If you are printing printables, these 10 printing tips will help make sure you get great high-quality prints at home every time!
1. Use High Quality Paper
Believe me when I say paper quality matters! I used to think any ole regular copy paper would work just fine but I’ve learned over the years the better quality the paper you use, the better your printables will turn out!
Check out my post on my top paper choices for printables – each one personally tested + used by me!
2. Print at High Resolution
If your image or printable is at a low resolution or you resize it to be bigger than it actually should be, a lot of times you will find your prints come out pixelated or grainy. It’s super important to use high quality, high-resolution printables!
All of our printables here at DP are created at 300 PPI so you can be confident they are high quality!
3. Read Your Printer’s User Manual
Have you taken time to read the user manual that came with your printer? While it may seem silly, you can actually learn some tips + tricks straight from the manufacturer on how to get the best quality prints.
Every printer is different, so the best way to know what is going to work best for you is to read the manufacturer’s user manual!
4. Adjust Your Printer’s settings for the paper + printable type
Did you know most printers have settings specifically for different types of paper and prints? (Hopefully you read your user manual, right?)
For example, my printer has a setting specifically for card stock or premium copy paper – it also lets me choose what kind of thing I’m printing, whether its a photo or high-color image or if it’s just a standard black and white document.
These settings really do make a difference if your printer offers them, so make sure you check!
5. Regularly update your printer settings + computer
Different printers + laptops + computers all work together in different ways, and one thing I have really learned over the years is that you need to stay on top of those updates!
Sometimes your printer itself needs a firmware update, especially the newer digital wireless printers, other times you need to update your operating system or even your printer software or drivers. Check for those updates often!
6. Calibrate your Printer Regularly
Most people set up their printer + never take the time to properly calibrate it. Usually this is a very simple process – you tell the printer you want to calibrate, it prints some squares or lines and then you tell the printer which lines and squares look the best.
While you won’t need to calibrate your printer all that often after the first time you do it, if you ever notice your print quality is a little off, it’s worth doing it again!
7. Clean Your Printers Nozzles Regularly
Most printers will self-clean the ink nozzles, but sometimes they can get clogged and leave weird lines, skipped areas or stripes on your printed image. If you notice this happening, especially if you haven’t printed anything in awhile, it’s usually a sign it’s time to clean these nozzles.
Since every printer is different, your best bet to learn how to clean the nozzles is to check with the printer manufacturer itself. On my Epson printer, there’s actually a setting to do this to clean them in my maintenance settings.
8. Make Sure You Have Enough Ink
Ink is very important when you are printing – which is why you should always make sure if you are printing you have a sufficient amount of ink for the job.
We invested in an Epson Eco Tank printer many years ago and so we never have to worry about running out of ink – I’ve printed thousands of pages over the years and it’s so economical!
If you do need ink for another type of printer, I’m a huge fan of TonerRefillKits.com – I’m not even sponsored by them, I really just love their service + it’s easy to find ink even for printers where ink is hard to find. Also, they sent me a pack of M&M’s when I ordered from them a few years ago and it was a very nice touch! They are a small company that goes above and beyond with service!
9. Make Sure Your paper orientation settings Are Correct
Many times you want to print something in landscape, but the majority of printers only let you put paper in one direction.
If you get your printables here, you won’t have to worry about that too much – I already rotate everything so that it’s ready to be printed as a landscape image – even though it might look sideways when you download it!
Other times, this usually will mean you need to adjust your page setup settings. You can usually do this pretty easily, but make sure it’s correct before you print!
10. Go Borderless + Only print one side at a time
While not all printers and operating systems support borderless printing, if you can choose the option to go borderless you definitely should! Borderless printing means you won’t have to trim anything down, which is awesome if you are doing planner pages or need the printed image to be true to scale in size.
Most printers can’t do borderless for double sided prints, so for best results with double sided printing, make sure you first print your first side and then flip it over to print the second side.
I hope these printing tips are helpful for you so that your printables turn out great every single time – if you need any help with anything or have questions just ask in the comments section below – I’ve been printing professionally for a very long time so am always happy to help!