Printers are great when they work, but when they don't it tin can exist extremely frustrating. Here's how to solve some of the well-nigh common bug, including non printing at all through to blocked nozzles and other problems.

Printers tin run reliably for many years and thousands of prints, but they can also malfunction or finish working entirely.

Sometimes the reason is as simple equally over- or under use. Many people don't utilise their inkjet printers often enough and this can lead to bug with dried-upwardly ink blocking the nozzles. Overuse is less common than misuse: newspaper clips, hair bands and fifty-fifty food tin can fall into printers and crusade newspaper jams (and worse).

If your printer tin can't be fixed with these tips, cheque out our listing of the best printers to buy, and the best printer deals right now.

My printer won't print

There are many reasons why your printer won't print, then beginning with the basics such as checking to see whether there is an error message or warning light on the printer. Make sure there is paper in the tray(south), bank check the ink or toner cartridges aren't empty, the USB cablevision is plugged in or the printer is connected to Wi-Fi.

And if information technology is a network or wireless printer, endeavour using a USB cablevision instead. In our experience, some Wi-Fi printers are unreliable in terms of their connection. And then information technology'southward worth unplugging your printer and any powerline network adapters it's connected to, then turning everything back on again.

Select the right printer!

Sometimes the reason a printer won't print is considering you've installed some software which has a 'virtual' printer and this has gear up itself as the default. When y'all hit Print, a file volition exist saved by this virtual printer instead of the document being sent to your concrete printer.

To cheque this, open the Command Console from the Start menu. Then go to Devices and Printers, right-click the correct printer to use and set information technology every bit the default. (While you're there, you can also ensure the printer's status is set to Set. If not, this could exist the source of the problem.)

Next, make certain that the correct printer is selected in the program you are printing from - you should meet an option to choose from a list as in the prototype below.

Solve common printing problems: default printer

Microsoft has a printing troubleshooter that can help to identify issues. Click the Fix it button, download and run the program, then follow the steps in the wizard.

You lot tin can also open up the Control Panel, Devices and Printers, right click the printer icon and select Troubleshoot. It doesn't always assistance, but it's worth trying.

How to fix printer problems HP

HP has a Print and Browse Doctor to identify problems, and Canon has lots of swell videos on its website – click your printer model and then click the Troubleshooting videos link.

Why can't I print from my phone or tablet?

Solve common printing problems: Cloud Print

To print from an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch on, the printer must have Wi-Fi and also back up AirPrint. The list of AirPrint printers is growing, merely at that place are nevertheless a lot of printers, peculiarly older models, that don't support it.

If you have a Mac with a printer fastened, you tin can turn it into an AirPrint printer using HandyPrint. Printer Pro is an app for iOS devices that enables them to print to many wireless printers or a wired one fastened to a PC or Mac.

Some Samsung phones, tablets and printers are designed to work together and printing is straightforward. Samsung as well has its ain app for printing to its printers, including from iPhones.

To impress from whatsoever Android phone or tablet to any PC-connected printer you can use Google Cloud Print.

Install Cloud Print on the mobile device from the Google Play store. Next, using Google Chrome on your PC, get to the menu, Settings, Avant-garde Settings and click Manage. You can then add the printer attached to the PC. Provided the PC and printer are switched on, yous can print from the Android device.

Practise I need to replace the cartridges?

Printers warn that the ink is running out earlier it actually does. If you print just occasionally the remaining ink or tonermight last another couple of weeks, if non months.

Gild new cartridges every bit soon as the message appears, but don't install them until it either stops press or the colours fade. A fox with laser printers is to remove the cartridge that's running low and milk shake it gently from side to side. This sometimes allows the residuum of the toner to exist used. In other cases a counter is used and one time a certain number of pages has been printed, the cartridge volition exist deemed as empty.

HP has an interesting scheme with many of its printers where you pay per month and cartridges automatically arrive at the correct time.

If your color ink has run out, only you must keep printing, you might be able to set your printer to print in black and white but. This is a setting you'll detect in printer properties in the Control Console - or click the option when you go to print via an application you desire to impress from.

Why won't web pages, Excel documents and photos print properly?

Web pages

Web pages can be any size and they aren't express by the width or height of the newspaper in your printer. They aren't usually designed to be printed, which is why bug can occur.

Always choose the Print Preview pick then you can see what yous'll go. You might not need all the pages, for instance, if at that place are lots of comments or adverts, so employ the option when printing to select the pages to print, such as ii-four to print pages 2 to four. Choose landscape mode if the web page is very wide.

Much of the time y'all will notice a shrink-to-fit option in the printer settings that helps when your certificate or photo is just a flake too big to fit on the page. Some spider web pages, such as those with printable coupons, have a print button within the web page. Use that and not the print carte du jour in the browser.

Office documents

If you're trying to print an Excel sail, exist certain to select only the cells you lot need to print before clicking Print. Then you tin cull 'Impress selection' and change the other options to brand sure it fits well on an A4 sheet. You tin can do other things, such as reducing the size of the margins, and switching from mural to portrait orientation.

Fix printing problems - Excel

Similarly, when printing a Word document or whatever other, you lot can normally specify which pages to print so y'all don't have to print them all.

Photos and pictures

For photos or images you lot want to impress, information technology'southward usually best to right-click on them in Windows Explorer and click Print. This way yous will get to cull how large to print each photo.

If you select multiple photos in a folder, then correct-click and cull Print you volition be able to print them all at once, with more than ane per sheet of paper (and you can choose the paper size hither too). It's similar to the 'due north-up' option that you lot'll find in Printing properties which allows yous to print multiple pages of a document on a single sheet of A4.

Fix printing problems - Photos

Westhy does my printer say "Error"?

At that place are a few possible reasons, only the most common is to practise with paper. The offset matter to bank check is whether the input tray is empty, but it's also worth checking for paper jams. If you detect ane, endeavour to work out why information technology's happening rather than just pulling out a crumpled slice of paper from the newspaper tray and assuming yous've stock-still information technology.

Take the paper out of the tray, open all the flaps and look inside. You might need a torch to see the paper and long tweezers to accomplish it, particularly if information technology's simply a very small piece which has been ripped off and left inside.

Wait underneath the printer because at that place may be an admission panel that tin be removed to examine and clean the paper feed mechanism.

Old paper tin can absorb wet, which makes it stick and so it is pulled through two or more sheets at a time. Keep it in a bag until it is needed. Check out Canon'south troubleshooting videos to meet how to remove pieces of newspaper stuck in printers.

Too, attempt using thinner paper: most domicile printers volition just handle photo paper at a maximum. They can't normally print on card every bit it'due south too stiff to be fed around corners.

Why is the print quality poor?

The nozzles on inkjet printer heads can become blocked causing horizontal streaks on prints and poor or wrong colours. Cleaning the print heads can solve the problem. The process varies from printer to printer and there may be an option on the printer control console or in the printer software on the computer.

Y'all might need to look this up in the manual. In your printer'south backdrop (either in an app or in the Windows Command Console) you might find a maintenance section.

Solve common printing problems: maintenance

Click it and you tin can clean the print heads or align them. Head cleaning kits are available for effectually £10 from Amazon although you should compare it to the price of a new cartridge - there's no guarantee a cleaning kit will fix the trouble.

The blazon of paper affects the print quality and photocopier paper might be letting you downward.

Information technology tin exist as well absorbent and inkjet ink soaks into it like blotting paper. Buy good quality paper for the best prints, and this is usually from the printer manufacturer itself, especially for printing photos.

Laser printers are less dependent on paper, and smudges or spots in the same place on each page usually mean at that place'south dirt somewhere in the printer, typically on the 'pulsate'.

Be very careful when cleaning the imaging pulsate, using merely isopropyl booze and a soft lint-complimentary material.

Read the manufacturer'southward guidance on how to remove and make clean the drum, which is oftentimes called an OPC.

We've also written a guide on how to match the colours on your screen to your printer.