When colors print wrong, blues may come out purple, greens may look yellowish, skin tones may take on a red or green cast, or everything may look dull next to the screen. Some difference between screen and paper is normal, because a backlit display always looks brighter than ink on paper. A strong tint or a missing color is not normal, though. This guide separates ink and toner causes from settings and color management causes, and fixes both.
What you might be seeing
- Blues print purple or greens print yellow
- Photos have an overall color cast
- Color documents print in black and white
- Prints look much darker or duller than the screen
Common causes
- Missing or weak color
- When cyan, magenta or yellow is not printing fully, every color that uses it shifts.
- Grayscale option on
- A grayscale or black ink only setting prints everything in shades of gray.
- Double color management
- When both the app and the driver adjust color, prints come out oversaturated or tinted.
- Wrong paper type
- The paper setting tells the driver how much of each ink to use.
- Calibration drift on color lasers
- Color lasers need periodic calibration to keep their four toners in balance.
How to fix it, step by step
Work through these in order and test a print after each one. Most people are done within the first few steps.
Use ink or toner intended for your printer model. In tank printers, pouring the wrong color or an incompatible ink into a tank can contaminate the ink lines in a way that is difficult to reverse.
Turn off grayscale and black-only options
If color documents print in black and white, open Printing Preferences and look for Print in Grayscale, Grayscale, Black & White or Black Ink Only, and turn it off. Check the Color tab if your driver has one. On a Mac, make sure Black & White is cleared in the print dialog. Some apps also have their own grayscale option in their print settings.
Identify the missing color
On an inkjet, print a nozzle check; on a color laser, print a color demo page. Then compare the color blocks. The shifts follow a pattern: blue printing purple means cyan is weak, yellowish greens also point to cyan, and reds turning orange mean magenta is weak. Whichever block on the test page is faint or broken is the color to clean or replace.
Clean or replace the weak color
On an inkjet, run a printhead cleaning and print the nozzle check again, repeating once if gaps shrink but remain. If that color's level is low, replace the cartridge or top up the tank with the correct ink. On a color laser, replace the toner cartridge for the faint color and confirm each cartridge sits fully in the slot marked with its color.
Let only one side manage color
Photo and design apps can apply their own color profiles, and the driver may also adjust color. When both do it, colors shift. In the app's print dialog, either let the printer manage colors, or let the app manage them with the correct printer profile and set the driver's color correction to off or none. On a Mac, some drivers show a Color Matching section offering ColorSync or the printer's own matching.
Match the paper type and quality
Set Paper Type to the exact paper loaded, choosing the specific glossy or matte photo type if the driver lists one. The driver uses this to pick ink amounts and color tables, so a plain paper setting on photo paper looks flat and dull, while a glossy setting on plain paper looks oversaturated and blotchy. Choose a higher Print Quality for photos.
Calibrate a color laser printer
Color laser printers lay down four toners separately, and both their density and position drift over time. In the control panel's print quality, maintenance or settings menu, look for color calibration and color registration, and run both. Many models calibrate automatically after a toner change, but a manual run helps when colors shift. Print a color test page afterward to compare.
Reset driver color adjustments
Look in the driver's color or advanced tab for brightness, saturation or color balance sliders that may have been moved, and restore their defaults. If prints are consistently darker than the screen, your display may be set very bright; lowering it brings the two closer. For critical photo work, a calibrated monitor and the paper maker's printer profile give the most predictable match.
How to keep it from happening again
- Replace a color as soon as its test block starts to fade
- Choose one color management method and stick with it
- Calibrate a color laser after changing toner
- Select the exact paper type for photo prints
Common questions
Why do prints look darker than my screen?
A display emits light, while a print can only reflect it, so prints always look less bright. Many screens are also set brighter than a typical room needs. Lowering screen brightness, viewing prints under neutral daylight-type lighting, and choosing the paper type that matches your paper all bring the two closer together.
Can non-original ink change my colors?
Inks differ in formulation, so ink not designed for your model may print with a different balance than the printer's color tables expect. The result is often a slight cast, most visible in skin tones and grays. If colors shifted after switching ink, comparing a fresh nozzle check with an earlier one shows whether the ink or the settings are responsible.
Why do gray areas print with a color tint?
Many printers build grays from a mix of colors, so a weak color pushes gray toward the others. A green tint usually means magenta is weak, a red or orange tint suggests cyan is weak, and a blue tint suggests yellow is low. Fix the weak color first. A grayscale setting gives neutral grays when color is not needed.
This guide is general information written for common home and office printers. Menus and button names vary between models, so check your printer’s manual where a step differs. Printer Problems Solved is independent and not affiliated with any printer manufacturer. See our disclaimer.