Ink Coverage / Density Blocks
Print solid density blocks to gauge ink usage.
Print settings
Print this on the paper you normally use, then examine each section. What a healthy result looks like is described above each pattern on the sheet.
RunTheTests Ink Coverage / Density Blocks · print at 100% · plain paper
Ink coverage — solid density blocks
How this test page works
Solid blocks at full density show how much ink your printer lays down and whether heavy coverage stays even or streaks and pools.
What the results mean
- Even solids
- Full-coverage areas should be uniform. Streaks or pooling under heavy ink indicate a laydown or drying problem.
- Bronzing
- A metallic sheen over heavy dark areas, visible at an angle. It means more ink is sitting on the surface than the paper can absorb, and the fix is a lower ink setting or a paper rated for the load.
Common problems and fixes
- The paper cockles or wrinkles under the solid blocks
- Plain paper absorbs water from the ink and expands unevenly, which is why heavy coverage buckles it. Nothing is broken. Use a heavier stock — 120 gsm or more — or a paper made for inkjet, and reduce the ink density setting if the driver offers one.
- Ink smears when I stack the pages
- Heavy coverage takes far longer to dry than text, and the printer's output tray stacks the next sheet straight onto it. Let dense prints dry flat and separately for a few minutes. If the printer has a drying-time or slow-print option for heavy pages, that is what it is for.
- Solid areas are streaky rather than even
- Streaks across a solid block that fall in the same place each time point at nozzles rather than at the paper. Run the nozzle check, clean once, and re-run this page. Streaks that move between prints are a feed problem instead — check the rollers and the paper guides.
Frequently asked questions
Heavy areas look streaky or wet
The printer may be laying down too much ink for the paper. Choose a heavier paper or a lower-ink setting, and let prints dry before stacking.
How much ink does a full-coverage page use?
Far more than an ordinary document — a page of text covers roughly 5% of the sheet, and these blocks approach 100%. Print it when you are diagnosing a laydown or drying problem, not routinely. It is still cheaper than the cleaning cycles people run without knowing what the fault is.
Why test heavy coverage at all?
Because it is where several faults appear first and nowhere else. Nozzle dropouts that a page of text hides show as streaks, paper that cannot take the ink load cockles, and drying problems become visible. If you print photographs, brochures or anything with a dark background, this is the condition you actually print under.