Even with top of the line office equipment; we all know that feeling of helplessness when things aren’t going to plan. With these simple fixes for common printing issues you will never feel that office stress again.

Windows is sending print jobs to the wrong printer

Windows has decided to select a new default printer and is automatically sending print jobs to this one. This is a common glitch when using Windows 7, it is so simple to fix. Click ‘Start’ and select ‘Devices and Printers’. Under Printers and Faxes, right-click the printer you want to make the default, and select set as default printer.

It won’t print from a tablet

With the various types of tablets available, this issue can be a bit of a minefield. To be able print from an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, the printer has to be wireless, and also support AirPrint. If you have an Apple Mac with a printer attached, you can turn it into an AirPrint printer using “HandyPrint”. “Printer Pro” is an app for iOS devices that enables them to print to many wireless printers or a wired one attached to a PC or Mac.

To print from any Android phone or tablet to any PC printer you can use Google Cloud Print. Install it on the mobile device from the Google Play store. Next, using Google Chrome on your PC, go to the menu, ‘Settings’, ‘Advanced Settings’ and click ‘Manage’. You can then add the printer attached to the PC. Provided the PC and printer are switched on, you can print from the Android device.

My printer keeps asking me to replace the cartridge

In a busy office a printer might warn you that the ink is running out before it actually does. If this is the case, it might run dry in an hour, but a home printer being used only occasionally could last another couple of weeks. Order new cartridges as soon as the message appears, but don’t install them until it either stops printing or the colours fade.

If the printer is refusing to complete the print job until a new cartridge is installed; run a cleaning cycle on the printer as this sometimes clears a little ink through and allows you to print a few more pages.

Paper Jam! Every Time!

Every time you are in a hurry you get a paper jam! If this continually happens, there could be a small shred of paper stuck somewhere in the paper feed mechanism. Take the paper out of the tray, open all the flaps and look inside. You might need a torch to see the paper and long tweezers to reach it, which can sometimes be small and hard to see. Look underneath the printer because there may be an access panel that can be removed to examine and clean the paper feed mechanism.

There is always a blank sheet ejected every time I print

In a busy office where a printer is shared MFP printers have a feature which deliberately uses a blank sheet to separate one print job from another. To put a stop to this simply Open ‘Devices and Printers’ in the ‘Control Panel’, right click the printer and select ‘Printing Preferences’. There should be an option to enable/disable separator pages, but if this option is not available right click the printer and select ‘Properties’ or double click it. Select the options to ‘Customise your printer’, and select the Advanced tab. There’s a Separator button to configure the option.

Hopefully these simple tips will help to reduce those everyday annoyances in the workplace and home office.