What Does It Mean When Streaks of Printer Ink Are Left on Your Paper?

Inkjet printers can produce excellent photographic output as well as text that rivals laser printing – unless the pages you pull from the output tray contain ink streaks that ruin your document. After you’ve ruled out wet hands, damp paper, and high humidity as potential causes of your output failures, it’s time to look both inside and outside your printer for factors that can affect its interior hardware and printing process.

Dirty Moving Parts
Even in the cleanest office, the parts that move across the page while your printer lays down ink can accumulate lint and dirt over time. As this material accumulates, it can contaminate the still-drying ink on your printouts, causing streaking. Examine your cartridges, printhead, and interior cabling for buildup. Always consult your user manual for manufacturer recommendations on how and what not to clean inside your hardware, especially if it is still under warranty.

Dirty or Misaligned Printhead
After extended periods of inactivity, inkjet printheads can become clogged. Although many printers perform a quick head check and cleaning when powered on, this procedure may be insufficient if your hardware requires more attention. When performing a cleaning, deep cleaning, or head alignment, read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Cleanings deplete ink, especially during intensive cycles. An alignment may necessitate printing a test page and determining which of a series of patterns meets a specific appearance test. After you’ve completed your maintenance, print a document page and compare it to the output quality you saw before running these procedures.

Paper Types
Some types of special output media necessitate a longer drying time than standard inkjet paper. When printing labels or transparencies, you may need to set these sheets aside after they exit the output tray to avoid touching or allowing them to touch each other. Before using transparency sheets, make sure you’re using an inkjet printer-compatible product. Manufacturers create these media specifically for each device type that uses them – copiers, inkjet and laser printers – with wet ink, laser heat, and copier feed speed in mind. If the streaks appear on regular paper, it’s possible that you chose a sheet that is too thick for your hardware’s paperhandling mechanism to handle.

Other Considerations
A new inkjet cartridge will almost never leak unless you mishandle it after it has been opened by holding it in the wrong position or touching its output surfaces. A refilled cartridge, particularly one that you attempt to rejuvenate yourself, may not perform as well as original-equipment consumables. You should avoid using cartridges that can contaminate the inside of your printer unless you are confident in the quality of the refilling operation. When ink gets into places it shouldn’t, it’s difficult to remove and can leave your print jobs streaky.