circuitry. The plurality of trays is disposed in multiple stages in a vertical direction and configured to stack a sheet. The tray shifter is configured to move the plurality of trays separately in a tray shift direction. The tray stop position detector is configured to detect stop positions of the plurality of trays separately. The circuitry is configured to cause the tray shifter to move the plurality of trays to home positions in an initial operation, at least one tray having a home position opposite to a home position of another tray in the tray shift direction. The circuitry is configured to, while moving the plurality of trays at a same time in the initial operation, cause the tray shifter to move the trays in directions opposite to each other.

An image forming system includes: an image former that forms an image; a stacker that stacks a recording medium on which an image has been formed by the image former and which has been discharged from the image former; a lifter that raises or lowers the stacker between a stacking position where the recording medium is stacked and a lower position located below the stacking position; a recording medium detector that detects the recording medium stacked on the stacker; and a hardware processor that controls driving of the lifter so as to lower the stacker from the stacking position to the lower position when it is determined that the recording medium is on the stacker on the basis of a detection result of the recording medium detector within start-up time from a time when power is switched on to a time of shifting to an image formable state.

An image forming apparatus includes a storage, circuitry, and an information provider. The storage is configured to temporarily store one or more sheets to be removed without being used in the image forming apparatus. The circuitry is configured to determine whether a manual operation is performed on the image forming apparatus and whether the one or more sheets stored in the storage exceed a given value in number or height. The information provider is configured to provide information urging removal of the one or more sheets from the storage in response to determination by the circuitry that the manual operation is performed and that the one or more sheets stored in the storage exceed the given value in number or height.

A printing system executes printing of a plurality of copies of a document, and includes first and second paper eject trays. The printing system ejects a plurality of paper sheets of the document to the first or second paper eject tray; detects a full state or a near full state being a predetermined number of paper sheets less than the full state; and ejects the paper sheets of a next copy to the first paper eject tray until the first paper eject tray is full and subsequently to the second paper eject tray, in response to detecting that a total ejectable paper sheet number is greater than or equal to the number of paper sheets of the next copy, the total ejectable paper sheet number being obtained by adding together the numbers of paper sheets that can be ejected to the first and second paper eject trays.

A sheet processing device is for binding sheets together. The sheet processing device includes binding units differing from each other in maximum sheet count, the maximum sheet count being a maximum number of sheets that can be bound at a time; a sheet tray configured to hold sheets until all to-be-bound sheets are placed therein, the number of the to-be-bound sheets being a largest one of the maximum sheet counts of the binding units or smaller; and a stacked-sheet-count limiting unit situated in a thickness direction of the sheets held in the sheet tray. The stacked-sheet-count limiting unit is configured to limit the number of sheets held in the sheet tray by varying a distance from a sheet support surface of the sheet tray on which the sheets are placed, depending on one of the binding units by which the sheets held in the sheet tray are to be bound.