Printer Test Page: Check Colors, Lines and Alignment
Print one page with color bars, gray steps, fine lines, small text and photo-like colors to spot clogged nozzles, color casts and crooked paper feeds.
Runs in your browser. Your results never leave this device. No upload, no sign-up.
Only the test sheet below is printed, on one page of Letter or A4 paper. Keep the scale at 100% (or Default) in the print dialog.
Printer test page
Plug and Check · plugandcheck.com/printer-test-page ·
1. Color bars
2. Gray steps, 10% to 100% black
3. Gradients
4. Fine lines
5. Photo colors
6. Text from 6 to 14 pt
6 pt The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 0123456789
7 pt The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 0123456789
8 pt The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 0123456789
9 pt The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 0123456789
10 pt The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 0123456789
11 pt The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 0123456789
12 pt The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 0123456789
14 pt The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 0123456789
Your report
Run the test above. Your results will appear here as plain text you can paste into a support chat, a return request or a forum post.
How to print the test page
Load plain white paper, Letter or A4.
Press Print this page, or Ctrl+P (Command+P on a Mac). Only the test sheet prints, without the rest of this page.
In the print dialog, choose your printer and paper size, keep the scale at 100% or Default, and print in color.
Compare the printout with the notes below, then answer the questions under the sheet to get a report with suggested fixes.
Reading your printout
1. Color bars
Each bar should be solid from end to end. Thin white lines running across a bar mean clogged nozzles in that color; a faded bar means low ink or toner; a missing or wrong color usually means an empty, unseated or blocked cartridge. Red, green and blue are each made from two inks (red is magenta plus yellow, green is cyan plus yellow, blue is cyan plus magenta), so a fault in one ink shows in two of them.
2. Gray steps
The ten patches run from 10% to 100% black, and you should see ten different shades. If the darkest steps merge into one, the print is too dark or the paper setting is wrong; if the lightest ones vanish, it's too light. Grays with a color tint mean the printer mixes color inks into gray and one of them is off.
3. Gradients
The ramps should run smoothly from white to full color. Streaks, bands or sudden jumps point to clogged nozzles, or to a quality setting in the driver that's too low for the paper.
4. Fine lines and the frame
The lines are 0.25, 0.5 and 1 point wide; a point is 1/72 inch. All three widths should print as clean, unbroken lines, even if the thinnest is faint. Broken, jagged or doubled lines mean the print head needs aligning. The frame around the sheet should run parallel to the edges of the paper: if the gap between the frame and the paper's edge is wider at one end of a side than the other, the paper went in crooked.
5. Photo colors
Skin tones, sky and foliage show a color cast more clearly than pure bars. A greenish, magenta or yellow tint over all of them means one ink prints too strongly or too weakly. The small landscape uses smooth gradients, which show banding and graininess.
6. Small text
On a working printer even 6 point text is readable, if tiny. Fuzzy or smeared small text suggests the paper type setting is wrong, the print head needs aligning, or the paper is damp.
Why printed colors differ from the screen
Your screen makes colors by mixing red, green and blue light. A printer lays down cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink or toner, and some photo printers add more inks. Paper can only reflect light, so very bright screen colors, especially vivid greens and blues, come out duller on paper.
Your browser sends this page to the printer as RGB, the way the screen shows it, and the printer's driver converts each color into its inks. That's why the cyan, magenta and yellow bars are the driver's version of those colors rather than single pure inks. To compare two printers or two settings fairly, use the same paper type and quality setting, and turn off color or photo enhancement in the driver.
Fixing what the test page shows
Streaks, gaps, fading or a missing color
Most inkjet printers can print their own nozzle check pattern and clean the print head. The tools live in the printer driver or the maker's app.
Windows 11
Open Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners and select your printer.
Open Printing preferences. Epson and Canon drivers have a Maintenance tab with a nozzle check and head cleaning; HP printers use the HP Smart app instead.
macOS
Open System Settings → Printers & Scanners and select your printer.
Click Options & Supplies, then Utility, then Open Printer Utility, if your printer's software provides one. Otherwise use the maker's app or the printer's own menu.
Each cleaning uses ink. If two or three cleanings don't help, let the printer rest for a few hours and try again; some makers suggest waiting six hours or more. On a laser printer, streaks usually mean low toner or a worn drum.
Doubled or jagged lines
Run the print head alignment from the same maintenance tools. Some printers call it head alignment or print head calibration.
Use the paper the alignment asks for, then print this page again.
The printout is crooked
Take the paper out, fan it, square up the stack and put it back.
Slide the paper guides until they touch the stack without bending it, and don't fill the tray past its mark.
If pages still go in crooked, the pickup rollers may be dirty or worn. Clean them as your printer's manual describes.
Colors look wrong or tinted
Check the ink or toner levels; one nearly empty color can tint everything.
In the print dialog, choose the paper type that matches your paper.
Turn off color enhancement, vivid or photo-fix options in Printing preferences while you test.
Browser
Print at 100% scale. Shrinking the page to fit changes the line widths and text sizes the test relies on.
Nothing prints
Windows 11
Open Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners, select the printer and open its print queue.
Cancel jobs that are stuck, check the printer is on and has paper, then print again.
macOS
Open System Settings → Printers & Scanners, select the printer and open its print queue.
If the queue is paused, resume it, then print again.
Common questions
How do I print a test page?
Press Print this page, choose your printer and print on plain white paper. In the print dialog, choose the paper size you loaded, such as Letter or A4, and keep the scale at 100% or the default. The page is laid out to fit on one sheet of either size.
How can I tell if my print head is clogged?
Look at the color bars: a clogged nozzle prints thin white lines or gaps across a bar, and a badly clogged color comes out faded or missing. Run your printer's nozzle check and head cleaning, then print this page again to compare.
Why do the colors on my printout look different from my screen?
Screens mix red, green and blue light, while printers mix cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink, and some screen colors, such as bright greens and blues, can't be printed at all. Your browser sends the colors as RGB and the printer driver converts them. The paper type and quality settings change the result too.
Why is my printout faded or streaky?
Low ink or toner, clogged nozzles on an inkjet, or a worn drum on a laser printer are the usual causes. Check the ink or toner levels, run a cleaning cycle on an inkjet, and make sure the paper type setting matches your paper.
Does this test page work for laser printers?
Yes. A color laser prints the same color bars and gray steps, and a black-and-white laser prints everything in gray, which still shows streaks, fading and uneven toner. Marks that repeat at the same spacing down the page usually point to the drum or the fuser.