Printer test page
Check your printer with one sheet: every ink and colour, black text and fine lines, or alignment and scale. Pick a test, print it, then compare it with the guide below.
- Free, no sign-up
- A4 and US Letter
- Prints from iPhone too
- In the print window, choose your printer, set the scale to 100% (or Actual size) and turn off headers and footers.
- On an iPhone or iPad, tap Print test page and choose an AirPrint printer.
Read your test page
Choose what you see on the printed sheet to find the likely cause, and what to try.
Streaks or white lines
Part of the print head is blocked, which often happens when a printer hasn't been used for a while.
- Run the nozzle check and head cleaning from the printer's menu or its app. One or two rounds usually clear it.
- Print something every week or two, so the ink doesn't dry in the nozzles.
- On a laser printer, take out the toner cartridge and rock it gently from side to side, then clean or replace the drum if the lines stay.
Faded or pale
The ink or toner is running low, or a saving mode is turned on.
- Check the ink or toner levels on the printer's screen or in its app.
- Turn off draft, eco or toner-saving mode in the print settings.
- Make sure the paper type in the settings matches the paper in the tray.
A colour is missing
One cartridge is empty, blocked or not seated properly.
- Check that colour's level, and replace the cartridge if it's empty.
- Take the cartridge out and click it firmly back in. On a new one, make sure all the protective tape is off.
- Run a head cleaning, then print the colour test again.
Blurry or smudged
The print head is slightly out of line, or the paper is damp or the wrong kind.
- Run the print head alignment from the printer's menu or its app.
- Use fresh, dry paper, and set the paper type to match it.
- Give glossy and photo paper a moment to dry before you touch it.
Edges cut off
The page was scaled, or the paper sizes don't match.
- Print again with the scale at 100% or Actual size, not Fit to page.
- Choose the same paper size here, in the print window and in the paper tray.
- A few millimetres of white border is normal: most printers can't print right to the edge.
Crooked or the wrong size
The paper went in at an angle, or the page was shrunk to fit.
- Straighten the stack and slide the paper guides up against it, without squeezing.
- Measure the ruler on the alignment test. If 100 mm isn't 100 mm, print at 100% scale.
- Don't overfill the tray, and use paper that's flat rather than curled.
How to use it
- Choose a test and your paper size.
- Tap Print test page. In the print window, set the scale to 100% and turn off headers and footers.
- Hold the printed page next to “Read your test page” to see what, if anything, needs fixing.
Questions
Which test should I print?
Start with Colour: it checks every ink at once. If you only print documents, Black ink shows how text, greys and solid black come out. Alignment and scale checks that pages print straight, at the right size and with nothing cut off.
How much ink does a test page use?
The colour test uses a little of every ink, about as much as a page with a large photo on it. The black and alignment tests use much less. To keep the black test to black ink only, choose black and white or greyscale in the print window.
How do I print it from my iPhone?
Open this page in Safari, tap Print test page, choose your AirPrint printer and tap Print. If your iPhone can't find the printer, try these fixes.
Why isn't the ruler the right length?
The page was scaled to fit. Print it again with the scale at 100% or Actual size. A difference of up to a millimetre is normal for many printers.
Is anything uploaded or saved?
No. The test page is drawn by your browser and printed straight from it. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is stored.
From the makers of Papiruno
Papiruno is our iPhone app for scanning documents to PDF and printing them with AirPrint, with ink saver and several pages per sheet. No subscription.
Scan with your iPhone camera