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How to align a print head (Epson, Canon, HP, Brother)

Print head alignment fixes blurry text, doubled or crooked lines and some kinds of banding on inkjet printers. Here is where each maker puts it and how the routine works.

Last updated: October 16, 2026

Using a color laser? Skip the inkjet nozzle and print-head steps below. Go to laser color alignment, including the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M281fdw calibration steps.

What alignment fixes

Canon describes alignment as correcting the print head’s position so that colors and lines line up. The makers list similar symptoms:

  • Blurry or grainy text and images.
  • Vertical lines that are misaligned, doubled or not straight.
  • Colors and lines that do not meet where they should, or parallel lines that print out of parallel.
  • On some Epson models, dark or light bands at regular intervals.

Alignment is not the same as our alignment test page, which checks margins, skew and color registration on the paper. Print that sheet first if you are not sure what is wrong. If whole lines of a color are missing or faint, the cause is usually blocked nozzles, not alignment: print a nozzle check and see how to clean a print head.

Before you start

  • Load plain white paper. Epson and Canon guides use A4 or Letter. Canon needs one to three sheets depending on the method.
  • Replace low or empty ink first. Canon says low ink stops the alignment sheet from printing correctly.
  • Brother asks you to run its print quality check before aligning. Canon’s maintenance steps also put the nozzle check and cleaning first for faint or uneven prints.
  • Epson warns not to cancel the job while the alignment pattern prints. Menus differ between models, so use the maker’s guide for your exact printer.

Epson

  • On the printer: choose Maintenance, then Print Head Alignment. Newer models offer Ruled Line Alignment for blurry prints or misaligned vertical lines, and Horizontal Alignment for banding at regular intervals.
  • On Windows: open the printer driver, go to the Maintenance tab and click Print Head Alignment.
  • On a Mac: open Printers & Scanners, select the printer, click Options & Supplies, then Utility, then Open Printer Utility, then Print Head Alignment.
  • Picking the pattern: for each set, choose the patch that prints most evenly, with no noticeable streaks or lines, and enter its number. In the computer utility, if none look aligned, pick the closest and use Realignment.

Epson notes that banding can also mean the nozzles need cleaning. If alignment does not help, it says to turn off the bidirectional (high speed) setting in the printer software.

Canon

  • Automatic, on the printer: on the PIXMA TS6300, choose Maintenance, then Print Head Alignment - Auto. On the MAXIFY MB2700, go to Setup, Maintenance, Auto head alignment, using cassette 1. The printer prints a sheet and adjusts itself in about 3 to 4 minutes.
  • Automatic, from the computer: on scanner models such as the TS4300 (Windows driver), Canon prints a pattern, then asks you to place it on the scanner glass and press Start so the printer can scan it.
  • Manual: the printer prints patterns and you enter the patch with the least noticeable streaks or stripes for each one. Canon suggests manual alignment if the automatic result is not good enough.

HP

  • HP app: open the app, select the printer, choose Print quality tools, then Align printheads.
  • Touchscreen printers: Settings, Printer Maintenance, Align Printhead, Continue.
  • Windows: open HP Printer Assistant, then Print, Scan & Fax, Maintain Your Printer, Align Printheads, and print the alignment page.

HP says to scan the alignment page only if the printed page tells you to. Steps differ between models, so follow the instructions on the page and in your printer’s manual.

Brother

  • Touchscreen models: first run Ink, Improve Print Quality, Check Print Quality. Then go to Ink, Improve Print Quality, Alignment, confirm the check was done, and choose Auto or Manual.
  • Button models: press Ink, then Impr. PrintQuality, then Alignment.
  • Auto or Manual: in Auto the machine scans the check sheet. In Manual you type in the values printed on it.

Brother says alignment helps when text looks blurry or crooked, or when prints are blurred or faded after the machine has been moved.

After aligning

Reprint the page that looked wrong, or print our alignment test page and compare it with your first print. If text is still doubled or crooked, see misaligned print for paper feed and settings causes. The inkjet printer test page lists the other sheets to print on an inkjet, in the order to try them.

Laser printers

Laser printers have no print head to align, so on a monochrome laser the cause of crooked or doubled print is usually paper, rollers or settings. Color lasers can print their colors out of line, and the color models we checked have their own fix. Brother’s HL-L3210CW series has Color Registration for cyan, magenta or yellow fringes. Canon’s imageCLASS LBP633Cdw has Correct Print Color Mismatch for blurry prints caused by colors that have shifted. HP’s Color LaserJet Pro MFP M277 guide says to calibrate the printer for misaligned color. Follow the steps in your printer’s manual. Our laser printer test page lists the sheets to print on a laser and what the makers say each defect means.

HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M281fdw: realign the colors

For this model, use the printer’s color calibration rather than an inkjet alignment sheet. HP’s M278–M281 guide recommends calibration for misaligned colors, colored shadows and blurry graphics.

  1. On the printer’s Home screen, open Setup.
  2. Choose System Setup → Print Quality → Color Calibration → Calibrate Now.
  3. Wait for calibration to finish before switching the printer off. HP says the process can take a few minutes.
  4. Print the document again and compare the colored edges with the earlier output.

Source: HP M278–M281 user guide, printed page 122 (PDF), checked October 16, 2026. These are printer-panel steps; they do not depend on Windows or macOS. A downloaded test sheet can help compare output, but it does not run calibration. If the whole page is tilted rather than the colors being out of line, check paper-feed and skew causes. For other calibration tasks, see printer calibration and color checks.

Sources checked: Epson, ET-16680 control panel, L3210 Windows, L3210 Mac, white or dark lines (L1210), WorkForce 520 and WF-2540 utility. Canon, TS6300, maintenance procedure, MB2700, TS4300 Windows and MG3600 Mac. HP, printing an alignment page. Brother, MFC-J6960DW and DCP-J1050DW. Color lasers: Brother HL-L3210CW color registration, Canon LBP633Cdw print color mismatch and HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M277 user guide (PDF). We could not open the HP alignment page or Epson’s ET-16680 and L3210 pages directly, so those steps were checked against the text Epson and HP show for them in search results. Last checked 2026-10-06.

Good questions

When should I align my print head?
When text looks blurry or doubled, vertical lines are crooked or misaligned, or colors and lines do not meet. Brother also suggests it after the machine has been moved.
Should I clean the print head or align it?
Clean for missing or faint lines of a color, which a nozzle check shows as gaps. Align for blur and misaligned lines. Brother and Canon put the quality check or nozzle check first.
Do I need to scan the alignment page?
It depends on the printer. Some Canon and Brother models scan the sheet, HP asks you to scan only if the page says so, and Epson has you pick the best pattern.
Can I align a laser printer?
Not the way you align an inkjet, because a laser printer has no print head. A color laser can print its colors out of line, and the Brother, Canon and HP color models we checked have a color registration or calibration routine for that. Follow the steps in your printer’s manual. On a monochrome laser, misaligned prints usually come from paper, rollers or settings.

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