3Using and Caring for Your Print Cartridges

Storing Print Cartridges

To maintain excellent print quality from your print cartridges:

Keep all print cartridges in their sealed packages, at room temperature (60-78˚ F or 15.6-26.6˚ C), until you are ready to use them.

Once installed, leave the print cartridges in their cradle at all times to keep them from drying out or becoming clogged.

If you store an unsealed print cartridge, do so in an airtight plastic container.

Do NOT unplug the printer until printing is complete and the print cartridge cradles have returned to their home position on the right side of the printer. The print cartridges will dry out if not stored in their home position.

Only use the Power button on the front of the printer to turn the printer on and off. Using a power strip, surge protector, or a wall-mounted outlet switch to turn the printer on and off may cause premature failure.

Cleaning Print Cartridges

When Do You Need to Clean?

Clean the print cartridges if your printed page is missing lines or dots, or if it contains ink streaks.

If You See Missing Lines or Dots...

Clean the print cartridges from the HP DeskJet Utility window by doing the following:

1Double-click the HP DeskJet Utility icon located in the Utilities folder on your hard drive’s main directory.

2Click the Clean panel, then click the Clean button and follow the instructions displayed on your screen.

Note: Unnecessary cleaning wastes ink and shortens the life of the print cartridge.

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