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Selecting Settings on the Main Tab

Selecting the Media Type setting
Selecting the Color setting
Selecting the Mode setting
Selecting the Advanced settings
Checking Ink Levels
Previewing your printout
Using the Print Assistant function

The Main tab allows you to select the Media Type, Color, and Mode settings, and also check the ink cartridge status. You can also access the User’s Guide, paper information, and the Technical Support Web Site by clicking the Print Assistant button.

Selecting the Media Type setting

The Media Type setting determines what other settings are available in the printer driver, so make sure you always select this setting first.

Select the Media Type setting that matches the paper you loaded in the printer. See for a list of settings. For some types of paper, several Media Type settings are available.


Note:
  • The black ink automatically changes according to the Media Type setting you choose.

  • The availability of Epson media varies by region.

  • For the latest information on the Epson media available in your area, refer to the Epson customer support Web site. See Where To Get Help.

Media Type setting list

Media Type Setting

Epson Media Name

Premium Luster Photo Paper

Ultra Premium Photo Paper Luster

Premium Luster Photo Paper

Premium Glossy Photo Paper

Premium Photo Paper Glossy

Premium Glossy Photo Paper

Premium Semigloss Photo Paper

Premium Photo Paper Semi-gloss

Premium Semi-gloss Photo Paper

Proofing Paper Semimatte

Proofing Paper Commercial Semimatte

Plain Paper - Photo Black

Enhanced Matte Paper

Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte

Enhanced Paper Matte

Archival Matte Paper

Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte

Enhanced Paper Matte

Velvet Fine Art Paper

Velvet Fine Art Paper

UltraSmooth Fine Art Paper

UltraSmooth Fine Art Paper

Watercolor Paper - Radiant White

Watercolor Paper - Radiant White

Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper

Presentation Paper Matte

Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper

Singleweight Matte Paper

Singleweight Matte Paper

Plain Paper - Matte Black

Singleweight Matte Paper (line drawing)

Singleweight Matte Paper

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Selecting the Color setting

Select Color to print color or monochrome photos, or Black to print a draft or black text only. If you want to fine-tune your monochrome prints, select Advanced B&W Photo.

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Selecting the Mode setting

Select Automatic or Custom for the Mode setting.

Automatic mode

Automatic mode is the quickest and easiest way to start printing. When Automatic is selected, the printer driver selects all of the detailed settings based on the Media Type and Color settings you select.

Quality and Speed slider

Depending on the Media Type, Color, and Mode settings you select, a Quality/Speed slider appears in the Mode box. Select Quality when print quality is more important than print speed, or select Speed when print speed is more important than print quality.

Color Control mode

When Color is selected for the Color setting in Automatic Mode, the Color Control drop-down list appears in the Mode box.

You can select from the following settings.

EPSON Vivid

Select this setting to enhance blue and green tones in your printouts.

Note:
Because this setting reproduces blue and green tones that cannot be displayed by your monitor, your printouts may differ from the image on your screen when this option is selected.

Charts and Graphs

Enhances colors and lightens the midtones and highlights of an image. Select this setting when printing presentation graphics, such as charts and graphs.

EPSON Standard (sRGB)

Increases the contrast in your printouts. Select this setting when printing color photographs.

Adobe RGB

Matches the color in your image to the Adobe RGB color space.

Color Toning

When you select Advanced B&W Photo as the Color setting in Automatic Mode, the Color Toning drop-down menu appears in the Mode box.

You can select from the following settings.

Neutral

Provides standard image correction for most photos. Try this first.

Cool

Gives a cool tone to your printouts.

Warm

Gives a warm tone to your printouts.

Sepia

Applies a sepia tone to your printouts.

Custom mode

The Custom mode lets you select a wide range of settings with a single mouse click.


Note:

The preset custom settings may not appear, depending on the Media Type and Color setting you select.

The Custom Settings drop-down list includes the following default custom settings.

Advanced Photo 2880

Good for printing scanned photos and digitally captured images in high quality. Helps prevent misprinting of ink dots that may occur due to movement of the print head and paper.

PhotoEnhance

Lets you select image-correction settings specially designed for scanned or digitally captured photos.

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Selecting the Advanced settings

The Advanced settings give you complete control over your printing environment. Use these settings to experiment with new printing ideas, or to fine-tune a range of print settings to meet your individual needs. Once you are satisfied with your new settings, you can give them a name and add them to the Custom Settings drop-down list.

Follow these steps to select Advanced settings:

Select Custom from the Main tab, and then click Advanced. You see a window like this one.

Make sure the Media Type setting matches the paper you loaded in the printer. See Media Type setting list.

Select Color to print color or monochrome photos, or Black to print a draft or black text only. If you want to fine-tune your monochrome prints, select Advanced B&W Photo.

Select a Print Quality setting.

If you are using non-Epson paper and are experiencing problems with print quality when using Epson Media Type settings, click the Paper Config button, and then select settings as necessary. For details, see Paper Configuration.

Select Printer Color Management settings. For details, see Printer Color Management.


Note:

Some settings are enabled or disabled depending on the Media Type, Color, and Print Quality settings you select.

Select other settings as necessary. For details, see the on-screen help.

Click OK to apply your settings and then return to the Main tab. If you want to return to the previous screen without applying your settings, click Cancel.

Paper Configuration

The following settings in the Paper Configuration window let you select detailed paper settings.

Mode

Description

Color Density

Adjusts the saturation of Colors. Use a value between –50% and +50%. Drag the slider to the right (+) to deepen the color saturation of your printout or left (–) to lighten the color saturation. You can also type a number (–50 to +50) in the text box next to the slider.

Use this setting when you print on non-Epson papers.

Set the slider to the 0 position when you print on Epson media.

Note:
Adjusting the color saturation of a printout may not be possible, depending on the printing mode.

Drying Time per Print Head Pass

Pauses the print head for a specified period of time between passes.

Set this value using the slider or text box. To improve print quality by using slow ink absorption on the media, set a higher value.

The drying time per print head pass can be set from 0 to 5 seconds, in 0.1 second increments.

Note:
If you use this setting, printing will take longer.

Paper Feed Adjustment

Controls the paper feeding value, in 0.01% increments. If the paper feeding value is too large, white horizontal micro banding may appear. If the paper feeding value is too small, dark horizontal micro banding may appear.

Paper Thickness

This value is set automatically according to the Media Type setting. If you use non-Epson media, modify this value for your media. Refer to the paper specifications, or see to print a Thickness Pattern to determine the paper thickness.

Platen Gap

The platen gap is the distance from the media loaded in the printer to the print head. By adjusting this setting, you can increase the print quality. This is set automatically according to the Paper Thickness setting specified.

Note:
Setting Platen Gap to Narrow may produce better print quality, but make sure the media does not wrinkle or touch the print head; otherwise, the printout or the print head may be damaged. If this happens, select the Wider or Wide setting.

Default button

Click this button to return the settings to their factory default values.

Printer Color Management
Color Controls

This setting provides color matching and image-enhancement features. When you select this setting, additional options appear under the Printer Color Management box where you can select a Mode setting and adjust the color enhancement sliders. For details on the additional settings, see the on-screen help.

When Advanced B&W Photo is selected as the Color setting, you see a window like this one. You can then adjust the advanced monochrome settings. For details on the settings, see the on-screen help.

PhotoEnhance

This setting provides a variety of image-correction settings that you can apply to your printed image before printing. PhotoEnhance does not affect your original image files. When you select this setting, you should select the Digital Camera Correction settings.


Note:
  • This mode is available only with 16-, 24-, or 32-bit color image files.

  • Printing with PhotoEnhance selected may increase the print time, depending on your computer system and the amount of the data contained in your image file.

Digital Camera Correction

If you are printing photos taken with a digital camera, select this checkbox to give your printed photos a smooth and natural appearance like that of photos taken with a film camera.

Select the Smooth Skin checkbox to adjust the image to make its skin color smooth.

Off (No Color Adjustment)

This setting turns off the printer driver color management, which is useful if you are using a color management suite to print with ICC profiles. See Using Color Management for detailed information.

ICM

This setting uses Windows color matching to automatically adjust your printout’s colors to match the colors on your screen. Select this setting when printing scanned photographs or computer graphics. See Using Color Management for detailed information.


Note:

Ambient light and the age, quality, and settings of your monitor can affect the quality of color matching.

ICM Mode

Select Driver ICM (Basic), Driver ICM (Advanced) or Host ICM.

Image, Graphics, and Text checkboxes

These checkboxes are available only when Driver ICM (Advanced) is selected as the ICM Mode.

Select the checkbox you want to set.

Input Profile

Select an input profile.

This setting is not available when Host ICM is selected as the ICM Mode setting.

Intent

Select a rendering intent or color mapping preference:

Saturation:
Select this option when printing presentation graphics to accurately reproduce vivid colors. Use of this setting is not recommended when printing photos.

Perceptual:
Select this option when you want an image’s color to appear natural, or when rendering a wide color range of an image. Use this setting when printing photos.

Relative Colorimetric:
Select this setting to render an image by maintaining a relative color range, or when most of the color range before conversion is found in the image after conversion. Use this setting when printing photos.

Absolute Colorimetric:
Select this setting to render an image by maintaining an absolute color range so that there is a 1-to-1 ratio of absolute lab coordinates. This setting is not recommended when printing photos or normal conversions.

Printer Profile

Select a printer profile.

Printer Profile Description

Shows the description of the selected printer profile.

Show all profiles

Shows all profiles in the Input Profile and the Printer Profile pull-down menu.

This setting is not available when Host ICM is selected as the ICM Mode setting.

Saving Advanced settings

Follow these steps to save your Advanced settings.

Click Save Settings. You see a window like this one.

Type a unique name, up to 31 characters, for your settings in the Name text box.

Click Save. Your setting will be added to the Custom Setting List.

You can save up to 100 custom settings (including the preset custom settings). You can select your saved settings from the Custom Settings pull-down menu in the Mode box on the Main tab.

When you select your saved settings in the Custom Settings list, remember that selecting new settings, for example, Media Type and Color settings, may change your custom settings. This may produce unexpected results in your printouts. If this happens, reselect your saved settings and try printing again.


Note:

The names of the included preset custom settings cannot be used for your new custom settings.

Deleting Advanced settings

Follow the steps below to delete your Advanced setting.


Note:

You cannot delete the included preset custom settings from the Custom Settings list.

Click Save Settings. You see the Custom Settings window.

Select the name of custom settings you want to delete.

Click Delete. The setting will be deleted from the Custom Settings list.

Exporting and importing Advanced settings

You can export the custom settings you saved, or import from a custom setting file created in another environment.

Exporting the Advanced settings

To export your custom settings, following these steps:

Click Save Settings. You see the Custom Settings window.

Select the custom settings you want to export. To select multiple settings at a time, hold down the Ctrl or Shift keys while you select the settings.

Click Export.

Select the location where you want to save the file to, and then enter a file name.

Click Save.

When the message “Processing complete.” appears, click OK.

Importing Advanced settings

Follow the steps below to import custom settings.

Click Save Settings. You see the Custom Settings window.

Click Import.

Browse to the folder that contains the file you want to import, and then select the file.

Click Open.

When the message “Processing complete.” appears, click OK.

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Checking Ink Levels

You can check the status of each ink cartridge.

The black ink cartridge (either Photo or Matte) that is not being used is dimmed. When you print, the black ink cartridge will change automatically depending on the Media Type setting you select.


Note:

If your printer is not connected properly or Epson Status Monitor 3 is not installed, all of the Ink Levels will be grayed out.

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Previewing your printout

If you select the Print Preview checkbox on the Main tab, you can see how your printout will look before you print it. When you send a print job to the printer, the EPSON Print Preview window appears, allowing you to make changes before printing.


Note:

The Print Preview window is not color accurate.

The EPSON Print Preview toolbar contains several buttons you can use to perform the following functions.

Zoom

Click this button to reduce or enlarge the size of the previewed image.

Fit-to-screen

Click this button to scale the previewed image so that it fits the current window size. This is convenient when you want to see the entire image at one time.

Maximum zoom

Click this button to display the previewed image at the maximum possible zoom ratio.

Printable area on/off

Click this button to display a rectangle indicating the printable area on the previewed image. The printer cannot print anything outside of this rectangle. Click this button again to turn the printable area indicator off.

Previous page

Click this button to display the previous page. If there is no previous page, this button is not available.

Next page

Click this button to display the next page. If there is no next page, this button is not available.

You can also modify the previewed print job in the following ways:

  • Select and preview individual pages.

  • Reduce or enlarge the size of preview.

  • Select and print any or all pages.

  • Magnify the previewed document: Click View and then select Magnify to open the Magnify window, which magnifies the area of the previewed document outlined by the red box. Drag the red box to view other parts of the image.

  • Specify which pages in the document you want to print: Click Print Option, and then select Remove Page or Add Page.

After you preview the print job, click Print to print it, or click Cancel to cancel the print job.

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Using the Print Assistant function

You can access the following information by clicking the Print Assistant button:

  • User’s Guide

  • Technical Support Web Site

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