FAQ Tech Support - Red River Inkjet Papers

Because of the volume of support inquiries we strongly suggest you email all technical support questions to advice@redriverpaper.com.
You can call 214-637-0140 Monday-Friday 8am-5pm Central Time for help with Red River products. Please note you may need to leave a message. We return all calls within 24 hours.

Do you have a tips library?

Yes. An extensive library of tips, tricks, suggestions, and knowledge is located here

Are color profiles available for your papers?

Yes. Click here.

I am having trouble feeding paper. Any suggestions?

Yes. Help on that topic is here

How do I get good inkjet prints?

Getting a good inkjet print is not all that hard. You must start with a good digital file! Having a low quality or low res file is a big reason customers do not get good prints. For a 4x6 print, look for at least 1 megabyte. If you are printing an 8x10, 3 megabytes is a minimum to shoot for. Also, make sure you have your media settings correct. Red River offers media setting suggestions in each box of our paper. If you use Photoshop or QImage Pro, consider learning about ICC profiles. Profiles make color management more consistent and streamlined. Click here for more about profiles.

Choose a paper that is appropriate for your image. Red River papers are all "photo quality". However, some pictures lend themselves to certain types of inkjet paper. We offer glossy, satin, non-gloss, and artistic surfaces. Try a Red River sample kit to see which papers you like best.

What printer should I use?

That depends heavily on what you want to accomplish. If you want to print photos that can be sold and that will last, the best choice is to use pigmented ink printers. Epson and Canon both offer desktop options that use pigment inks. Wide format pigment systems are available from Epson, Canon, and HP.

If long lasting prints are not a concern, then your choices expand dramatically. Epson, Canon, and HP all make great inkjet printers. Business and graphic design applications will look great on Canon and Epson printers, with Canon being the fastest of the two. If you want to print greeting cards, click here for our recommendations.

In general, its hard to find a bad inkjet printer these days. Stick with the top three names for best results. Red River inkjet papers work great with them all!

Will your papers work on my printer?

Yes. Click here for a compatibilty matrix.

I get a black smudge mark at the end of a print. How can I fix this problem?

On many inkjet printers, the machine actually lets go of a sheet before the print is finished. This means the paper is "floating" free and can move around a bit. If the paper has a slight upward curl, this can cause a head strike which leaves black smudges or streaks on the print. Paper curl is usually caused by humidity changes.

One solution is to give the paper a downward bend before feeding. Hold the paper in both hands and give the trailing edge (the edge that will come out last) a curl towards the floor. This will make the paper push down on the printer as it feeds and usually helps keep the edges flat as your printer completes the print cycle.