I have the Photosmart 7960. Great printer! It uses 3 cartridges, one
being #56 Black. The #59 Gray I have no question about. But when and
how does the printer know when to use ink from the #56 Black?
Bill

ET wrote:

>I have the Photosmart 7960. Great printer! It uses 3 cartridges, one
>being #56 Black. The #59 Gray I have no question about. But when and
>how does the printer know when to use ink from the #56 Black?

If you have a totally black (0,0,0) source, like a Microsoft Word
document with text only, the printer will default to the black
cartridge. But if there is any colour in the document source, the
printer will use the tri-colour cartridge.

If you want to be 100% sure it uses the black only, you can force it in
the printer settings when you print a document. For instance, in Word,
instead of hitting the print button, click the File menu, Print..., and
then select the tab with the colour settings. You will find an option
there to use the black only. Then continue with the printing of the
document.

Using this method, the printer will retain the default settings and only
use the black cartridge for that one session with Word. Once you close
Word or use a different program, the default settings you have in the
printer driver will be used. If you wish to make the black cartridge the
default all the time, you need to make the change in the main printer
driver settings which you'll find in Control Panel.

On Mon, 27 Dec 2004 10:27:53 -0500, Bill <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>snip
>
>If you have a totally black (0,0,0) source, like a Microsoft Word
>document with text only, the printer will default to the black
>cartridge. But if there is any colour in the document source, the
>printer will use the tri-colour cartridge.
>
>snip
---------
So, during the 'spooling' process, it notes whether there is any color
to be printed. If not, it will use the #56 Black cartridge - when
using the default settings. Correct?
ET

ET wrote:

>>If you have a totally black (0,0,0) source, like a Microsoft Word
>>document with text only, the printer will default to the black
>>cartridge. But if there is any colour in the document source, the
>>printer will use the tri-colour cartridge.
>>
>So, during the 'spooling' process, it notes whether there is any color
>to be printed. If not, it will use the #56 Black cartridge - when
>using the default settings. Correct?

Yes.

But if there is any colour, even just a tiny bit of red, green and blue
(5,5,5), then it may use the tri-colour ink instead and mix it so it
looks black.

I don't know the exact levels. It might be as low as 1%, but it may use
black if it's a bit higher, say 5-10%. That's why I suggest using the
black only setting if you're printing a document and you're unsure of
the source colour scheme. If it's your own documents, then you know if
you put any colour in it, or at least you should.

"ET" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have the Photosmart 7960. Great printer! It uses 3 cartridges, one
> being #56 Black. The #59 Gray I have no question about. But when and
> how does the printer know when to use ink from the #56 Black?

The black #56 cartridge will be used for text and black graphics such as line
drawing. This is not done on a page basis but on an "object" basis. A mixed
text and graphics page will use the #56 for the text, and a mixture for the
graphics objects.

If the driver is set to "print in grayscale" and "use black cartridge only" it
will only use the black cartridge.

When printing on photo media the #56 pigmented black cartridge is not used.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP

Bob Headrick wrote:

>>I have the Photosmart 7960. Great printer! It uses 3 cartridges, one
>> being #56 Black. The #59 Gray I have no question about. But when and
>> how does the printer know when to use ink from the #56 Black?
>
>The black #56 cartridge will be used for text and black graphics such as line
>drawing. This is not done on a page basis but on an "object" basis. A mixed
>text and graphics page will use the #56 for the text, and a mixture for the
>graphics objects.

Does that apply to all or most of the HP printer models?

I had a Canon i850 that would not print on an object basis at all. It
insisted on using the three colours to produce black if there was ANY
colour anywhere on the page.

I don't know how to verify if my Deskjet 6540 does that or not. Perhaps
use a 5x loupe to examine the output?

>If the driver is set to "print in grayscale" and "use black cartridge only" it
>will only use the black cartridge.
>
>When printing on photo media the #56 pigmented black cartridge is not used.

Are you sure about that? My Deskjet 6540 appears to use the #96 black
when printing photos with the #97 if the #98 photo cartridge is not
installed.

Thanks, Bob, for the explanation.
ET
---

On Mon, 27 Dec 2004 08:32:20 -0800, "Bob Headrick" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>
>"ET" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>I have the Photosmart 7960. Great printer! It uses 3 cartridges, one
>> being #56 Black. The #59 Gray I have no question about. But when and
>> how does the printer know when to use ink from the #56 Black?
>
>The black #56 cartridge will be used for text and black graphics such as line
>drawing. This is not done on a page basis but on an "object" basis. A mixed
>text and graphics page will use the #56 for the text, and a mixture for the
>graphics objects.
>
>If the driver is set to "print in grayscale" and "use black cartridge only" it
>will only use the black cartridge.
>
>When printing on photo media the #56 pigmented black cartridge is not used.
>
>Regards,
>Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP
>

"Bill" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:G9GdnXuFsO0r203cRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Bob Headrick wrote:

>>The black #56 cartridge will be used for text and black graphics such as line
>>drawing. This is not done on a page basis but on an "object" basis. A mixed
>>text and graphics page will use the #56 for the text, and a mixture for the
>>graphics objects.
>
> Does that apply to all or most of the HP printer models?

Yes, if... you are using HP drivers and the application is behaving and it is a
current model (last few years at least). I remember an issue with Word a few
revisions back that would append a special character to the end of a paragraph.
The printer would interpret this as a graphic character making the entire text
block a graphic object.

> I had a Canon i850 that would not print on an object basis at all. It
> insisted on using the three colours to produce black if there was ANY
> colour anywhere on the page.
>
> I don't know how to verify if my DeskJet 6540 does that or not. Perhaps
> use a 5x loupe to examine the output?

Yes, or you could put an empty black cartridge in the printer. You could also
try pulling on the paper during a printing swath, then you could then see what
the individual cartridges are printing. *This will probably cause a printing
error, but you should see one swath from each cartridge printed at an angle, it
should be easy enough to see which cartridge was printing which parts.

>>When printing on photo media the #56 pigmented black cartridge is not used.
>
> Are you sure about that? My DeskJet 6540 appears to use the #96 black
> when printing photos with the #97 if the #98 photo cartridge is not
> installed.

Yes, the pigmented ink is not compatible with glossy photo paper and is not
used when printing if photo paper is selected in the paper type, or the paper
type is left on "auto" with photo paper installed. The DeskJet 6540 has an
automatic paper sense that should print with the correct print modes. The
print mode for glossy media does a pretty good job of mixing the cyan, magenta
and yellow in the #97 cartridge in photo mode to provide a pretty respectable
looking black in the photo without using the black ink.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP