Improving Print Quality

Checking the Printer status

For Windows
For Macintosh

For Windows

Using the progress meter

When you send a print job to the printer, the progress meter appears, as shown in the illustration below.

The progress meter indicates the progress of the current print job and provides printer status information when bidirectional communication between the printer and the computer is established. This meter also displays error messages as well as helpful tips for better printing. Refer to the appropriate section below.

Epson Printing Tips

Tips for getting the most out of your Epson printer software appear in the text box at the bottom of the progress meter window. A new tip appears every 30 seconds. For more details on the tip displayed in the window, click the Details button.

Error messages

If a problem occurs during printing, an error message appears in the text box at the top of the progress meter window. For more detailed information, click Technical Support to access the online Reference Guide.

When the ink runs low or out, a How to button appears below the text box. Click How to, and EPSON Status Monitor 3 will lead you step-by-step through the cartridge replacement procedure.

Using EPSON Spool Manager

EPSON Spool Manager is similar to Windows Print Manager. If it receives two or more print jobs at one time, it holds them in the order that they were received (with printers on a network, this may be called a print queue). When a print job reaches the top of the line, EPSON Spool Manager sends the job to the printer. From the spool manager, you can view print status information about the print jobs that have been sent to your printer. You can also cancel, pause, and resume selected print jobs.

Note:

EPSON Spool Manager is not available with Windows XP and 2000.

After you send a print job, a printer icon appears on the taskbar. Click this icon to open EPSON Spool Manager.

Using EPSON Status Monitor 3

EPSON Status Monitor 3 displays detailed information on the printer status.

Accessing EPSON Status Monitor 3

There are two ways to access EPSON Status Monitor 3:

• Double-click the printer-shaped shortcut icon on the Windows taskbar.
  See Monitoring Preferences

• Open the printer software, click the Maintenance tab, then click the EPSON Status Monitor 3 button.

When you access EPSON Status Monitor 3, the following window appears.

Viewing information in EPSON Status Monitor 3

EPSON Status Monitor 3 provides the following information:

• Current Status:
  EPSON Status Monitor 3 provides you with detailed printer status information, a graphic display, and status messages. If the ink runs low or out, the How to button appears in the EPSON Status Monitor 3 window. Clicking How to displays ink cartridge replacement instructions and moves the print head to the ink cartridge replacement position.

• Ink Levels:
  EPSON Status Monitor 3 provides a graphic display of the amount of ink remaining and an estimate of the number of pages that can be printed before ink runs out.

• Ink Cartridge Information:
  You can view information about the installed ink cartridges by clicking Information.

• Technical Support
  You can access the online Reference Guide from EPSON Status Monitor 3. If you encounter a problem, click Technical Support in the EPSON Status Monitor 3 window.

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For Macintosh

Using EPSON StatusMonitor

EPSON StatusMonitor monitors the printer. If it detects a printer error, it will inform you with an error message.

When the ink runs low or out, a How to button appears. Click How to, and EPSON StatusMonitor will lead you step by step through the ink cartridge replacement procedure.

You can also use this utility to check ink levels before printing. EPSON StatusMonitor displays the amount of ink remaining at the time it was opened. To update the ink level information, click Update.

Accessing EPSON StatusMonitor

Follow the steps below to access EPSON StatusMonitor.

For Mac OS X

Access the EPSON Printer Utility dialog box.

Accessing the Printer Software for Mac OS X

Select your printer, then click OK. The EPSON Printer Utility dialog box appears.

Click the EPSON StatusMonitor button. The EPSON StatusMonitor dialog box appears.

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