When a printer starts producing streaky, faded or oddly coloured pages, most people do the same thing: order a new set of cartridges and hope. Sometimes that is the right call. Often it is not — the cartridge was fine and the real issue was a blocked nozzle, a setting, or a part inside the printer. A one-page test print tells you which, in about a minute, before you spend anything.
We put together three printable test pages for exactly that. They are the same checks we run when a printer comes up on a home or office callout around Edinburgh, laid out so you can read the result yourself. All three are A4 PDFs, no sign-up, and each one has a short “what your print is telling you” key at the bottom.
Download the Test Pages
- Black test page (PDF) — solid black, a ten-step grey scale, text from 6pt to 18pt, and fine lines. It uses black only, so a colour printer will not spend colour ink on it.
- Colour test page (PDF) — solid cyan, magenta, yellow and black, the three mixed colours, smooth gradients, mixed greys and coloured text for checking alignment.
- Printer diagnostic page (PDF) — full-width colour bands, a nozzle check pattern, an alignment grid, a 10 cm scale bar and a centimetre ruler down the side.
- All three in one PDF
How to Print Them Properly
A test page is only useful if the printer is not quietly adjusting it. Before you print:
- Print at 100% or “Actual size”. Turn off “Fit to page” or “Shrink oversized pages” in the print dialog. The diagnostic page has a 10 cm bar — if it measures shorter, scaling is still on.
- Turn off draft, economy or toner-save mode. These deliberately print lighter, which makes a healthy printer look like it is running out.
- Use plain A4 paper and make sure the paper type in the print settings matches what is in the tray.
- Start with the black page on any printer, then the colour or diagnostic page if you have a colour model.
Reading the Black Test Page
The solid black block should be deep and even from edge to edge. If it looks grey or patchy, the cartridge is likely low; on a laser printer, take the toner out, rock it gently side to side and print again before replacing it. White lines running across the block on an inkjet point to blocked nozzles rather than an empty cartridge. A single pale stripe running down the page on a laser printer usually means the toner is low, the laser window needs cleaning, or the drum is worn.
The grey scale should show ten distinct steps. If the lightest two or three are missing, check that draft mode is off before blaming the hardware. Fuzzy or doubled text, or fine vertical lines that look jagged, normally mean the print head needs aligning — most printers have an alignment routine in their maintenance menu.
Reading the Colour Test Page
Each of the seven colour blocks should be strong and even. The mixed blocks are the useful part: red is made from magenta and yellow, green from cyan and yellow, blue from cyan and magenta. If green comes out bluish, yellow is the colour that is missing, even if its own block looks acceptable. The gradients should fade smoothly; visible stripes are banding, which is usually blocked nozzles on an inkjet. The mixed greys should look neutral — a green or pink tint means one colour is stronger or weaker than the others.
Reading the Diagnostic Page
The four full-width bands show white lines or faded zones more clearly than any photo or document will. The nozzle check rows are made of tiny stepped lines; gaps in a row mean nozzles in that colour are blocked. The three registration crosses should sit exactly on top of each other — if you can see separate coloured crosses, the colours are out of alignment.
The ruler down the right side is for one specific problem: a mark, dot or smudge that repeats down the page at regular intervals. On a laser printer, that is a roller or drum leaving the same mark every time it turns. Measure the gap between the repeats and note it down; it tells a technician which part is responsible, and it is worth having to hand before you order anything.
Clean First, Then Replace
If the test page shows streaks or gaps on an inkjet, run the printer’s head-cleaning cycle once or twice and print the page again. Give it some time between cycles — each clean uses a surprising amount of ink, so running five in a row can empty a cartridge on its own. If one colour stays weak after cleaning, replace that cartridge only. If everything is faded, check the settings above before buying a full set.
Our printer troubleshooting guide covers the rest of the common printer problems — offline errors, stuck print jobs, wireless connection drops and driver issues. If the printer is shared in an office and keeps dropping off the network, our guide to office printers that keep disconnecting goes into that in more detail.
When the Test Page Says It’s Not the Ink
If the page is still wrong after cleaning and fresh ink or toner, the problem is usually inside the printer: a failing print head, a worn drum, a fuser that no longer bonds toner to the page, or rollers that feed the paper at an angle. At that point it is worth an honest conversation about whether the printer is worth repairing at all, or whether the money is better spent on a replacement.
That is a conversation we are happy to have. Through our home and office callout service, we can come out across Edinburgh and the Lothians, check the printer, its drivers and its connection to your computers or network, and tell you plainly what we find. For driver and setup problems on the computer side, our software troubleshooting service covers printers too.
The easiest first step: print the diagnostic page, take a photo of it, and send it to us. We will tell you what it shows.
Last updated: 9 October 2026