Arrangement of operation unit in image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• an image reading device that reads a document;
• an image forming unit that is provided below the image reading device, and forms a toner image on a sheet;
• a supporting member that is provided between the image reading device and the image forming unit in a height direction of the image forming apparatus, and supports the image reading device disposed above the image forming unit;
• a stacking unit on which the sheet is stacked, the stacking unit being provided between the image reading device and the image forming unit in the height direction and being disposed adjacent to the supporting member in a width direction orthogonal to the height direction, the stacking unit including a first stacking end and a second stacking end in the width direction;
• a discharge unit that is provided in the image forming unit, and is configured to discharge the sheet to the stacking unit in a direction from a rear side of the image forming apparatus to a front side of the image forming apparatus in a depth direction which is orthogonal to both the height direction and the width direction;
• and
• an operation unit that is configured to accept input for operating at least one of the image forming unit and the image reading device, and is supported by the image reading device, on a side of the front side of the image forming apparatus in the depth direction,
• wherein the supporting member includes a hinge which supports the image reading device such that the image reading device is rotatable, relative to the image forming unit, between a first position and a second position, the first position being a position at which a front side of the image reading device on a side of the front side of the image forming apparatus in the depth direction is closer to the image forming unit than at the second position, the second position being a position at which the front side of the image reading device is farther from the image forming unit than at the first position,
• wherein a first end surface of the operation unit in the width direction is provided outside of one side surface of the image forming unit in the width direction, and
• wherein a second end surface of the operation unit that opposes the first end surface in the width direction is provided between the first stacking end and the second stacking end in the width direction, exclusive of the positions of the first and second stacking ends.