Prints are blurry, fuzzy or misaligned

Find the alignment option in the printer's maintenance, tools or setup menu, or in the maker's app. Load plain white paper and follow each prompt; many printers ask you to place the printed pattern on the scanner glass. It's worth doing after every cartridge change.

Slide the width guides until they just touch both sides of the stack without bending it, and move the length guide up to the paper's end. Sheets that feed at an angle print crooked.

Very cheap or damp paper lets ink spread into the fibers, making text fuzzy, and on lasers damp paper can scatter toner. Try paper from a freshly opened ream.

If only certain files look soft, zoom in on screen: a small image stretched to fill a page prints blurry. Use the original, full-size photo rather than a copy saved from a message or web page.

Many inkjets have a thin clear plastic strip behind the print head carriage that tells the printer where the head is. If it has ink smudges, unplug the printer and wipe it gently with a lint-free cloth lightly dampened with water, without pulling or bending it. Skip this if your manual says not to touch it.

Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners > your printer > Printing preferences (Windows 10: Settings > Devices > Printers & scanners > your printer > Manage). Choose Normal or Best quality and the paper type you've loaded.

Some drivers include alignment on a maintenance tab inside Printing preferences; otherwise it's in the maker's app. Load plain paper before you start.

In the app's print dialog, make sure the paper size matches the tray and scaling is actual size or fit to page. Letter selected with A4 loaded, or the other way round, shifts or crops content.

In the print dialog, open Media & Quality (or the maker's equivalent) and choose a higher quality and the correct paper type. Click Show Details first on older macOS versions if you only see a few options.

Make sure Paper Size matches the paper in the tray and Scale is 100%, or use the scale-to-fit option under paper handling.

macOS has no alignment tool of its own for most printers. Use the printer's control panel, the maker's Mac app, or the Utility tab under Options & Supplies in Printers & Scanners if your driver provides one.