How to Fix a Printer Paper Jam: Every Cause and Fix, by Brand

Quick answer: pull jammed paper slowly, with two hands, in the direction the paper was already travelling — never backwards, and never in a single hard yank. Then find and remove every torn scrap, because one fragment left behind guarantees the next jam. If your printer says "paper jam" but there is no paper in it, skip to phantom jams, which have completely different causes.

Paper jams are the most common printer fault there is, and most of them are caused by something you can prevent. This guide covers how to clear one safely, the brand-specific spots people miss, what the error codes mean, and the handful of habits that stop jams happening in the first place.

Clear the jam without making it worse

The order here matters. Doing step 4 before step 2 is how people tear paper into pieces they then cannot find.

1. Turn the printer off and unplug it. This is not optional caution — it stops the rollers from grabbing the paper again while your hands are inside, and it prevents the printer from trying to auto-feed mid-rescue.
2. Open every access door before pulling anything: the front cover, the cartridge door, the rear access panel and the duplexer. Seeing both ends of the sheet tells you which way it was heading.
3. Pull with two hands, evenly, in the feed direction. Slow and steady. If it will not move, do not force it — open another panel and try from the other side.
4. Account for the whole sheet. If it tore, work out how much is missing and find it. A shred of paper wedged against a sensor will jam the next twenty pages.
5. Remove the paper tray entirely and check underneath and behind it. Sheets pulled crooked often end up there.
6. Look inside the rear access door and the duplexer. On most printers the duplexer is a removable cassette at the back; pull it right out and look through it.
7. Fan the remaining paper stack before reloading it, square the edges, and make sure the guides touch the stack lightly without squeezing it.
8. Plug in, power on. The printer runs a self-check and clears the error. If it still reports a jam, see the phantom jam section below.

What not to do: do not use tweezers, pliers or a knife inside the paper path — you will scratch a roller or puncture a belt, and either turns a five-minute problem into a repair bill. Do not pull paper backwards through the fuser on a laser printer. And do not run a cleaning cycle to "push it through".

Laser printers: one extra warning

Inside a laser printer, the fuser bonds toner to the page with heat — it runs at roughly 180–200 °C (350–400 °F) and stays hot for several minutes after power off. It is usually at the rear, behind the back panel, and is often labelled with a warning triangle.

Let a laser printer cool for ten minutes before reaching into that area. If paper is jammed in the fuser, pull it upward and out in the direction of travel, never back down into the machine.

Also: if a jammed page came out with loose, unfused toner on it, do not brush it off with your hand or a vacuum. Toner particles are extremely fine. Wipe with a dry cloth, or use a toner-rated vacuum. Cold water removes it from clothing; hot water sets it permanently.

Phantom jams: the printer says jam, there is no paper

This is the frustrating one, and it is almost never actually about paper. Work through these in order.

The hard reset in row six clears the printer's volatile memory and is remarkably effective. Unplug the power cable from the wall — not just the printer — wait a full minute, then hold the power button down for fifteen seconds with the cable still out to drain residual charge. Plug back in and power up.

Brand-by-brand: where people miss the paper

HP

Check the rear access door (a panel that twists off or squeezes at the sides) and the duplexer behind it — on OfficeJet and ENVY models this is where most jammed sheets actually sit, even though the error points at the front. On LaserJets, open the toner door and lift the cartridge out to see the registration area beneath.

HP's own tool for this is a "clear jam" wizard in HP Smart, and it is worth running once because it also cycles the rollers to eject anything you missed.

Canon PIXMA

Canon jams often sit in the rear tray path or under the transport unit cover on the underside — on many PIXMA models you actually stand the printer on its back panel to open a hatch on the bottom. If a support code appears, note it: 1300 is a jam at the output slot, 1303 is a jam in the transport unit, 1304 is a jam in the duplexer, and 1313 is paper caught during duplex printing.

Epson

Epson's paper path is short, which is good, but the rear paper feed slot and the area beneath the scanner unit are easy to overlook. On EcoTank and WorkForce models, lift the scanner section and check the carriage path. Error E-01 after a jam usually means a fragment is still triggering a sensor.

Brother

Brother lasers jam most often at the drum unit and toner assembly. Pull the whole assembly out as one piece, then separate the toner cartridge from the drum and look between them. There is also a rear jam clearance flap behind the back cover and, on duplex models, a slim cassette under the main tray. If you are removing the drum anyway, it is a good moment to check its remaining life — see our guide to drum units and when to replace them.

Why printers jam: the real causes

Paper that is too light, too heavy, or too damp

Most home and office printers are rated for roughly 20–24 lb bond in the main tray. Push heavier cardstock through a path designed for 20 lb and it will not make the bends. Feed lighter paper and it buckles. Humidity is the invisible culprit — paper is hygroscopic, and a ream that has sat in a damp garage will curl, stick to itself and jam repeatedly. If your jams started when the weather changed, that is your answer.

We go deeper on this in how to store printer paper and the plain-English paper weight guide.

Overfilling the tray

Every tray has a fill line. Above it, the pickup roller cannot get enough pressure on the top sheet without dragging the ones beneath, and you get multi-feeds — two or three sheets pulled at once, which jam almost immediately. Fill to about 80% and you will see the problem disappear.

Guides set wrong

Too loose and the sheet enters crooked, then skews into the path wall. Too tight and the rollers cannot separate the top sheet. The guides should just kiss the edges of the stack — you should be able to slide the stack out with light resistance.

Mixed media in one tray

Labels, envelopes, photo paper, letterhead and plain paper all feed differently. Stacking them together is asking for a jam. Envelopes and labels in particular should go in the manual feed or rear tray, one at a time where possible — a label that peels off inside a printer is a genuinely expensive problem.

Worn pickup rollers

Rollers are rubber, and rubber glazes and hardens with age. A printer that suddenly starts multi-feeding or failing to pick up paper at all, after years of good service, usually needs rollers rather than repair. Clean them first: a lint-free cloth lightly dampened with water, wiped across the roller surface while turning it by hand. If they still slip, replacement roller kits are inexpensive for most common models.

Reusing printed paper

Printing on the back of an already-printed sheet is thrifty and it jams laser printers in particular. The sheet has already been through a fuser, which drives out moisture and leaves it slightly curled and brittle. If you must, flatten the stack under a book overnight and feed a few sheets at a time.

How to stop jams happening at all

• Store paper flat, sealed, indoors. Keep the ream in its wrapper until you use it, in a room that is heated and dry rather than a garage or basement.
• Fan the stack before loading. Hold it at both ends and riffle it, then square the edges on a flat surface. This breaks the static and the mild sticking that causes multi-feeds.
• Do not top up a tray. Take the remaining paper out, add the new sheets underneath, fan the combined stack, put it back as one.
• Match the media setting. If you loaded cardstock and the driver still says plain paper, the printer uses the wrong roller speed and fuser temperature.
• Clean the rollers twice a year. Five minutes with a damp lint-free cloth prevents most age-related feeding problems.
• Use the right tray. Envelopes, labels and thick stock belong in the manual feed or rear tray, not the main cassette.
• Keep the printer level. A printer on a soft or tilted surface feeds crooked.

A note on paper — and what we'd buy

Castle Ink does not sell copy paper, so there is nothing for us to push here. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases through the link below.

If your jams turned out to be a paper problem, the fix is rarely exotic: a fresh ream of decent 20–24 lb multipurpose paper, stored flat and sealed indoors, solves most of it. Heavier cardstock and labels belong in the manual feed tray, not the main cassette. The paper and printing supplies we actually keep on hand are listed on our Amazon storefront, and our printer paper guide covers which weight to buy for which job.

When the jam is not really a jam

A few faults masquerade as jams and need a different fix entirely. If your printer feeds fine but the output is wrong, you are looking at a different problem: streaks and banding usually point at the printhead or a low cartridge, and blank pages point at ink delivery or driver settings. We cover those in faded or streaky prints and why your printer prints blank pages.

If it will not pull paper at all and reports "out of paper" with a full tray, that is a pickup roller or sensor issue — see why your printer says out of paper when it isn't.

When to stop fixing and replace

Jams that keep coming back after you have cleaned the rollers, checked the sensors and ruled out paper problems usually mean worn feed mechanics. On an entry-level inkjet that cost under $100, a roller kit plus your time rarely makes sense — the machine has told you it is done. On a laser printer that cost $300 or more, roller and separation-pad kits are cheap and the rest of the machine typically has years left in it.

The honest test: if the printer jams more than once per 50 pages and cleaning has not helped, and the replacement cost is under about four cartridges' worth, replace it. Our CastleScore rankings score current models on reliability and true running cost, refreshed monthly.

FAQ

Why does my printer keep jamming with new paper?

Usually humidity or overfilling. Fresh paper straight from a cold or damp store curls as it acclimatises. Let a new ream sit unopened in the room for a day, load no more than 80% of the tray, and fan the stack first.

My printer says paper jam but there's no paper. What do I do?

Look for a torn fragment first, then a dust-blocked sensor, then do a hard reset — unplug at the wall for 60 seconds, hold the power button 15 seconds with the cable out, then reconnect. That sequence clears most false jam errors.

Can I pull jammed paper out backwards?

No. Pulling against the feed direction drags paper across rollers and, on a laser printer, back through the fuser. Both risk damage and both increase the chance the sheet tears. Always pull in the direction the paper was already moving.

Does cheap paper cause more jams?

Sometimes, but not because it is cheap — because of how it is made and stored. Paper with a rough cut edge, high dust content or inconsistent thickness jams more. A mid-priced 20 lb multipurpose paper from a reputable brand, stored properly, outperforms expensive paper kept in a damp cupboard.

How often should I clean my printer's rollers?

Twice a year for a home printer, quarterly for an office machine printing thousands of pages. Use a lint-free cloth lightly dampened with water — not alcohol, which dries rubber out and accelerates glazing.

Will a paper jam damage my printer?

A single jam cleared properly, no. Repeated jams cleared by yanking, yes — that is how rollers get scratched, sensor flags snap and drive gears strip. The five minutes spent powering down and opening every door is genuinely cheaper than the alternative.

Keep printing

Once the paper path is clear, the next thing to run out is usually ink. Castle Ink stocks compatible and remanufactured cartridges, toner and drum units for virtually every printer on the market — find yours on the Find Ink by Printer page, or browse our printer paper range if the jams turned out to be a paper problem after all.

Restocking while you're here? Browse HP, Canon, Epson and Brother ink, or Brother and HP toner.