My printout has lines running through it. What should I do?

  • If you notice white or dark lines in your prints (also called banding), try these solutions before you reprint:

    • Run a nozzle check to see if any of the print head nozzles are clogged. Then clean the print head, if necessary.
    • Make sure the paper type setting matches the type of paper you loaded.
    • Make sure you loaded the printable side of the paper correctly for your product.
    • Turn off any high speed settings in your product software.
    • Align the print head. If print quality does not improve after aligning the print head, disable the bidirectional (high speed) setting.
    • Adjust the print quality in the product software.
    • When horizontal banding appears or the top or bottom of the paper is smeared, load paper in the correct direction and slide the edge guides to the edges of the paper.
    • When vertical banding appears or the paper is smeared, clean the paper path.
    • You may need to refill the ink. Visually check the ink levels.
    • If you have not used the product for a long time, run the Power Cleaning utility.

      Note: Power Cleaning consumes a lot of ink, so run this utility only if you cannot improve print quality by cleaning the print head.

    Related concepts
    Print Head Cleaning
    Print Head Nozzle Check
    Print Head Alignment
    Power Cleaning
    Related tasks
    Selecting Printing Preferences - Mac
    Selecting Additional Layout and Print Options - Windows
    Refilling the Ink Tanks
    Related references
    Paper or Media Type Settings - Printing Software
    Related information
    Loading Paper
Published:  Jun 20, 2019 Was this helpful? Thank you for the feedback!
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