# Q: Printer Alignment

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-printer-alignment/326426>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 16, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-printer-alignment/326426 "2005-10-16T02:06:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-printer-alignment/326426/1 "2005-10-16T02:06:59Z")

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My HP is self-aligning where the priner generates a shete which I then scan in. So, how can a potentially misaligned printer print a sheet by which to self-align itself??? -Jinx

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-printer-alignment/326426/2 "2005-10-16T02:10:46Z")

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> [@Jinx](#):
>
> My HP is self-aligning where the priner generates a shete which I then scan in. So, how can a potentially misaligned printer print a sheet by which to self-align itself??? -Jinx

You have and HP all in one. It actually prints the patterns on the paper and then scans and corrects. It is a pretty nice feature.

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**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-printer-alignment/326426/3 "2005-10-16T02:12:50Z")

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The misalignment is between colors, so when you scan it in, it can “observe” the jog in something it’s supposed to be straight, and figure out how far it needs to move the colors relative to each other.

For example ----C---- **M** ----Y---- for a cyan, magenta, yellow line would indicate that the magenta needs to come “up” (usually in the real world this is a side to side issue, but I can’t easily draw vertical lines.

Older printers used to do this by printing four or five patterns, then asking you which one looked straight; having the integrated scanner just lets them take the eyeballs out of it.

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-printer-alignment/326426/4 "2005-10-16T02:20:59Z")

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Whatever you two say! Sounds neat! - Jinx