Your company's inkjet printer outputs a variety of documents including labels, invoices, letters and even business cards. The printer uses liquid ink instead of powder ink like laser printers. The liquid ink dries quickly on printouts but sometimes smearing can occur especially if you touch the printout immediately after it comes out of the printer. Smearing ruins the printouts and you must reprint them resulting in wasting paper and ink, but there are ways to prevent inkjet paper from smearing.

Step 1

Remove each printout immediately from your inkjet printer's front tray after the printer sends it out. Don't allow the printouts to stack on top of each other, which can lead to smearing.

Step 2

Place the printouts separately on a clean, flat surface and let them dry for at least a minute before handling, especially if printing photos, labels or documents on coated inkjet paper.

Step 3

Handle the printouts by their edges instead of touching the ink directly. This keeps oil from your fingers from getting onto the paper as well as keeps the ink from smearing.

Step 4

Click the “Properties” or “Preferences” button in the print dialog to access your inkjet printer's settings. Click the circle next to Normal or Fast Draft to reduce the amount of ink your printer uses, known as over-saturation. Clicking the circle next to 300 or clicking on the "300" link under the DPI heading also reduces the amount of ink your printer uses.

Step 5

Let your printouts dry separately for at least 24 hours before storing them in acid-free folders for long-term storage.