Canon Printer Has Ink But Won’t Print — 5 Specific Fixes

FIX 1Nozzle Check and Cleaning — Resolves Most Cases

When ink is present but nothing prints, clogged print head nozzles are the cause in the majority of cases. Nozzles are microscopic openings in the print head through which ink is ejected onto paper. When ink dries in these openings — from inactivity, air exposure, or dried ink residue — the channel blocks completely and no ink reaches the page even though the cartridge is full.

1. Open Canon IJ Printer Assistant Tool on your computer. Go to Maintenance → Nozzle Check → Print Check Pattern.
2. Examine the test sheet. A working print head produces solid, unbroken horizontal lines in each colour. If any lines are missing, gapped, or the sheet comes out blank, nozzles are clogged.
3. Go to Maintenance → Cleaning. If one colour is missing, select that colour group only to conserve ink in functioning cartridges. If the entire sheet was blank, select All Colors. Click Execute.
4. Wait approximately two minutes for the cleaning cycle to complete. Do not power off the printer during the cycle.
5. Print a second nozzle check. If the pattern shows improvement, run one more cleaning cycle. If the sheet was blank and now shows at least partial lines, continue with cleaning cycles — up to a maximum of two per session with a 15-minute rest between sessions.
6. After two cleaning cycles with no improvement, proceed to Maintenance → Deep Cleaning. Deep cleaning uses more ink but is more effective against severe dried blockages.

FIX 2Print Head Alignment

A misaligned print head can cause ink to be deposited in the wrong position on the paper, resulting in output that appears blank or extremely faded when the paper is viewed straight-on. This is different from a nozzle clog — ink is flowing, but landing incorrectly.

Open Canon IJ Printer Assistant Tool → Maintenance → Print Head Alignment. Follow the on-screen instructions to print an alignment pattern and select the best-aligned pattern from the options shown. After alignment completes, print a test page to confirm output is correct.

Print head alignment issues are more common after the printer has been moved or transported, or after a cartridge replacement where the new cartridge sits at a slightly different position than the previous one.

FIX 3Check Print Settings

Several combinations of print settings produce output that appears blank or near-blank despite ink being present and nozzles being clear.

1. White on white: Open your document and check that the text or content colour is not set to white or a very light colour against a white page. This is rare but produces perfectly blank output from a functioning printer. Change text colour to black and retry.
2. Paper type mismatch: If the paper type setting does not match the actual paper loaded, the printer may calculate the wrong ink volume and severely under-ink the page. In your print dialog, confirm the paper type matches what is in the tray — Plain Paper is the correct setting for standard copy paper.
3. Grayscale mode only: If the colour mode is set to Grayscale and the black cartridge is slightly clogged, output may appear almost blank. Try printing in Colour mode to see if colour output works — this isolates whether the issue is specific to the black channel.
4. Print quality too low: Economy or Draft mode on older Canon PIXMA models sometimes produces so little ink per pass that output is nearly invisible on plain paper. Change quality to Standard and retry.

FIX 4Reinstall Canon Drivers

A corrupt or replaced driver can cause the printer to accept print jobs and show the job as completed in the queue while sending no actual data to the print head. The printer goes through the paper-feeding motion but the print head receives no instruction to fire ink.

1. Open Control Panel → Programs and Features and uninstall all Canon software completely.
2. Restart your computer.
3. Download the Full Software Package for your Canon model from ij.start.canon. For a complete installation walkthrough, see our ij.start.canon setup guide.
4. Run the installer as administrator and complete the setup. After reinstalling, run a nozzle check to confirm ink is flowing before testing a print job.

FIX 5Manual Print Head Cleaning — Last Resort

If two deep cleaning cycles do not restore ink flow, the nozzles may be too severely blocked for the automated cleaning system to clear. Manual cleaning using distilled water can sometimes revive print heads that automated cleaning cannot.

This applies to cartridge-based printers (TS3522, TR series, MG series) only. Do not attempt manual cleaning on tank-based G-series Megatank printers.

1. Remove the cartridges from the printer. The print head on Canon PIXMA home printers is fixed — you cannot remove it. However, you can clean the nozzle face on the bottom of the print head carriage.
2. Dampen a lint-free cloth or a few folded layers of paper towel with distilled water only (not tap water, which contains minerals that can clog nozzles further).
3. With the printer powered on and the carriage accessible, gently press the dampened cloth against the bottom of the print head carriage — the surface where nozzles are located — for 30 seconds. Do not scrub. The moisture draws dried ink out of the nozzle openings through capillary action.
4. Allow the print head to dry for 10 minutes. Reinstall the cartridges, close the cover, and run a nozzle check. Run one standard cleaning cycle, then print the nozzle check again.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Why is my Canon printer not printing even though it has ink?
  Ink present but not printing is almost always caused by clogged print head nozzles. The ink is in the cartridge but cannot flow through the blocked nozzle openings. Run a nozzle check through Canon IJ Printer Assistant Tool, then run one cleaning cycle to clear the blockage.
• How do I unclog my Canon printer nozzles?
  Open Canon IJ Printer Assistant Tool. Go to Maintenance then Nozzle Check and print the test pattern. If gaps appear in any colour row, go to Maintenance then Cleaning, select the affected colour group, and click Execute. After one cleaning cycle, print a second nozzle check. Run a maximum of two cycles per session.
• My Canon printer ink level shows full but nothing prints — is the cartridge broken?
  Not necessarily. Full ink level but no output is almost always a clogged nozzle issue, not a broken cartridge. Try running a nozzle check and cleaning cycle before replacing the cartridge.
• Why does my Canon printer have ink but only print faded or with skipping lines?
  Faded output or skipping lines while ink levels show adequate means partial nozzle clogging. Run a nozzle check to see which rows are affected, then run a targeted cleaning cycle selecting only the affected colour group to conserve ink in the functioning cartridges.