Guide · Ink and toner
How to check your printer’s ink or toner on a Mac or Windows PC, and fix faded prints
Is the ink running out, or is something else making your pages faded, streaky or blank? Your computer can usually tell you how full each cartridge or toner is. Here’s where to look on a Mac and on a Windows PC, why the levels are sometimes missing, and what fixes poor prints when the ink is fine.
In short
On a Mac: open a document, choose File › Print, then click Printer Info at the bottom of the Print window. On macOS 12, it’s Apple menu › System Preferences › Printers & Scanners: click your printer, then Options & Supplies › Supply Levels. Not every printer reports them: then look on the printer’s own screen.
On a Windows PC: open your printer maker’s app, such as HP Smart, or look in the printer’s Printing preferences for a Maintenance tab. Prints faded with plenty of ink? Clean the print heads from the same place.
On a Mac: Printer Info
macOS shows the levels your printer reports, for each cartridge or toner, right from the Print window (Apple’s guide):
- Open a document, such as a letter or a photo.
- Choose File › Print, and make sure your printer is the one chosen at the top.
- Scroll down in the Print window and click Printer Info.
On macOS 26 and later, the Print Center app in Applications › Utilities shows them too: select your printer, choose Printer › Printer Info, then click Supply Levels.
On macOS 12 Monterey: choose Apple menu › System Preferences › Printers & Scanners, select your printer in the list, then click Options & Supplies and Supply Levels.
A level that’s missing, or a message that the printer doesn’t report them, doesn’t mean it’s empty: see when the levels are missing below.
On a Windows PC: your printer maker’s app
Windows itself doesn’t show ink levels: the printer’s maker does, in its own app or in the printer’s settings.
- The maker’s app: HP Smart for HP, Canon PRINT or Canon IJ Printer Assistant for Canon, Epson Printer Utility or Epson Smart Panel for Epson, Brother iPrint&Scan or Status Monitor for Brother. Open it from the Start menu and choose your printer: the levels are on its first page. If you don’t have it, it’s free from the Microsoft Store or the maker’s website.
- The printer’s settings: choose Start › Settings › Bluetooth & devices › Printers & scanners, click your printer, then Printing preferences. Many printers have a Maintenance or Utility tab with the levels, or a button that opens them. On Windows 10, it’s Start › Settings › Devices › Printers & scanners: click your printer, then Manage, then Printing preferences.
On the printer itself
A printer with a screen shows its levels there, usually as an ink drop or toner icon, or under Settings, Supplies or Ink Levels. Without a screen, the lights next to the ink drop blink when a cartridge is low. Most printers can also print a status page with the levels, from the screen or by holding a button: the printer’s manual says which.
When the levels are missing or wrong
- Connected by USB: many printers report their levels only over the network, or only to their maker’s app.
- Refilled or other makers’ cartridges: the printer can’t tell how full they are, so it shows the level as unknown, or as empty when it isn’t.
- “Low” comes early: printers warn while there’s still some ink left, so you can buy a new cartridge in time. You can usually keep printing until the pages start to fade.
- “Empty” stops some printers, even for black-only pages when a color is out. Replace that cartridge, or look in the maker’s app for a setting to keep printing with black only.
Faded or streaky with plenty of ink: clean the print heads
On an inkjet printer, ink can dry in the tiny nozzles that put it on the page, especially after a few weeks without printing. Pages then come out faded, with white lines, or with a color missing, however full the cartridges are. Cleaning the print heads clears them.
On a Mac: the printer maker’s app does it, such as HP Smart, Epson Printer Utility or Canon IJ Printer Utility2: look for Clean Print Heads, Cleaning or Nozzle Check. Some printers also add a Utility tab to Options & Supplies in Printers & Scanners settings (System Preferences on macOS 12), with an Open Printer Utility button. Without either, use the printer’s own screen.
On a Windows PC: in your printer’s Printing preferences, open the Maintenance tab and choose Cleaning or Head Cleaning. In HP Smart, it’s under Printer Settings, in the print quality tools (Microsoft’s guide).
On the printer: most have a Maintenance or Tools menu with a head cleaning.
- Print a nozzle check first, if the printer offers one: it shows which colors have gaps.
- Run one cleaning. It takes a few minutes and uses a little ink.
- Print your page again. If it’s better but not right, clean once more.
- Still the same after two cleanings? Leave the printer for a few hours, then try once more. Cleaning over and over only uses up ink.
A laser printer has no print heads: faded pages or streaks mean the toner is low or unevenly spread. Take the toner cartridge out, rock it gently from side to side a few times, and put it back.
Blank pages
- A new cartridge: check that you pulled off all its protective tape and that it clicked into place.
- Clogged print heads: after a long time without printing, clean them as above, two or three times if needed.
- The wrong cartridge: the cartridge number must match the one your printer takes; it’s on the old cartridge and in the printer’s manual.
If the printer doesn’t print at all, or your computer says it’s offline or paused, our guide to a printer not printing goes through it.
Make your ink last longer
- Turn the printer off with its own power button, not at the wall: it parks and seals the print heads so they don’t dry out.
- Print a page every week or two, so the ink keeps flowing.
- Print in black only, or in a draft quality, for everyday pages. Where it is depends on the printer: on a Mac, in the Print window, look under Printer Features, Media & Quality or Color; on a PC, in Printing preferences.
Advice you can skip
- Taking the print head apart or soaking it, as some videos show. It can break the printer.
- Shaking an inkjet cartridge. It can make bubbles that stop the ink. Rocking gently is for laser toner only.
- Cleaning the heads again and again in one go. Two cleanings, then a few hours’ rest, does more and wastes less ink.
Common questions
How do I check my printer’s ink levels on a Mac?
Open a document, choose File › Print, then click Printer Info at the bottom of the Print window. On macOS 12, choose System Preferences › Printers & Scanners, click your printer, then Options & Supplies › Supply Levels. If no levels show, look on the printer’s screen or in its maker’s app.
How do I check ink levels on Windows 11?
Windows doesn’t show them itself. Open your printer maker’s app, such as HP Smart or Epson Smart Panel, or go to Start › Settings › Bluetooth & devices › Printers & scanners, click your printer, then Printing preferences, and look for a Maintenance tab.
Why does my printer say the ink is low when it isn’t?
Printers warn early, so you can buy a cartridge in time, and they can’t measure refilled or other makers’ cartridges at all. You can usually keep printing until the pages start to fade.
Why are my prints faded or streaky with a new cartridge?
Usually the print heads are clogged with dried ink, or some of the cartridge’s protective tape is still on. Check the tape, then run a head cleaning from the printer’s utility or its own screen, once or twice.