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.
    • 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.
    • 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 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 Print Density and/or Increased Ink Drying Time settings.
    • 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.
    • Clean the paper path.

    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
    Selecting Basic Print Settings - Windows
    Selecting Advanced Print Settings - Windows
    Selecting Double-sided Printing Settings - Windows
    Selecting Basic Print Settings - Mac OS X
    Selecting Double-sided Printing Settings - Mac OS X
    Cleaning the Paper Path
    Related information
    Loading Paper
Published:  16-Sep-2013 Was this helpful? Thank you for the feedback!
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