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.
  • Make sure your paper meets the specifications for your product.
  • Use Epson papers to ensure proper saturation and absorption of genuine Epson inks.
  • Make sure the paper type setting in your product software matches the type of paper you loaded.
  • If you are printing on letterhead paper, make sure the paper size setting matches the size of paper you loaded. If you select a paper size that is too large for the paper you loaded, the product may print beyond the edges of the paper and cause ink to smear.
  • Make sure you loaded the printable side of the paper correctly for your product.
  • 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.
  • Turn off any high speed settings in your product software.
  • 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. Adjust the density and/or ink drying time settings.
  • Lower the copy density setting on the product control panel.
  • 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. If print quality does not improve, disable the bidirectional setting.
  • 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.
  • Clean the originals.

  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
  Related tasks
  Aligning the Print Head Using the Product Control Panel
  Cleaning Your Product
  Cleaning the Paper Guide
  Cleaning the Print Head Path
  Selecting Basic Print Settings - Windows
  Selecting Additional Layout and Print Options - Windows
  Related references
  Paper or Media Type Settings - Printing Software