Not printing ...

bouicca21

There is probably something blindingly obvious about this problem but I can't think of it, so here goes ...


Windows 10; Canon MP640.
Never had a problem printing text. Did do something a while ago to enable printing PDF tickets/boarding passes, but can't remember what.


Today I tried printing a WORD document. It has a photo, a text box, straight text and a table. Looks fine on screen and in print preview - but only the photo will print. The rest of the document is blank. Tried removing the photo; tried changing the colour of the text; tried saving it as a PDF. Still no text will print.


What am I doing wrong?

Neil_Jones

Need to do head cleaning. You can usually find the appropriate option either in the properties of the printer in Control Panel -> Devices and Printers (right-click it and Properties) or there may be a specific option on the Start Menu.

Of course its quite possible the black ink cartridge is empty; did your photo come out looking okay or did it look like it was missing something? If its missing black it should be obvious.

Chino

Neil_Jones wrote: »

Of course its quite possible the black ink cartridge is empty;

The OP has already said:

bouicca21 wrote: »

tried changing the colour of the text;

Chino

There's a thread here from someone reporting a similar problem with a Canon MP610 printer. Unfortunately, the thread ends without the poster reporting any resolution to the problem.


EDIT:
There's a solution posted in this thread to a problem someone was having with printing text files under Windows 10:

"Go into the printer's Properties, then the Advanced tab, and turn OFF the option "Enable advanced printing features" and save the change.

Be sure your print queue is empty of any previous jobs and then go ahead and test it."

Neil_Jones

Chino wrote: »

The OP has already said:

doesn't mean anything, how do I know what they changed it to? How do we know what the photo came out looking like?

We have to dig for details on here to find anything out because people who post with issues seem to think we're all mind readers so it's far easy just to assume basic details.

Chino

Neil_Jones wrote: »

doesn't mean anything, how do I know what they changed it to?

If the text was black and the problem was with the black cartridge, changing the text colour would likely have resolved the problem. If the text was not black, an empty black cartridge wouldn't be the issue.

techquest

Just going to ask a basic question here. Does the printer print other document types, excel, notepad and the likes? is it just this one documemt ?

[Deleted User]

My work printer (Canon) has started doing this too, it won't print using PGBK even though it acknowledges the cartridge is there and is full, I have to make it think it is printing photos to use the normal black ink

bouicca21

Sorry for insufficient detail. All ink cartridges ok.


The picture prints, so it's not dry ink cartridge heads. It's the text that won't print; same result with the PDF version of the file - just the photo no text. I tried changing the colour in case for some reason the thing thought it was printing white text (even though the pc said the text was black).


I have tried to print another document - a PDF file. This prints the pretty bits of the layout but none of the text that should sit within the various pretty boxes.



I've also tried to print a straightforward WORD file - just text, no fancy layout - and just get a blank page. Same for an EXCEL sheet.

grumpycrab

Although I hate printers I think I've seen this before. Play with the greyscale setting,?
https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/Printer-Multifunction-Support/how-do-I-print-in-black-without-using-my-color-ink-on-my-pixma/td-p/67535

bouicca21

Quick update - altering the properties of the printer as suggested by Chino made no difference, but SSDD23 solved it - I told it to print the document as a photo and it obeyed.



So it seems to be a Canon problem??