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Tech News Today
Home » Printer

Why is My Printer Printing Lines? 5 Ways to Fix It

Deependra PangeniBy Deependra PangeniJuly 12, 2023
printer-printing-lines

If your printer is printing lines, it clearly indicates that there is a problem with the printhead. Printhead is the prime component of an inkjet printer that sprays ink through tiny holes called nozzles.

Oftentimes, when these nozzles get clogged by any means, they can not spray a proper amount of ink onto the paper, causing the issue. Other times, it can also happen if you are using incorrect printing preferences for your printer.

Table of Contents

  • Change the Paper Type
  • Adjust the Print Quality Settings
  • Align the Printhead
  • Clean the Printhead
  • Clean the Printer

Change the Paper Type

Printers mainly support four types of paper—plain paper, photo paper, glossy paper, and matte paper. Although printers have no issues printing on these papers, using other paper types can cause the printer to print blank pages and, in some cases, print unwanted lines too.

how-to-put-paper-in-a-printer-hp

Further, the printer utilizes a separate mechanism to spray ink on each of these paper types. So, it is also crucial that you choose the correct paper type in the printing preference of your printer.

You can change the printer’s paper type through Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners > Printing preferences.

paper-type-in-printer

Adjust the Print Quality Settings

Modern printers provide the flexibility of choosing the print quality manually. You can generally choose between Best, Normal, or Draft quality.

While the Draft quality and Normal quality offer high speed printing, it is a trade-off with the print quality. Users frequently report their printer printing lines when they are printing in low quality. So, I recommend you print in high quality and see if the issue persists.

best-quality-printing

Similar to paper type, you can also change the print quality settings from the printing preference of your printer.

Align the Printhead

Each time you give a command to print your document, the printhead moves back and forth in the carriage area to spray ink and generate the printout.

Being the most mobile component, it is possible that the printhead misaligns itself in the long run. As a result, it fails to spray the ink precisely, causing unnecessary lines on the printout.

You can simply align the printhead using the alignment tool from your manufacturer and see if that solves the problem.

On Brother Printers

  1. Go to the home screen of your printer and open Settings.
    settings-icon-on-brother-printer-1
  2. Tap Ink.
    ink-tab-on-brother-printer-2
  3. Select Test Print.
    test-print-option-in-brother-printer-1
  4. Choose Alignment.
    alignment-option-in-brother-printer-1
  5. Press OK.
    press-ok-to-start-alignment-in-brother-printer-1

On Canon Printers

  1. Launch Windows Settings.
    open windows settings
  2. Search for Printers & scanners settings and open it.
    printers-and-scanners-in-search
  3. Choose your printer.
  4. Open its Printing preferences.
    printing preference of canon printer
  5. Click Maintenance > Print Head Alignment.
    print-head-alignment-canon
  6. Follow on-screen instructions to complete the process.
    align-printhead-canon

On Epson Printers

  1. Open Epson printer’s Printing preferences.
  2. Click Maintenance > Print Head Alignment.
    print-head-alignment-in-epson-printer-2
  3. Follow prompts on the screen.
    print-button-in-epson-printer-2

On HP Printers

  1. Open the HP Smart app. If you have not already downloaded it, download it from the official site.
    launch-hp-smart-on-pc-1
  2. Click the Printer Settings tile.
    printer-settings-tab-on-hp-smart-1
  3. Select Print Quality Tools.
    print-quality-tools-on-hp-smart
  4. Tap Align Printheads and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.
    align-printheads-on-hp-smart

Clean the Printhead

Oftentimes, the printhead gets clogged when ink residues or dirt accumulate in its nozzles. When the nozzle gets blocked, it will partially block the flow of ink, causing lines on the paper.

Further, if you have recently refilled the ink or changed the ink cartridges, air bubbles formation inside the cartridge might also introduce the problem.

You can quickly clean the printhead to get rid of such problems. I recommend you run the cleaning cycle two or three times for better results.

On Brother Printers

  1. Get to the Printing preferences of your Brother printer.
    printing preference of brother printer in settings
  2. Go to Maintenance > Print Head Cleaning.
    print-head-cleaning-on-brother-printer

On Canon Printers

  1. Open Printing preferences.
  2. Click Maintenance and run Cleaning.
    cleaning-and-deep-cleaning-on-canon-printer

On Epson Printers

  1. Open Printing preferences.
  2. Click Maintenance > Head Cleaning.
    head-cleaning-option-in-epson-printer
  3. Click Start.
    start-head-cleaning-in-epson-printer

On HP Printers

  1. Open HP Smart.
    launch-hp-smart-on-pc-1
  2. Click Printer Settings.
    printer-settings-tab-on-hp-smart-1
  3. Select Print Quality Tools.
    print-quality-tools-on-hp-smart
  4. Tap Clean Printheads.
    clean-printhead-on-hp-printer
Note: If the issue still exists, consider cleaning the printheads manually.

Clean the Printer

The printer can also print unwanted lines when the paper path is dirty. To be more precise, if any foreign body gets in between the printhead and paper, it will interrupt the ink flow, ultimately causing lines on the printout.

blow-the-carriage

To prevent this, you can use a blower or a paper towel and clean the paper path. You may also use printer cleaning sheets if you have one.

fix
Deependra Pangeni
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Meet Deependra Pangeni, A professional Computer Engineer who has been writing about technology for many years. He is also involved in different robotic projects and loves tinkering with circuit boards. He is always researching new ways to improve the website's user experience and make it easy for people to find the information they need. At TechNewsToday he mainly deals with how-to and fixes contents for a range of TV and TV products like remotes, cables and streaming devices. Along with the TV, he also specializes in hardware and software troubleshooting for printers and Windows. Deependra's passion for simplifying complex technical information for non-technical audiences is evident in his work and he is dedicated to producing high-quality content that is easy to understand. When he is not working, he enjoys gathering with his friends, partying and traveling. He is also an active member of the technical community groups and regularly participates in tech meetups. You can contact him at deepen@technewstoday.com

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