HP OfficeJet Series Printer Driver
 HP OfficeJet Printer Driver

This help file provides information about the topics listed below.

About the HP OfficeJet Printer Driver

What to do Before Printing

Selecting Print Settings

Selecting Printer Setup Options

Troubleshooting Printing Problems

Customer Support

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About the HP OfficeJet Series Printer Driver
About the HP OfficeJet Printer Driver

The printer driver is a software program that allows you to access the printer's features from within your software programs. The printer driver lets you select printout modes, print quality, orientation, media types, and media sizes.

Context Sensitive Help

When you click on a setting in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup or Printer Options dialog boxes, a short explanation of the setting is displayed in the box at the bottom of the dialog box. This gives you immediate information about printer settings.

Updating Your Printer Driver

Updates to the HP OfficeJet printer driver occur periodically. For information on how to get printer driver updates, see the user's guide.


What to do Before Printing

Before you print a document, use the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box to select the following settings:

The method used to print your document (Printout Mode)

The print quality of your document

The type of paper or other media you are using

The size of media you are using

The orientation of text and images on the printed page

This will ensure that you get the best results when you print a document.

It is not necessary to change settings every time you print a document. The printer software remembers the settings you choose in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box and uses these settings until you change them in the printer setup dialog box or through your software program. You need to change printer settings only if the current documents need different settings from the last document you printed, such as a different media type or size, or print quality.

Selecting the Printout Mode

The printer driver provides two printout modes for HP OfficeJet, Black Text and Grayscale modes. Use Black Text mode for documents that contain only black text, such as letters. Black Text is the default mode for the HP OfficeJet printer. Black Text mode does not have any optional settings. Use Grayscale mode for documents that contain solid graphics, such as business graphs and charts, to be printed in shades of gray.

Selecting Media

Use only the paper or other media types listed in the Media selections in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box. Always make sure that the media selection in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box matches the type of paper or other media loaded in the printer. The printer software adjusts the way it puts ink on a page for the selected media type. Using a media type different from the type selected in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box will result in lower print quality.


Getting Help

For detailed descriptions of the selections provided in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box, see the on-line help topics available from within the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box or the Selecting Print Settings topic.

Note:	Windows software programs provide general settings that you can select for any printer. The HP OfficeJet printer software provides specific settings that you can select for HP OfficeJet. Settings made in your software program typically override settings made through the HP OfficeJet Printer software.


Customer Support

If problems occur when using your printer, see the troubleshooting section of the user's guide for your printer or the Troubleshooting Printing Problems topic in this on-line help. If you cannot find the solution to your problem, HP provides a number of services to help you solve problems or answer questions you may have about your printer.

The services available vary between countries and regions. For detailed information about services available in your region, refer to the user's guide.


Selecting Printer Setup Options

You can select the Halftoning and Intensity options for your printout when you select Grayscale Printout mode in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box. Click the Options button in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box to open the Options dialog box. The following help topics provide explanations of the Options settings.

Halftoning

Intensity

Default


Halftoning

The halftoning method determines how dots of ink are placed on a printed page to create an image.

Pattern
	Pattern halftoning places dots of ink in geometric patterns. Use Pattern halftoning for: Color text. Line graphics Free-hand images. Clip art images. Business graphics.
Scatter
	Scatter halftoning places dots of ink in a random manner. Use Scatter halftoning for: Complex graphic images. Photographic images. Scanned images.
Cluster
	Cluster halftoning places dots of ink in clusters to produce complex graphics and documents for photocopying. Use Cluster halftoning for: Documents to be photocopied.


Intensity

The Intensity slider controls the amount of ink printed on a page.

Use the mouse to move the slider to the left for lighter images (less ink). Move the slider to the right for darker images (more ink). Intensity settings may affect color hue.


Options Default

Click the Default button to reset Options dialog settings to their default values for the selected Printout mode. Options settings for other Printout modes are not changed.

Printout Mode	Default  Settings
	Halftoning	Intensity	Color Control
Black Text	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable
Grayscale	Scatter	Medium	Not Applicable


Selecting Print Setup Settings
Selecting Print Settings

The following topics describe the print settings you can select from the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box.

Printout

Print Quality

Orientation

Media

Media Size

Options

Default

See Also:

About the HP OfficeJet Printer Driver

Troubleshooting Printing Problems


Printout

The printer driver provides two printout modes for HP OfficeJet printers, Black Text and Grayscale modes. In Grayscale mode you can select the optional settings, Black Text mode does not have any optional settings.

Black Text

Use for documents that contain only black text, such as letters. Black Text is the default mode for the HP OfficeJet printer.

In Black Text mode, the Options button is disabled (grayed out). There are no options to select in Black Text mode.

Grayscale

Use for documents that contain solid graphics, such as business graphs and charts, to be printed in shades of gray.

For grayscale printing of color images, use grayscale mode. With grayscale imaging, different colors and saturation levels of color are represented as different shades of gray.


Print Quality

Best

Highest quality printing. This mode prints more slowly than Normal mode for most documents.

Normal

Letter quality printing. Normal is the default print quality setting.

EconoFast

Draft quality printing. EconoFast prints faster and uses less ink.

Printer Resolution

The following table lists the printer resolution in dots per inch (dpi) for each Print Quality mode.

Print Quality	Resolution (dpi)

Best	600x300
Normal	600x300
EconoFast	300x300


Orientation

Select the appropriate print Orientation for your document:

Portrait

Prints across the width of the page (letter-style).

Landscape

Prints across the length of the page (spreadsheet-style).

See Also:

Printing Envelopes


Media

Select the Media setting that matches the paper or other media type you are using in your printer.

Note:	Some paper or other media types may not be compatible with your printer. Use only media types listed in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box for your printer.

Plain Paper

Use for bond or photocopy paper and envelopes.

 Transparency

Use for printing on HP Premium Transparency Film. If you are printing more than one page, the printer waits several minutes between printing transparencies to allow time for the ink to dry.

Transparency (Extra Dry Time)

Use in high humidity where ink on transparencies may dry slowly. The printer stops printing after each transparency. You may want to remove each transparency from the printer OUT tray before restarting printing. Click OK in the dialog box to restart printing.

HP Glossy Paper

Use HP Premium Glossy Paper to enhance color output. If you are printing more than one page, the printer waits several minutes between printing sheets to allow time for the ink to dry.

HP Glossy Paper (Extra Dry Time)

Use in high humidity where glossy pages may dry slowly. The printer stops printing after each sheet. You may want to remove each sheet from the printer OUT tray before restarting printing. Click OK in the dialog box to restart printing.

HP Premium Inkjet Paper

Use HP Premium Inkjet Paper to enhance output.


Media Size

Select the size of the paper or other media you have loaded in your printer. Use only media sizes listed in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box for your printer.

See Also:

Printing Envelopes


Options

Click the Options button in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box to select Intensity settings, Halftoning methods, and Color Options. Click the Help button in the Options dialog box for more information on Options settings.

Note: When Black Text Printout mode is selected, the Options button is disabled (grayed out). Black Text mode does not have any optional settings.


Default

Click the Default button to reset all printer settings to the factory default settings. The factory default settings are listed below:

Printer Setup Dialog Defaults

Setting	Default Setting

Printout:	Black Text

Orientation:	Portrait

Print Quality:	Normal

Media:	Plain Paper

Media Size:	Letter (in US), A4 (in Europe)

Options Dialog Defaults

The default settings for Options dialog box settings (Intensity, Halftoning, and Color Control) are dependent on the Printout mode you have selected.

See Also:

Options Defaults


Printing Envelolpes
Printing Envelopes

The HP OfficeJet Printer Driver automatically selects the correct Orientation when you select an envelope media size. The Orientation controls in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box are disabled (grayed out) when you select an envelope size.

However, you may need to select printing orientation in your software program. Some programs use a print setup dialog provided by Windows to select common printer settings. This dialog does not automatically default to the correct orientation for envelopes. If the Orientation settings are not disabled (grayed out) when you select envelopes, you must manually select the correct orientation in the software program print setup dialog box.

Select Landscape orientation for the HP OfficeJet printer.

For information on loading envelopes, see the user's guide that came with your printer.


Troubleshooting Printing Problems

This topic describes common printing problems and suggests solutions. If your printer is not operating properly, select the topic from the following list that best describes your printer's problem and follow the suggestions.

Note: If your printer's problem is not covered here or you need additional help, see the problem solving sections of the users guide. Also see the documentation that came with your software application. See the user's guide for information on available customer support services and how to access the services.

Print Quality Problems

Ink is smearing

Printing is faint

Print is fuzzy

Document Printing Problems

Documents print in incorrect orientation

Envelope Problems

Envelopes do not advance into the printer

Other Problems

Alert messages such as "Not enough memory to print" are displayed

Printing is slow


Ink is smearing

There are several reasons why smearing may occur. The most common causes are listed below with suggested solutions.

Too much ink is on the page.

Click the Options button in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box to select the Options dialog box. Then move the Intensity slider to the left to decrease the amount of ink used. (Options settings are not available in Black Text mode)

Media selection does not match media loaded in the printer.

Make sure that the Media setting in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box matches the paper or media type loaded in the printer. The printer uses different methods of applying ink to the page for each media type. This provides the best print quality for each media type.

Inappropriate paper or other media type is loaded in the printer.

Try another type of paper or media. See Media for types of paper or media.

Insufficient dry time for transparencies or HP Glossy Paper.

Ink on transparencies and HP Glossy Paper takes longer to dry than on other media types. Remove each sheet from the printer as it completes printing and lay it aside to dry. This will prevent the following sheet from falling on top of it and smearing the ink. Be careful not to touch the ink until it is completely dry.

Printing on the wrong side of a transparency.

Transparency film may be loaded incorrectly. Make sure transparency film is loaded into the printer rough side down. The rough side of the transparency is the print side.


Print is faint

There are several reasons why print may be faint. The most common causes are listed below with suggested solutions.

The Intensity slider in the Options dialog box is set too low.

Click the Options button in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box to select the Options dialog box. Then move the Intensity slider to the right to increase the amount of ink used. (Options settings are not available in Black Text mode)

EconoFast Print Quality mode is selected.

Select Normal or Best Print Quality mode in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box.

Clogged or empty print cartridge.

Clean or replace the print cartridge.

For instructions for cleaning print cartridges, see the user's guide.


Print is fuzzy

There are several reasons why print may appear fuzzy. The most common causes are listed below with suggested solutions.

The Intensity slider in the Options dialog box may be set too high.

Click the Options button in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box to select the Options dialog box. Then move the Intensity slider to the left to decrease the amount of ink used. (Options settings are not available in Black Text mode)

Media may be affecting print quality

Change the type of media you are using. See Media for more information.

The correct or print side of the media is not being used.

Turn over the media in the IN tray.

The print cartridge nozzles may be clogged or dirty.

Clean the print cartridge.

For instructions for cleaning print cartridges for other printers, see the user's guide.


Envelopes do not advance into the printer

Media Size settings are incorrect.

Select an Envelope size from the Media Size selections in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box and then select Print through your software application.  See also Printing Envelopes

Envelopes are incorrectly loaded.

See the user's guide that came with your printer for information on loading envelopes into the printer.

Also refer to the README.TXT file. This file contains information about known software application problems relating to envelopes. The README.TXT file is located on installation disk 1 for the HP OfficeJet Printer Driver.


Alert messages such as "Not enough memory to print" are displayed

System memory problems.

You may have insufficient memory in your computer. Try the following suggestions in the order listed:

Close all other applications.

Exit all applications and Windows. Restart Windows, then restart only the application you need.

Purchase more RAM for your computer.


Printing is slow

There are several reasons why your printer may print slowly. The most common causes are listed below with suggested solutions.

System memory problems.

You may have insufficient memory in your computer. Try the following suggestions in the order listed:

Close all other applications.

Exit all applications and Windows. Restart Windows, then restart only the application you need.

Purchase more RAM for your computer.

Best Print Quality mode is selected.

Best mode prints slower than Normal mode. Slower printing is expected in Best mode.

Transparency or HP Glossy Paper media type is selected.

The printer driver has drying times built-in for Transparency and HP Glossy Paper media types. Slower printing is expected for these modes.


Documents print in incorrect orientation

HP OfficeJet Printer Setup settings differ from your software application settings.

Select the Orientation in your software program that matches the Orientation selection in the HP OfficeJet Printer Setup dialog box.


Definition
Media

Media refers to the types of paper and transparency film that your printer can print on.