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Inkjet Printer Test Page
Inkjet faults happen at the nozzle, not in the driver. This sheet puts every channel side by side so a single clogged row cannot hide behind a busy document.
Set scaling to 100%. Choose Actual Size in the print dialog, never Fit to page — scaling distorts every measurement on this sheet. The Download PDF button hands you that same sheet as a ready-made file, so there is no scaling decision to get wrong.
How to print the Inkjet Printer Test Page
- Load plain white paper of the type you print documents on, with the guides against the stack.
- Open this page on the computer or phone the printer is connected to.
- Set the paper type in the driver to match what you loaded — plain, photo or matte.
- Choose Best or High quality with colour mode on and draft or eco mode off.
- Set scaling to Actual Size or 100%, never Fit to page.
- Print, compare against the preview, then run one cleaning cycle and reprint only if you saw gaps.
Reading the result
| Every channel prints solid | The head is delivering cleanly. Anything else you can see is a paper, quality-mode or profile setting rather than an ink-delivery fault. |
| One channel has gaps or is missing entirely | That nozzle plate is blocked, or that cartridge is empty. Run one cleaning cycle, wait five minutes, and reprint — repeated cleaning wastes ink and wears the head. |
| Lines are straight but fuzzy at the edges | Ink is wicking sideways into the fibres. The paper-type setting does not match the stock loaded: set the media type in the driver, or move to a heavier, more absorbent sheet. |
| Fine detail fills in solid black | Too much ink for the media. Drop to a standard quality mode or use a sheet sized for the job, and the same pattern will show the separation you are currently losing. |
| Colour is correct but the page bands horizontally | The head is laying ink unevenly across passes. The gradient page isolates it: banding that repeats at a fixed pitch points at the head, while banding that moves with print speed points at the driver setting. |
Also check
- Gradient and banding page — Nozzle faults show as gaps in a row; density faults show as stripes in a ramp. Printing both separates a full blockage from a partial one.
- Colour test page — Confirms the channels still blend correctly once every row is solid, since a head can pass a nozzle check and still deliver uneven colour.
- Laser test page — Useful if you also own a toner machine — comparing the two shows which faults are shared with your document workflow and which are ink-specific.
Related test pages
- Nozzle Check printer test page — A nozzle check is the fastest way to find out whether an inkjet printhead has clogged nozzles. Print this page and read the gaps.
- Photo printer test page — Photo printers are judged on gradients, gloss and gamut rather than on straight lines. This sheet gives you smooth ramps, primaries and a neutral grey so banding and colour casts cannot hide.
- Banding printer test page — Solid bars hide banding. Gradients expose it. This page prints both, side by side, for each channel.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my inkjet nozzle is clogged?
Print this page. A healthy head lays down an unbroken row for every colour; a clog shows as a run of gaps in one row, and a fully blocked channel leaves the row missing altogether. Gaps confined to a single colour point at one part of the nozzle plate rather than a whole-head failure, which is the cheaper problem to fix.
Does eco or draft mode invalidate the test?
Yes. Draft mode deliberately fires fewer nozzles and lays down less ink, so it will show gaps on a perfectly healthy head. Run the sheet in Best or High quality, and only then judge whether the head needs cleaning.
Should I replace the cartridge or clean the head first?
Clean first, but only once. If the row is still short after a single cycle and a five-minute wait, the cartridge is more likely to be empty than the head to be blocked — a nozzle plate does not go from working to fully blocked in one print.
How often should I print an inkjet test page?
Only when something looks wrong, after the machine has sat unused for two weeks, or after a cartridge change. Routine testing wastes ink, and unnecessary cleaning cycles are the single biggest cause of premature cartridge replacement.
Can I use this page on a printer that also scans?
The sheet is a print test only, but it doubles as a scan reference: print one, scan it, and compare the scanned copy with the original to test both halves of an all-in-one in a single pass.