User Guide

Using the Printer: HP DeskJet 610 Series Printer User's Guide

What the Buttons and Lights Do • How To Choose Paper • How To Determine the Print Side of Paper • How To Put the Paper in the Printer • How To Find the HP Print Settings Box • How To Print on Standard Paper Sizes • While You're Printing • How To Print on Nonstandard Paper Sizes • How to Print on Both Sides of the Paper • How to Flip a Document • About Color • About Pictures

What the Buttons and Lights Do

The Resume and Power buttons and lights are on the front of the printer. In general, the lights indicate when the printer is operating correctly and when it needs attention from you. The buttons are used to control the printer.

When these lights are...	You need to...
Turned off and Turned off	Press Power to turn on the printer.
Steadily lit and Turned off	Send a document to the printer. The printer is in the ready-to-print state.
Steadily lit and Blinking	If you just installed a print cartridge, make sure the cartridge is securely snapped into the printer with the arrow aligned with the dots on the top of the print cartridge cradle. Close the top cover of the printer if it is open. Check the lower (IN) tray to make sure it contains paper and that the paper is correctly loaded in the tray. Press Resume to clear the error condition. Then check your computer screen for any reported error message and corrective action instructions.
Blinking and Turned off	No action required. This indicates that either the computer is sending a document to the printer or that the printer is currently busy printing a document.
Blinking and Blinking	Press Power to turn off the printer. At the computer, cancel any documents awaiting printing. Press Power again to turn on the printer.
Steadily lit and Steadily lit	See the Troubleshooting tab in the HP Toolbox. A problem exists with your printer.

How To Choose Paper

Most plain photocopy paper works fine in your printer, particularly paper that is marked for use in inkjet printers. To get the best results, use one of the Hewlett-Packard papers, which were developed especially for HP inks and your printer.

What to consider

• Size. You can use any size paper that fits easily within the paper adjusters of the printer.

• Weight. You can choose from a wide range of paper weights. Use 20-24 lb or 75-90 g/m² plain paper for multipurpose, everyday use.
• Brightness. Some papers are whiter than others and produce sharper, more vibrant colors. Use HP Photo Paper or HP Premium Photo Paper for printing photographs and documents with photographs; use white paper, such as HP Bright White Inkjet Paper for everyday color printing.
• Surface smoothness. The smoothness of the paper affects how crisp the printing looks on the paper. Paper with a high cotton content (25% to 100%) tends to offer greater surface smoothness. Glossy, coated paper works well for pictures and charts (where you want crisp lines with intense, high-quality colors) and for photocopying.
• Opacity. Opacity refers to the degree to which printing on one side of the paper shows through to the other side. Use paper high in opacity (or thicker paper) for two-sided printing.

How To Determine the Print Side of Paper

Be sure to insert all paper, transparencies, cards, envelopes, and paper labels print side down into the IN tray of the printer. For plain paper, the print side is identified by a symbol or word on the packaging.

• For letterhead paper, load the letterhead side down and forward.
• For HP Premium Transparency Film, load the rough side down with the adhesive strip forward.
• For HP Premium Inkjet Paper, load the print side down with the corner arrow pointed forward.
• For HP Premium Inkjet Glossy Paper, load the glossy side down.
• For paper labels, load the label side down.

How To Put the Paper in the Printer

The lower (IN) tray is the printer's launch pad. Careful preparation ensures a successful journey. Make sure all the paper in the tray is the same size and is stacked neatly and snugly for a smooth take-off.

Let's walk through the process step-by-step:

1. Slide out the paper-width and paper-length adjusters to make room for the paper. Do this no matter what size paper you're using.

2. Fan the edges of the paper stack to separate the pages. Then tap the stack on a flat surface to even it.

3. Put the paper in the lower (IN) tray, print side down.

4. Slide the paper-width adjuster to the right until it aligns with the left edge of the paper stack. Make sure the paper still lies flat in the tray.

5. Slide the paper-length adjuster in toward the paper until it stops. Make sure the paper does not bend in the IN Tray.

How To Find the HP Print Settings Box

After you lay out the page and choose the text, pictures, fonts, and colors from your software program, you need to select settings such as paper type, paper size, orientation, and print quality in the HP print settings dialog box. Where is it?

The way you get there varies depending on the software program and the operating system you're using. Try these strategies from the File menu of your document, and you're sure to get there.

Try This...

1. Click File and then click Print.

2. Then click whichever button you see--Properties, Setup, or Printer.
3. If you still don't see the box, click Setup, Options, or Properties.

..Or Try This

1. If Print isn't there, click Printer Setup or Print Setup.

2. Then click whichever button you see--Setup or Options.

   ...then click a tab, and then click a setting.

While You're Printing

It takes a few moments for the printing to start, because the printer is receiving information from the computer. During printing, the printer might pause occasionally to receive more information. (Don't worry, it's normal.)

If You Run Out of Paper Before You're Finished

The printer prompts you to add more paper. Put the paper in the lower (IN) tray and press Resume .

If Something Goes Wrong

Sometimes, in spite of your best efforts, something goes wrong during printing. Maybe a sheet of paper jams in the printer or nothing happens at all.

• If the printer detects a problem, it displays a message on your screen.

If you notice that something is wrong, click the Troubleshooting tab in the HP Toolbox and follow the instructions on the screen. (See "How To Find the HP Print Settings Box".)

How To Print on Standard Paper Sizes

1. Check your print settings. Choose your print settings in the HP print settings dialog box. (See "How To Find the HP Print Settings Box".)

   Choose color options on the Color tab.

NOTE: Depending on the operating system on your computer, your boxes might differ from the Windows 95 boxes shown throughout this document.

Choose print quality, paper size, and paper type on the Setup tab.

Choose two-sided printing, orientation, and flip horizontal options on the Features tab.

2. Click OK in the Print box of your software program to save your settings and start printing.

   You might need to click File and then click Print to reach the Print box.

That's all there is to it. The printer prints one page at a time until it finishes, delivering each printed page neatly into the printer's upper (OUT) tray.

How To Print on Nonstandard Paper Sizes

Most of the time, when you print on plain paper, cards, labels, and envelopes, you select one of the standard sizes in the Paper Size box on the Setup tab of the HP print settings dialog box. However, you're not limited to the sizes listed. Just make sure that the size of the paper falls within the following dimensions (so both of the printer rollers can pick up the paper):

Width: 5 to 8.5 inches (127 to 215 mm)

Length: 5.83 to 14 inches (148 to 356 mm)

Then follow these steps:

1. In the HP print settings dialog box, click the Setup tab, and then select Custom in the Paper Size list. (See "How To Find the HP Print Settings Box".)

2. Type the dimensions of the paper in the Custom Paper Size dialog box, and click OK.

3. Put the paper in the printer, and print as you would for normal paper sizes.

Remember to change the paper size back to Letter, or A4, or whatever paper size you plan to print on next.

How to Print on Both Sides of the Paper

The easiest way to save paper is to print on both sides. Just put the paper through the printer twice: the first time through it prints the odd-numbered pages and the second time through it prints the even.

1. Put the paper in the lower (IN) tray. Make sure that there's no paper in the upper (OUT) tray.
2. In the HP print settings dialog box, click the Setup tab, and click Plain Paper or HP Photo Paper as the paper type. (See "How To Find the HP Print Settings Box".)
3. Click the Features tab and then click Book or Tablet.

4. Print your document. The printer automatically prints only the odd-numbered pages.
5. Put the printed pages back in the lower (IN) tray of the printer. A message on your screen tells you which direction to put the printed pages back in the printer. The following illustrations show how to put the paper back in the printer for the Book option and the Tablet option.

   Book Option

Tablet Option

6. When the paper is ready, click Continue. The printer prints the even-numbered pages on the reverse side of the odd-numbered pages.

After printing, remember to change the Two-Sided Printing option back to None.

How to Flip a Document

When you print a flipped document, the text and pictures are reversed, so they'll be correct when transferred.

1. Put the paper in the lower (IN) tray, print side down.
2. If you're using transparencies or special paper, you might need to follow additional directions. (See "Transparencies" for information about printing transparencies.)
3. In the HP print settings dialog box, click the Features tab, and then click Flip Horizontal. (See "How To Find the HP Print Settings Box".)

4. Print your document. The text and pictures are backwards. Hold it up to a mirror to see how the final product will look.

After printing, remember to:

• Click Flip Horizontal box again to clear it.
• If you used transparencies or special paper, replace it with your everyday paper.

About Color

Printing in Color

Your HP DeskJet 610C Series printer prints in color when a color-capable software program is used with the printing software. Believe it or not, your color printer prints with only four colors--cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. By printing overlapping dots of different intensity and color, it creates practically any color you can imagine.

Your printer is especially smart about printing color. (That's why HP called the technology ColorSmart^TM!) When you print a document in color, the printer marks each element in your document--text, full-color photographs, and graphics (such as pie charts with solid blocks of color)--and renders each at its vivid best. (If you use the photo cartridge when you print color photographs, you'll get photo-quality images!) Not only is the color quality high, for whatever you're printing, but it's also less expensive than making color copies at a copy shop.

How to Turn Off Color

The color text and pictures that you create in your documents automatically print in color. You can print drafts of your documents in grayscale if you're going to photocopy them in black and white, or if you want to save time and ink.

• In the HP print settings dialog box, click the Color tab, and then click Print in Grayscale.

Now your color documents print in shades of gray until you change the setting. For faster draft printing in grayscale, use the black print cartridge, not the photo cartridge.

About Pictures

Pictures (also called graphics) include photographs, illustrations, charts, and decorative elements.

To put a picture in a computer document, you first need to convert it into an electronic form (a computer file). Then it's simple to copy it into a document--the guide for the application you're using tells you how. Here are some possibilities for getting your pictures into an electronic form:

• Draw the pictures, using the drawing tools in a software application.

• Use ready-made clip art. You can purchase libraries of clip art from a variety of sources or browse the Internet for what's available there. Look through computer magazines for the names of companies that sell clip art. They'll be happy to send you full-color pictures of their extensive offerings. Or browse in the art sections of bookstores for books of copyright-free pictures.

Remember that it is against the law to copy any photograph unless you have been given specific permission to do so by the person or company who owns the original.

• Scan the pictures yourself. Use your own scanner or gather your pictures together and rent a scanner at a local copy shop.

• Get your photos scanned at your local camera shop. For a small fee, you can have an entire roll of photos put on a CD. Be sure to ask your camera shop to also put a CD-viewing program on the CD with your photos.

• Take a digital photo. A digital camera bypasses film entirely and turns the photo into a computer file. Call a full-service copy shop or a camera supply store about renting one.