How To Fix a Paper Jam

Many of us have encountered the frustration of a paper jam. You’re trying to get something printed out quickly and suddenly your printer struggles to get the paper through or returns an error letting you know it’s jamming. Whether it’s for a document you’re printing out at home or an important print job at work, paper jams can be annoying. As such, it’s good to know a few ways to fix a jam if you find yourself a little stuck.

In today’s article, we explore some tips for how to fix a paper jam. Read on to find out more!

 

What causes a paper jam in a printer?

There are many things that can cause a printer to jam. From torn paper to misaligned printheads, there are plenty of reasons the printer might not be able to successfully print out your document. Here we’ve compiled some of the most likely causes for a paper jam and how you can fix these problems:

• Torn Paper

This is a common form of paper jam. When this happens, it’s usually because the paper was not properly loaded. Make sure that you are loading your paper correctly for whichever printer model you have.

• Misfolded Paper

When this happens, the paper is not being fed through the machine smoothly. This might be due to incorrect alignment of the print head which can be fixed by checking how it is set up and making adjustments.

• Old or damaged printer parts 

Printer parts can get old over time and might stop working, causing jams in the long run. If you notice that your printer is struggling to print for any reason other than paper jamming, it’s probably time to replace some of these parts.

 

How to fix a paper jam

Below are a few general steps for how to fix a paper jam.

Unplug your printer

The first step for working out how to fix printer paper jams is to switch off and unplug the machine. Don’t worry if the paper stays stuck, you’ll be moving on to solving that with the next step. Cancel any print jobs and make sure you can get access to the printer tray. As you switch your printer off, keep an eye on the printer carriage – it should freely move back out of sight. For laser printers, leave the machine to cool off for at least half an hour before you begin fiddling with the paper tray.

Remove any jammed paper

Once the machine is unplugged, it’s important to remove all of the paper that is stuck inside. This might be difficult since there’s not always an easy way to grab the paper in a jam. Try pushing down on the top of the paper gently and moving it around in order to find where it’s jamming. A few tips for this step includes making sure you only pull one sheet of paper out at a time, and only ever remove the paper from the paper tray or the back of the printer to avoid doing damage.

Unload and reload the paper tray

Removing paper from the paper tray can allow you to see into the printer and identify any off-cuts causing issues. Recycle any paper that’s too damaged to use for printing, then reload the tray and make sure it’s placed back into the correct spot for printing.

Check the machine

The next step is to gain access to the printer internals or inspect the hardware to see if you can spot another issue. This can generally be done by either removing the rear access panel or by removing the two-sided printing accessory. The exact way to do this will differ depending on the make and model of printer you have, so it’s important to familiarise yourself with your printer’s instruction manual before you begin. With laser printers, you might also need to remove your toner cartridge. If the printer carriage didn’t move back out of sight when the machine was switched off, you may need to get into the printer, remove the ink cartridges, and rotate the rollers three full rotations towards the top of the printer before placing everything back together.

Turn the printer back on and run a test print

Plug your printer back in and turn it on. Hopefully, after a bit of troubleshooting, you should have fixed your paper jam issue – but there’s only one way to find out! Print a test page to make sure your printer is functioning well again. If you’re still noticing a printer jam is occurring then it could mean there’s a more serious hardware problem occurring. If this is the case, you may need to either replace the troublesome part or the entire printer.

We hope this article has helped you learn a little about how to fix a paper jam in your printer. Remember to read through your printer’s instruction manual to know more about what to do if you find yourself needing to fix a jam and if you’re experiencing any other printer problems, read our common printer problems blog post for further advice.