Printer test pages: how to check your color and print quality

Steps

1. 1

   Step 1: Print a nozzle check first

   A test image only tells you something if every color is printing. Start with the nozzle check built into your printer.

   1. Print a nozzle check from the printer's maintenance menu or the printer driver.
   2. Look at the pattern for every color. Each one should be complete, with no gaps or missing lines.
   3. If a color is broken or missing, fix that before you judge color. See Troubleshooting below.

   TipAlso run a nozzle check before printing whenever the printer has sat unused for a week or longer.

2. 2

   Step 2: Set up color management and the paper setting

   Let only one thing manage color: your software or the printer driver, never both.

   1. If you use a Precision Colors ICC profile: let your software manage colors, select the profile made for your ink set and your paper, and turn color correction off in the printer driver.
   2. If you do not use an ICC profile: let the printer manage colors and turn off color management in your software's print dialog.
   3. Set the paper type in the printer driver. With a Precision Colors profile, use the paper setting listed next to that profile on the ICC profiles page. Without a profile, pick the type that matches the paper in the printer.
   4. With a Precision Colors profile, set the rendering intent to Relative Colorimetric.

   TipA profile only suits the ink set and paper in its name. If a download includes several lighting versions and you are not sure which to use, choose D50.

3. 3

   Step 3: Download and print the Precision Colors test page

   Our printer test page puts photos, skin tones, memory colors, solid colors, gradients, gray steps, shadow and highlight detail, and fine lines and text on one page.

   Download it in your paper size: US Letter (PDF) or A4 (PDF).

   1. Open the PDF. Do not edit or adjust it.
   2. Print it at 100% (Actual Size) on photo paper at the best quality setting, using the settings from the previous step. Turn off "Fit to page" and any other scaling.
   3. Fill in the Printer, Ink, Paper, Settings and Date boxes at the bottom of the page so you can compare it with later prints.

   
4. 4

   Step 4: Check the print

   Look at the print in the light where you normally view your prints. Each section of the page has its check printed next to it.

   • Solids: each patch should be smooth and even, with no streaks or missing color.
   • Gradients: each bar should run smoothly from 0 to 100%, with no banding, steps or sudden color shifts.
   • Neutral gray steps: every step should look neutral gray. A green, magenta or brown tint means a color balance problem.
   • Shadow detail (90 to 100%): you should see a step between most patches. If they run together, the shadows are too heavy.
   • Highlight detail (0 to 10%): the 1 to 3% patches should be just visible against the paper.
   • Sharpness and fine detail: lines should be crisp with clean edges, the center of the star should stay sharp, and the small and reversed text should be clean.
   • Photos, skin tones and memory colors: skin should look natural, and the sky, grass, fruit and other familiar colors should look the way you expect.

   If something looks wrong, see Troubleshooting below.

   TipKeep a good print of this page. After a later refill or a paper change, print it again and compare the two side by side.