My printout is blurry or smeared. What should I do?

• If your printouts are blurry or smeared, try these solutions:

  • Make sure your paper is not damp, curled, old, or loaded incorrectly in your product.
  • Slide the edge guides to the edges of the paper.
  • Use a support sheet with special paper, or load special paper one sheet at a time.
  • Place a piece of black paper on the back of the original and copy it again.
  • Make sure your paper meets the specifications for your product.
  • Use Epson papers to ensure proper saturation and absorption of genuine Epson inks.
  • Do not load more than the recommended number of sheets. For plain paper, do not load above the line indicated by the triangle symbol on the edge guide.
  • Make sure the paper type setting in your product software matches the type of paper you loaded.
  • Make sure you loaded the printable side of the paper correctly for your product.
  • If you are printing on thick paper or envelopes, make sure you select the appropriate settings.
  • When manually printing 2-sided, make sure the ink is completely dry before loading the paper.
  • Remove each sheet from the output tray as it is printed.
  • Avoid handling printouts on glossy paper right after printing to allow the ink to set.
  • Dry printouts completely before filing or displaying them. When drying printouts, avoid direct sunlight, do not use a dryer, and do not touch the printed side of the paper.
  • Do not stack printouts immediately after printing.
  • Turn off any high speed settings in your product software.
  • When vertical banding appears or the paper is smeared, clean the paper path.
  • 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.
  • If you printed on the wrong side of photo paper, clean the paper path.
  • If you print on both sides of a sheet of paper, smudges may appear on the reverse side of heavily saturated or dark images. If one side of a sheet will contain a lighter image or text, print that side first. Make sure the ink has dried before reloading the paper to print on the other side. Adjust the density and/or ink drying time settings.
  • Lower the copy density setting on the product control panel.
  • The ink levels may be low and you may need to refill the ink. Visually check the ink levels.
  • Run a nozzle check to see if any of the print head nozzles are clogged. Then clean the print head, if necessary.
  • Align the print head.
  • Adjust the print quality in the product software.
  • Clean the paper path.
  • Do not press too hard on the original or the document cover when you are scanning originals on the scanner glass.
  • Clean the scanner glass.
  • If you are copying from the ADF, place your originals on the scanner glass instead.
  • Clean the ADF.
  • Use the ink before the date printed on the package.
  • If you printed when the ink levels were too low to be seen in the ink tank windows, refill the ink tanks to the upper lines and run the Power Cleaning utility. Then run a nozzle check to see if print quality has improved.
  • 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.

  Note: Your product will not operate properly while tilted at an angle. Place it on a flat, stable surface that extends beyond the base of the product in all directions.

  Related concepts
  Print Head Nozzle Check
  Print Head Cleaning
  Print Head Alignment
  Power Cleaning
  Related tasks
  Checking Ink Levels on Your Product
  Selecting Basic Print Settings - Windows
  Selecting Basic Print Settings - Mac
  Selecting Additional Layout and Print Options - Windows
  Refilling the Ink Tanks
  Cleaning the Paper Guide
  Related references
  Paper or Media Type Settings - Control Panel
  Paper or Media Type Settings - Printing Software
  Compatible Epson Papers
  Paper Specifications
  Related information
  Loading Paper