Tips to Avoid Printer Paper Jams

Paper jams are infuriating. Not only do they stall a document from getting into your hands but add to this, having to open up the printer to retrieve all the bits that have rendered your printer useless to clear the jam. So yeah, it’s a double whammy that best be avoided in the first place.

You want to keep office productivity and morale up and that means having a functioning printer and fresh brewed coffee flowing. But how do you keep paper jams from cramping your productivity flow?

Here are a few tips that will prevent paper jams from occurring:

• Do not overfill the paper tray

• Do not remove paper from the manual feed tray or paper tray while the machine is printing

• Do not use damp paper. Prevent paper wreckage by keeping it stored in a cool, dry area where moisture and humidity cannot ruin your paper supply.

• Do not use creased or curled paper.

• Do not mix paper or specialty media types in the paper tray. Use only one kind of paper at a time in your input tray.

• Fan, flip and straighten paper before loading it into the paper tray. This reduces static in the paper and ensures sheets don’t stick to one another

• Adjust paper width and length guides so they are positioned correctly

• Do not use damaged, ‘dog eared’, or wrinkled paper

• Use paper specified for the type of printer you are using. Refer to the printer’s user manual for detailed instruction.

• When printing on heavy/thick paper, use the manual feed tray.