This printer test page prints one sheet that checks every ink, fine lines, small text, gray levels and alignment at true size. Choose full color, black and white, a nozzle check pattern, an alignment grid, a photo test image or one ink at a time, on US Letter or A4. It is a printer test page online, so nothing needs installing and you can run a test print in under a minute: it prints from Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox on Windows, Mac, ChromeOS, iPhone and Android, to any inkjet, laser or photo printer your device can reach. The receipt printer test page and label printer test page versions cover thermal printers, and each sheet carries rulers and the date, so you can check the print size and compare it with your next test print.
How to print this test page
- Load plain paper in the size picked above. The page starts with the usual size for your region, US Letter in North America and A4 almost everywhere else, and remembers your choice.
- Choose a test page. Full color page checks all colors at once. Black and white page prints the printer test page in black and white only, which suits laser printers and saves color ink.
- Press Print this page and pick your printer in the print window.
- Set the scale to 100%. Chrome and Edge call this Default, PDF viewers call it Actual size. Leave the margins on Default or set them to None.
- Keep Color set to Color for the color page, then print.
- Compare the sheet with the chart under What does your test page show? and follow the fix for what you see.
No print window opened? Apps such as Facebook and Instagram open links in their own browser, which often cannot print. Open the page in Chrome or Safari, or press Download PDF to save the same test print page as a PDF and print it from your Files or Downloads app.
What each part of the test page checks
The full color sheet is a printer test page with all colors your printer can make, and each part is placed to show one kind of fault.
| Part of the sheet | What it checks | A good result |
|---|---|---|
| Cyan, magenta, yellow and black bars | Each ink on its own | Solid, even blocks with no white lines |
| Red, green and blue bars | Two inks mixed: red is magenta plus yellow, green is cyan plus yellow, blue is cyan plus magenta | Bright and even, no blotches |
| 50% gray bar | Color balance | A neutral gray, not green, pink or brown |
| Four ramps and a rainbow | Each ink from light to full | Smooth, with no steps or bands |
| Text from 4 to 16 pt | Sharpness | 6 pt text is readable with clean edges |
| Lines from 0.1 to 1 mm | Fine detail | The 0.1 mm line is unbroken |
| Color wheel | All inks mixing together | Smooth, with no rings or patches |
| Steps in each color | A quick nozzle check | Every step present in every color |
| Grid | Alignment and paper feed | Straight, evenly spaced lines |
| Gray scale from 0 to 100% | Tone range | Each step looks different from the next |
| Rulers | Print scale | They measure exactly 100 mm and 4 in |
The patterns are drawn as part of the page, not as background colors, so they print even when your browser's Background graphics option is off. That option hides colored backgrounds on many other test pages.
Settings that change the result
- Paper type: match it to the paper in the tray. A photo setting on plain paper lays down more ink than the sheet can hold.
- Print quality: use Standard or Normal. Draft, EconoMode and Toner Save print pale on purpose, which looks like low ink.
- Scale: Fit to page makes the rulers measure short, so use 100% when you check size or alignment.
- Color: Chrome's Black and white option and a Grayscale driver setting print the color page in grays and hide a missing color.
White lines or streaks across the colors
On an inkjet, thin white lines across the bars almost always mean blocked nozzles. Ink dries in the print head when a printer sits unused for a few weeks. Run the printer's head cleaning from its Maintenance menu or driver, then print a nozzle check pattern to see which ink is still affected. Two or three cleanings are usually enough; more in a row wastes ink, so let the printer rest for a few hours before trying again. Wider, evenly spaced bands across photos and the ramps are called banding. They come from the same blocked nozzles or from paper slipping as it feeds, and a cleaning or the printer's alignment tool clears most of them.
On a laser printer, streaks run down the page in the direction the paper travels. A dirty corona wire, a scratched drum or low toner are the usual causes. Many Brother drum units have a green tab you slide back and forth to clean the wire. A streak that stays in the same place after cleaning means the drum or toner cartridge needs replacing.
Colors are faded, missing or wrong
If everything is pale, check the quality setting first, then the ink or toner levels. If one color is missing, that cartridge is empty, not seated, still has its protective tape, or its nozzles are fully blocked. Reseat it, remove any tape and run a cleaning. The guide for a printer not printing in color covers the cases that remain.
When the 50% gray bar has a tint, one ink is weak. A pink gray means cyan is low or blocked, a green gray means magenta is weak, and a blue gray means yellow is. To look at one ink at a time, choose Single color page above, or print the color test page, which explains every patch in detail.
Smudges, smears and ghost images
Smears on an inkjet print usually come from too much ink for the paper, such as a photo setting on plain paper. Set the right paper type and let the sheet dry for a minute. Marks in the same spot on every sheet point to dirty rollers: wipe them with a lint-free cloth lightly dampened with water.
On a laser printer, toner that rubs off points to the fuser or to a paper setting too light for the paper. A faint copy of the page lower down is called ghosting and comes from the drum or fuser. The black and white printer test page has a ghost check box that makes these copies easy to spot.
Jagged lines or doubled text
If the grid lines step sideways or small text looks doubled, the print head is out of alignment. Inkjets print in both directions as the head moves, and the two passes drift apart over time or after a cartridge change. Run the alignment tool in the printer's Maintenance menu or driver, then check the result with the printer alignment page. Lines that slant across the whole sheet are different: the paper is feeding crooked, so straighten the stack and slide the guides against it.
The printer test page works but nothing else prints
If this page or the printer's own test page prints but your documents do not, the printer, its ink and its connection all work. The fault sits between your app and the printer:
- Check the app is sending to the right printer. Windows 10 and 11 can switch the default printer on their own: turn off Let Windows manage my default printer in Settings, then Printers & scanners.
- Open the print queue and cancel every waiting job. One stuck job holds up everything behind it.
- Restart the Print Spooler service in Windows: press Windows key + R, type services.msc, right-click Print Spooler and choose Restart.
- If only one PDF fails, print it as an image. In Adobe Acrobat Reader this is under Advanced in the print window.
- Install the full driver from the printer maker's website if Windows set up a basic one.
The guide on printer printing blank pages covers sheets that come out empty, and why is my printer offline covers printers that stop answering.
Print a test page on Windows, Mac, Chromebook, iPhone and Android
This page prints the same way everywhere: press Print this page, or Ctrl + P on Windows and ChromeOS and Command + P on a Mac. Your system also has its own test page, which is handy for checking the driver:
- Windows 11: Settings, then Bluetooth & devices, then Printers & scanners. Select the printer and choose Print test page.
- Windows 10: Settings, then Devices, then Printers & scanners. Select the printer, choose Manage, then Print a test page.
- Mac: open Print Center from Applications, then Utilities, select the printer and choose Printer, then Print Test Page in the menu bar. On macOS Ventura and earlier, open the print queue from Printers & Scanners instead.
- Chromebook: ChromeOS has no built-in test page, so print this one. If your printer is not listed under Destination, choose See more.
- iPhone and iPad: press Print this page, tap Printer, choose an AirPrint printer and tap Print.
- Android: press Print this page, pick the printer at the top of the print screen and tap the print button.
The guide on how to print a test page windows 11 goes through these menus in more detail, Mac included.
Printer test page for HP, Epson, Canon, Brother and other brands
This sheet prints the same way on every make. Most printers can also print a diagnostic page of their own with no computer at all, and it reports things a browser cannot see, such as ink levels and error history. Each maker names it differently and starts it from different buttons:
- HP prints a Printer Status Report and a Print Quality Report. See how to print test page on hp printer models from the control panel, with or without a computer.
- Epson prints a nozzle check from the buttons or the Maintenance menu. The epson printer test page guide covers EcoTank models without a screen.
- Canon PIXMA and MAXIFY inkjets print a nozzle check too, and imageCLASS lasers print reports from the Menu button. See how to print test page on canon printer models.
- Brother calls its page Test Print and adds a Printer Settings report. See how to print test page on brother printer models, inkjet and laser.
- Samsung Xpress lasers print a samsung printer configuration page when you hold one button for a set time.
- Lexmark prints a Menu Settings Page, its name for the lexmark printer configuration page.
- Xerox prints a Configuration Report, and the xerox print test page steps cover the B210, B230 and VersaLink ranges.
- Zebra label printers print a configuration label, covered on the zebra printer test page for ZD, GK and ZT models.
What a printer test page cannot tell you
A browser sends this sheet to the printer like any document. It cannot read ink levels, error codes or the paper count, start a head cleaning, or know whether the page actually came out. The rulers check scale, not color accuracy: colors on paper depend on the paper, ink and driver, and matching them to a screen needs a measuring device and a color profile. For those jobs, use the printer's own utility or its built-in reports.
It also checks only the printing side. The scanner on an all-in-one has its own scanner test page, and a 3D printer needs printed models rather than a sheet: start with the 3d printer test print files and the 3d printer calibration steps.
Printer test page questions
How do I print a test page?
Press Print this page above, pick your printer in the print window and print at 100% scale. For the printer's own test page, open Settings in Windows, then Printers & scanners, select the printer and choose Print test page, or look in the printer's Maintenance or Reports menu. Every route, Mac and phones included, is in the guide on how to print a test page.
Does a printer test page use a lot of ink?
No. The full color page covers about a quarter of the sheet, roughly the ink of five pages of plain text, and the alignment page uses about as much as one. The panel above shows the coverage of whichever page you pick.
Why does my printer print a test page but nothing else?
A test page that prints proves the printer, its ink and its connection work. The fault is between your app and the printer: a stuck job in the queue, the wrong default printer, a generic driver or one damaged file. The fixes are in why is my printer not printing.
What should a printer test page look like?
Solid, even color bars, smooth ramps from light to full color, readable 6 pt text, straight grid lines and gray steps that each look different from the next. White lines, gaps, a color tint or doubled lines point to one of the faults in the chart above.
Can I print a test page from my phone?
Yes. On an iPhone or iPad, press Print this page and choose an AirPrint printer. On Android, the print window lists printers your phone can reach through its print service, such as the Default Print Service or your printer maker's plugin.
How often should I print a test page?
Print one after you change a cartridge, before a large or important print job, and about once a week on an inkjet you rarely use. A weekly color page keeps ink moving through the nozzles so they are less likely to dry and block.
Why won't my printer print a test page?
If neither this page nor the printer's own report prints, the printer is not receiving the job or cannot print at all. Check for an error light or message, paper and ink, then the connection: a printer shown as offline in Windows or on a Mac will not take any job. The fixes are in why is my printer offline.