How to use printer colour test pages to check the performance of your printer

You should print a test page when you first set up a printer to calibrate its performance, but also when a printer hasn’t been used for a while. To help you use printer colour test pages effectively, here we explain what they are, the problems they can reveal and how to print a colour printer test page.

What is a printer test page?

Printer test pages are single pages that are used to check that a printer is functioning properly. Think of them as a page that contains a series of tasks for your printer. You simply print the page and then review it, allowing you to assess how well your printer produced the page and performed on each test.

Test pages can sometimes contain text and images, to demonstrate their effectiveness at producing both. They usually contain a graded image, with dark to light tones for black and white printing plus graded colour bands for colour printing. Effective test pages give a clear indication of how well your printer is performing whilst using the minimum amount of ink or toner possible to print the test page.

Printer issues that can be detected with colour printer test pages

A printer colour test page can reveal if your printer has:

• Blocked printheads: Printheads transfer ink to a printed page. If a printhead becomes blocked with dried ink it can lead to faint, spotty or streaky areas on a print test page.

• A misaligned cartridge: If ink cartridges aren’t sitting properly or don’t move smoothly across a page during printing, images on a printer test page will come out skewed when compared to the digital image.

• Inconsistent ink flow issues: If a test page has areas of defective colour or variable line strength, it shows a cartridge isn’t releasing ink properly and is faulty.

• Other communication or system problems: If your printer produces a perfect test page but isn’t printing other documents, it shows it isn’t receiving or processing the files you sent to it properly. This means your printer has communication or system issues, but not printing problems.

What elements does a printer colour test page contain?

Printer colour test pages should be used to test colour printers. They typically contain the following elements:

• A colour intensities graph that shows if a printer can produce different levels of strength of each colour it prints, from pale shades up to the darkest shades of that colour.

• Parallel rainbow colour bars to demonstrate a printer can produce colours in proper alignment without them bleeding into each other.

• Radial colour gradients to test if a printer can produce sustained and smooth areas of each colour it produces.

• Text blocks to test if a printer can produce precise, clear, properly aligned text across a range of font sizes.

• Alignment wheels to demonstrate that the print cartridges are properly aligned.

What elements does a printer’s greyscale test page contain?

Greyscale printer test pages are used to test black and white printers or black ink cartridges in colour printers. They typically contain the following elements:

• A grid of intersecting lines to test whether the printer’s cartridges are properly aligned, and that the printer can produce fine detail.

• A greyscale intensities graph that shows if a printer can produce different shades of grey and black tones, from the palest grey to pure black.

• Radial greyscale gradients to test if a printer can produce sustained and smooth areas of greys and blacks.

• Text blocks to make sure the printer can produce precise, clear, properly aligned text across a range of font sizes.

• Alignment wheel patterns to test whether the printer’s cartridges are properly aligned.

How to print a colour printer test page

How you print a test page from your computer will depend on which operating system you’re using:

How to print a colour printer test page with Windows 10 or Windows 11

1. Click on Devices and Printers in either Control Panel or your taskbar.
2. Right-click on the icon for the printer you want to test.
3. Click Printer Properties from the dropdown menu. A pop-up window will appear.
4. Click Print Test Page at the bottom-right corner of the General tab in the pop-up window.
5. A printer test page will begin printing from your selected printer.

How to print a colour printer test page with macOS

1. Click on the Apple icon at the top left of the screen to open a drop-down menu.
2. Click on System Preferences in the drop-down menu.
3. Click on Printers & Scanners.
4. Select your printer from the available printers.
5. Click Options & Supplies to open a new window.
6. Click on the Utility tab in the new window.
7. Click on Print Test Page.
8. A printer test page will begin printing from your selected printer.

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