Free Printer Test Page

Color Printer Test Page

A full-color page for checking how your printer reproduces color: a 12-hue color wheel, the cyan, magenta and yellow inks next to red, green and blue, tint-to-shade ramps for eight hues and a 24-patch color chart with skin, sky and foliage tones.

Color Printer Test Page – free printable PDF

In the print dialog choose 100% / Actual size, and turn off “Fit to page”.

Use it when prints come out with a color cast, when one ink seems weak, or after replacing a cartridge. Compare the printed sheet with the page on your screen in daylight — small differences are normal, a missing or strongly shifted color is not.

How to print it

  1. Pick the paper size above, and add the printer name and date if you want to keep the printout.
  2. Click Print test page (or Download PDF and open it).
  3. In the print dialog, choose your printer and set the scale to 100% or Actual size.Use plain paper unless you are testing photo paper.

How to read the printout

Color wheel
Twelve hues should run in order around the ring. A gap or a muddy segment shows which ink is weak: missing greens and blues point to cyan, missing reds and purples to magenta, missing oranges and greens to yellow.
CMY and RGB blocks
Cyan, magenta and yellow are single inks; red, green and blue are mixes of two. If a single-ink block is fine but its mixes look wrong, the colors are being converted by the driver rather than an ink problem.
Hue ramps
Each row should keep the same color from the light tint to the dark shade. A row that turns brown or gray in the middle shows a color balance problem.
Color checker
Skin, sky and foliage patches should look natural next to each other. They are the colors people notice first in photos.
Neutral grays
The gray steps should look neutral. A pink, green or blue tint means one ink is printing too strong or too weak.

Something wrong on your print?

Tap the problem you see for the usual causes and what to try.

A color is missing or looks wrong

Usual causes: Empty or dried cartridge, clogged nozzles, protective tape on a new cartridge, or a cartridge or ink bottle in the wrong slot.

  1. Check ink levels and make sure all protective tape is removed from new cartridges.
  2. Print the Nozzle Check page (or the printer’s built-in nozzle check) to see which ink is affected.
  3. Run one head cleaning, then check again. Do not run more than two or three in a row.
  4. If one color is replaced by another, check that each cartridge or ink bottle is in the right slot.
Grays or whites have a color cast

Usual causes: One ink is partly clogged or running low, color management is applied twice, or the paper type is wrong.

  1. Run a nozzle check — a weak ink is the most common cause of a color cast.
  2. Let either the app or the printer driver manage color, not both.
  3. Choose the paper type that matches your paper and print again.
Faded or light print

Usual causes: Draft or toner-save mode, low ink or toner, the wrong paper type setting, or partly clogged nozzles.

  1. In the print dialog, set quality to Normal or Best and turn off draft, economy or toner-save mode.
  2. Make sure the paper type in the dialog matches the paper in the tray.
  3. Check ink or toner levels, then run a nozzle check.
Gradients show bands or steps

Usual causes: Low print quality setting, partly clogged nozzles, or a paper feed that advances unevenly.

  1. Print at Best or High quality and turn off any fast or draft mode.
  2. Run a nozzle check and clean if needed.
  3. Use the paper type setting that matches your paper; plain-paper settings on glossy paper often cause banding.
White lines or streaks across the page

Usual causes: On inkjets: clogged nozzles. On laser printers: low toner or a dirty or scratched drum. On thermal label printers: a dirty or dead print head dot.

  1. Inkjet: run the nozzle check and one head cleaning, then print the test page again.
  2. Laser: remove the toner cartridge and rock it gently side to side to spread the toner; clean the corona wire if your drum has one.
  3. Thermal: clean the print head with isopropyl alcohol and let it dry.
  4. If lines appear in exactly the same place after cleaning, a part (print head or drum) may need replacing.

More test pages

Printer Test Page previewPrinter Test PageBlack and White Test Page previewBlack and White Test PageCMYK Test Page previewCMYK Test PageNozzle Check Page previewNozzle Check PagePrinter Alignment Test Page previewPrinter Alignment Test PagePhoto Test Print previewPhoto Test PrintPrint Scale Test (Actual Size Check) previewPrint Scale Test (Actual Size Check)HP Printer Test Page previewHP Printer Test PageEpson Printer Test Page previewEpson Printer Test PageCanon Printer Test Page previewCanon Printer Test PageBrother Printer Test Page previewBrother Printer Test PageLabel Printer Test Page previewLabel Printer Test PageWeekly Inkjet Maintenance Page previewWeekly Inkjet Maintenance Page

Frequently asked questions

Why do printed colors look different from my screen?

Screens make color with light (RGB) and printers with ink (CMYK), so very bright screen colors such as pure green and blue cannot be printed exactly. Paper type and the print quality setting also change the result. Big shifts — a whole color missing or a strong cast — are a printer problem; small ones are normal.

Which paper should I use for a color test?

Plain paper is fine for finding missing colors and streaks. To judge color accuracy, use the paper you normally print on and select the same paper type in the print dialog, because the printer changes the amount of ink for each paper type.

How do I fix a color cast on prints?

First run a nozzle check — a partly clogged ink is the most common cause. Then check that the paper type in the print dialog matches the paper, turn off any color adjustment or “vivid” mode, and try printing from a different app to rule out its color settings.