5 Office Equipment Maintenance Steps to Quickly Fix a Problem
Imagine what your workday would look like without a copier machine-you might be handwriting hundreds of reports to pass out during the big quarter meeting. You’d definitely be under pressure to meet all of your deadlines. With properly functioning technology, our working lives are made a lot easier. In fact, our jobs can almost be seamlessly carried out with the help of our computers, printers, scanners, and little office equipment maintenance. It’s when these devices start to glitch, stutter, and malfunction that the headaches and frenzy begins to settle in.
As easy as it is to panic when things start to go wrong, try to stay calm! While it’s possible your equipment could be done for, it’s even more likely that it just needs some tuning up with routine office equipment maintenance. Don’t bust out the pen and paper just yet; you can save yourself a lot of time with these five office equipment maintenance steps.
1. Make Sure Resources Are Available
The simplest solutions are often overlooked. Say you’re mid-print and all of a sudden things come to a grinding halt. Your first thought could be “oh no.” Instead of assuming the worst, consider the simplest thing that could be causing the hold-up. Is there paper loaded in the printer trays? Are trays low on paper or over-filled? Any of these scenarios could cause a message to pop-up requiring your attention. Some printers will notify users that a paper tray is low, even if it’s not the one being pulled from. You can either load the tray or press “ok” to ignore the message. Printers vary from model to model, so keeping the user manual close by will be handy when it comes to office equipment maintenance.
2. Completely Clear Paper Jams
If you’ve ever used a scanner to scan documents to your computer, then you’ve probably experienced a minor paper jam. These can occur when paper is loaded the wrong way, causing the paper to scrunch, tear, and get stuck. They can also occur when the scanner accidentally pulls multiple pages into the feeder at once. Whatever the cause, paper jams need to be completely cleared for the scanner to continue functioning properly. If small shreds of paper are left in the scanner, it can result in another paper jam soon after, further disrupting your workflow.
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3. Wipe the Dust Away
Just like you wipe down furniture, office equipment maintenance entails the simple task of wiping your equipment to remove dust, ink, and fingerprints. The glass on the copier machine needs to be cleaned to prevent smudges or illegible copies. Ink cartridges need to be maintained and cleaned to prevent ink smudges when printing. Wiping down your equipment is an easy task that can be done quickly and frequently with a microfiber cloth. Just keep some on hand with the rest of your supplies, so that everyone in the office can help out as needed.
4. Check for Software or Firmware Updates
Outdated software or firmware, whether on your computer or the equipment you’re trying to use, can cause things to come to a halt. Your devices will probably alert you anytime an update is available, so don’t ignore the message. Updating your devices ensures they are running optimally at all times. Printer and computer updates, for example, enable devices to operate efficiently and fix glitches in the system on a regular basis. A software update is like office equipment maintenance done for you- all you have to do is make sure the update gets installed.
5. Call an Office Equipment Maintenance Pro
Sometimes we need a little extra help to solve problems. Maybe you’ve exhausted all of your options and still haven’t found what’s causing issues, or you just don’t know how to fix it. Or, maybe you did start to panic and you just want a professional to come in and help you. No problem-that’s what we are here for.
For more information, contact us.