How to Fix Printer Alignment (All Brands)

Have you ever printed a document only to find the text and images aren’t properly aligned?

Or your printer suddenly starts printing unnecessary lines, displaying incorrect colors, or producing blurry printouts?

Yes, you got that right! It is because of a misaligned printhead on your printer.

This might look frustrating, but honestly, all you need to do is run a printhead alignment cycle and ta-da! 😉 Everything will get back to normal.

With that said, let’s see how we do it on the HP, Canon, Epson and Brother Printers.

The steps will also work like charm for every printer models out there. Peace✌

Before You Begin

Check ink levels and make sure the printer has enough of it.
Make sure you have installed printer driver on your computer.
Put some blank papers in the paper tray (Your printer needs to print a few pages during the alignment process.)

Download and install the HP Smart app, if you have not already.
Once the app opens, click the Printer Settings tab.
Under the Tools section, go with the Print Quality Tools option.
Choose the first option that says Align Printheads.
It will ask you to print the alignment page. Simply allow it.
Wait sometime till the page comes out of the printer. It looks like this.
The app will ask you to place that printed page on the scanner bed. Scan it.
Follow all the instructions until you get the “Alignment successful” message and you are good to go.

Open Windows Settings > go to Printers & Scanners section.
You will find it inside the Bluetooth & devices menu on the left side.
Then, select your Canon printer and choose the Printing Preferences option.
On the new window that opens, click Maintenance tab on the top and select Print Head Alignment option.
Follow the instructions. You won’t have a problem.

In my case, any of my Brother printers do not allow me to fix printer alignment issue from the Printing Preferences.

So, I have to use the touch screen.

In fact, for any brand printer that comes with a LCD screen, there’s no need to do all the hustle and bustle from the Printing Preferences.

Use your printer screen to navigate to Settings > Maintenance, Tools, or Ink Settings.
The exact term depends on your printer model and manufacturer. So, you may need to spend some time figuring it out here.
Once you find it, follow the on-screen instructions to run the printer alignment cycle.
Wait till the process completes and your printer should print everything like normal again.

Well, that’s all for today!

If you have any queries or get stuck anywhere during the process, feel free to ask me in the comment section below.

I will reply to you as soon as possible🙂