Printers are, perhaps, one of the most temperamental pieces of office equipment, and they don’t become more reliable when you buy one for home use. Once you’ve learned how to deal with paper jams, ink subscriptions, and keeping the device clean, you may still come across issues with printing. A common question is, “Why is my printer only printing one page?”
There could be a number of reasons, from a job becoming stuck or a page-range setting being incorrect to connection, driver, or printer problems. Follow these troubleshooting tips to make sure you’re printing the whole document every time.
Why Is My Printer Only Printing One Page: Possible Causes and Solutions
Cause No. 1: A Stuck Job
Sometimes a job will get stuck in the print queue. This may be because there were too many print tasks running at one time, or due to a slight interruption in the connection.
Solution: Find the print queue. On a Windows machine, this is found by going to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners. Click on the printer you’re trying to use.
Select “Open print queue.” Click this.
You can now see the job in progress. Even if the job appears to have a normal status but isn’t progressing, it may be stuck.
Click the three dots (…) and select “Cancel all.” This will clear the print queue, allowing you to restart your machines and try the print job again.
Cause No. 2: Incorrect Page Number Selection
Sometimes, when you want to get your printer printing only one page, the application you’re printing from may retain or default to a page-range setting that selects only specific pages. To check this, open the document you’re trying to print and go to File > Print.
Look for the pages-to-print options, such as “Print All Pages,” “Print Current Page,” or a custom page range. If this is not set to “Print All Pages,” that’s why you’re only printing part of the document. Simply use the dropdown arrow to select “Print All Pages,” then press “Print” to continue.
Still having problems? Try these quick fixes:
- Check the Wi-Fi settings on your printer. It must be connected to a strong signal on the same network as the device you’re printing from. If you can’t get a good connection, try moving the printer closer to the router.
- Restart the Wi-Fi router. If the printer’s network connection seems unstable, restarting the router can sometimes restore connectivity. A restart can sometimes resolve temporary network or connectivity problems.
- Restart both the device you’re printing from and your printer: In many cases, the adage of turning it off and on again really does work.
- Check that the printer has plenty of paper and toner/ink: Sometimes a printer will fail to print rather than alerting you that it is short of supplies.
Finally, you can check if the problem is with the printer or the computer/smart device by trying to print the same document from another device. If the problem persists, it’s likely to be an issue with the printer, and you should consult the manual or contact the manufacturer.
