Atmospheric pressure not only affects certain individuals, but also your office printer's print quality. The higher the altitude, the more printing problems you may encounter, including ghost images appearing on documents, loose toner appearing on one or more documents, and the print on all documents appearing light. Certain inkjet and laser printers include a High Altitude Correction component that eliminates the problems associated with operating a printer in a high altitude office, warehouse or other area.

Option The High Altitude Correction is not available on all printers, and not all models within a brand class include the option. If a printer, including laser and inkjet models, does include the option, it will be clearly stated in the owner's manual. The High Altitude Correction option is found on a variety of printers, including Dell, Brother and Samsung models.

Usage After determining if your printer contains the High Altitude Correction option via its owner's manual, find the altitude of the area where you are using your printer to determine if you need to activate the option. If the area is above 8,200 feet, then use the option; if not, then you don't need to activate this option. However, using the option will not hurt your printer if you are not in a high altitude area.

Activating the Option To activate your printer's High Altitude Correction option, press the “Windows” key to launch the Start screen, press “Windows-Z” to launch Windows 8's App Bar, click the “All apps” icon, and then scroll to the right to the Windows System heading. Click “Control Panel” and “View devices and printers” under the "Hardware and Sound" heading. Right-click your printer's name, choose “Properties,” and then click the “Printer” tab. Click the check box next to “High Altitude Correction,” click “Apply,” and then click “OK.”

Activating via Printer Setting Utility On certain model printers, you can also activate the High Altitude Correction option by launching the printer's setting utility from the Start screen and clicking “Setting,” and then “Altitude Adjustment” or a similarly worded option. A drop-down box appears with settings related to the option, including turning the option on and off. Click the setting you want, and then click “Apply” to activate it.

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