# Adjusting my Inkjet printer

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjusting-my-inkjet-printer/676740>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 19, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjusting-my-inkjet-printer/676740 "2013-12-19T18:03:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjusting-my-inkjet-printer/676740/1 "2013-12-19T18:03:01Z")

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I print United States Postal Service shipping labels at home. My ink jet printer works just fine. But the bar code is not legible enough. How do I adjust the thickness of the ink so that the barcode prints clearly?  
Can that even be adjusted?

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjusting-my-inkjet-printer/676740/2 "2013-12-19T18:13:32Z")

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Generally, you may be able to select normal/draft/best quality somewhere in the print dialog when you click Print, or you may be able to fool the printer by telling it you’re using their premium paper.

FWIW, I’ve never had problems printing USPS labels and bar codes with default settings.

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**Author:** ![HipGnosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/76d3ee/32.png) [@HipGnosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HipGnosis)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjusting-my-inkjet-printer/676740/3 "2013-12-19T21:27:23Z")

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It depends on what printer you have…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjusting-my-inkjet-printer/676740/4 "2013-12-19T21:55:27Z")

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Duh. Sorry.

HP 5150 InkJet

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**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjusting-my-inkjet-printer/676740/5 "2013-12-20T12:35:30Z")

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Set your printing preferences to text, not photo. I had the same problem when I first started printing my own shipping labels. Text setting prints things sharper.