PrintPathways field guide

Printer help, minus the headache.

Plain-English guides for choosing, connecting, and keeping your printer reliably online.

BuyingSetupDriversScanningNetworking

Featured guide · Troubleshooting

Why does my printer keep going offline?

Your printer is turned on, but your computer says it is offline. Try these simple fixes to get it printing again.

7 min readUpdated August 16, 2026

Build your setup

Save the box. Skip the 90-page manual.

Print quality

Bad-looking pages do not always mean your printer is broken. Use these easy checks to find and fix the problem.

Setup guide

USB, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or Wi-Fi Direct? Here’s what each one does and the easiest way to get connected.

Buying guide

Forget the giant list of specs. Let’s look at what you print, how often you print, and what the ink will really cost.

Drivers

Find your exact printer, download from the right place, and get printing and scanning working properly.

Networking

If your printer keeps going offline, giving it the same network address every time may be the fix.

Buying guide

One sprays liquid ink, the other melts powder onto the page. Here’s how that changes speed, quality, and what you’ll pay.