Printing is slow. What should I do?

  • Try the following:
    • Make sure the paper type selected in the printer driver is appropriate for the type of paper loaded in the printer. See Selecting the Correct Paper Type or Media Type.
    • For Windows, clear all customized settings and select Text or Draft as the Quality Option from your printer driver's Main window. See Printer Settings for Windows. If this doesn't help, you can try further increasing print speeds by selecting certain settings in the Speed & Progress window. See Increasing the Print Speed (for Windows only)

      For Mac OS X, clear all customized settings and select Automatic as the Mode and move the slider to Speed in the Print Settings menu in the Print dialog box. See Printer Settings for Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6 or Mac OS X 10.4.
    • If you print continuously for an extended period, the paper may temporarily stop feeding or the print head may pause for a while to slow down print speed. This prevents the printer mechanism from overheating and being damaged. If this happens, you can continue to print, but we recommend stopping and leaving the printer for about thirty minutes with the power on. (The printer does not recover with the power off.) After you restart, the printer will print at normal speed.
    • This printer checks the print head on a regular basis to keep the print head clean and to ensure you receive premium print quality. If the print head nozzles are clogged, the printer automatically cleans the print head. During self-checking, and during self-cleaning operation, the print speed may decrease.
    • Make sure Low Speed Mode is not enabled in the printer menu. See Maintenance Menu.
    • If you connected the printer with a USB cable, use a computer with a high-speed USB 2.0 port.
    • If you connected the printer with an Ethernet cable, use a computer and router (or hub or switch) with 100 Base-T ports.
    • If the printer is connected to a USB hub, disconnect unused USB devices.
    • Uninstall the printer driver, then reinstall it by following the software installation instructions on the Start Here sheet (for a USB connection) or Network Installation Guide (for a network connection).
Published:  Mar 17, 2010 Was this helpful?​ Thank you for the feedback!
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