Brother Printer Manual Feed [Guide, Issues & Solutions]

Brother printer manual feed error is one of the errors that most Brother Printer users will face. Therefore, in this article, we will guide you through the issues and solutions to this common error.

Why Does My Brother Printer Say Manual Feed? [Quick Guide]

Your Brother printer keeps saying manual feed because of the following reasons:

i. The paper source in your printer driver or tray setting is set to manual feed whereas there is no paper in the manual feed.

ii. Your printer’s paper size has been set to a special or custom size.

iii. The document you want to print was created as a mailing, a letter, or a label via Microsoft Word’s Envelopes and Labels Wizard. Hence, when you try to print such a document, the rules that you set up while on the wizard for the document during its creation could affect it.

How Do I Get My Printer Out Of Manual Feed? [Quick Fix]

To get your Brother printer off manual feed try the following troubleshooting:

1. Load your Brother Printer Manual Feed Slot with a Sheet of Paper

You can get your Brother Printer off manual feed by manually feeding your printer with a sheet of paper. This action should cause the document to print and also fix your Brother Printer manual feed error.

How to Manually Feed Brother Printer

To manually feed your Brother Printer, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Raise the printer’s support flap. This action will stop the paper in the output tray from sliding off. Or you could manually take out each printed page immediately after it is printed out.

Step 2: Open the cover of the machine’s manual feed slot.

Step 3: With both hands, grab hold of the paper guides on the manual feed and slide it to fit the paper’s width that you want to use.

Step 4: Still with both hands, take a sheet of paper and place it into the printer’s manual feed slot. Do this until the paper’s front edge is touching the roller of the paper feed.

Step 5: Once your Brother printer grasps the paper, you should release it. While feeding the paper, ensure that the side that faces up is where you want to print on. Your Brother Printer will then grasp the paper firmly while it waits to receive the data of the print job.

Before you send the print job to your printer, do these depending on what you want to print on:

i. Labels: Open your printer’s face-up output tray (back cover).

ii. Envelopes: Open your printer’s face-up output tray (back cover). Then locate the green levers (there are 2 of them) inside the printer’s back cover and pull both of them down.

Step 6: Your document will now be printed.

If your Brother Printer manual feed error message is still appearing, then try other troubleshooting options.

Watch the video above to learn how to load an envelope into Brother Printer manual feed.

2. Change the Default Paper Size

You should change the default paper size to remove the manual feed error from your Brother Printer.

How to Change the Default Paper Size on Microsoft Word

To change the default paper size on Microsoft Word, do the following:

i. Click on “File”.

ii. Click the tab labeled “Page Layout”.

iii. Click on “Page Setup”.

iv. Click on the tab labeled “Paper Size” or “Paper”.

v. Confirm that the paper size setting is not on “Custom”. It shouldn’t be on any type of special size either. Your Brother Printer’s Main Paper (MP) tray usually doesn’t support such special sizes.

vi. Click on “OK”.

vii. Then try to print again.

If it prints, then the issue has been fixed.

If it doesn’t, then try the next troubleshooting.

Note: The steps above on how to change default paper size apply only to Microsoft Word.

3. Verify the Tray Settings are Correct

How to Verify that Brother Printer’s Tray Settings are Correct

To verify that your Brother Printer’s tray settings are correct, do the following:

Step 1: Use the up or down arrow buttons on your printer to move to “General Setup”, and then press the “OK” button.

Step 2: Use the up or down arrow buttons on your printer to move to “Tray Setting”, and then press the “OK” button.

Step 3: Use the up or down arrow buttons on your printer to move to “Manual Feed”, and then press the “OK” button.

Step 4: Use the up or down arrow buttons on your printer to move to “Off”, and then press the “GO” button.

This will cause your printer to display “Accepted” very briefly.

Now do the next solution…

4. Print your Brother Printer’s Settings Report

How to Print Brother Printer’s Settings Report

Follow the steps below to print Brother Printer’s settings report:

Step 1: Use the up or down arrow buttons on your printer to move to “Print Reports”, and then press the “OK” button.

Step 2: Use the up or down arrow buttons on your printer to move to “Printer Settings”, and then press the “OK” button.

Step 3: Press the “GO” button.  This will cause the report to be printed.

Step 4: Once it is done printing, exit the printer menu.

This should clear the error.

If it doesn’t and the error message is still displayed, then repeat the steps in troubleshooting items 3 and 4 to confirm that your Brother Printer has been changed from manual feed.

If the error message is still appearing after that, try the next troubleshooting…

5. Carry out a Machine Reset

How to Carry out a Machine Reset on Brother Printer

Follow the steps below to carry out a machine reset on your Brother Printer:

Step 1: Use the up or down arrow buttons on your printer to move to “Initial Setup”, and then press the “OK” button.

Step 2: Use the up or down arrow buttons on your printer to move to “Reset”, and then press the “OK” button.

Step 3: Use the up or down arrow buttons on your printer to move to “Machine Reset”, and then press the “OK” button.

Step 4: Use the down arrow button to choose “Reset”. Your printer will then ask you if it is okay to reboot.

Step 5: Use the down arrow button to choose “Yes”. Your printer will require some time to reboot.

Step 6: Try printing a document.

If it prints, then the problem has been fixed.

If it doesn’t print, move to the next solution…

6. Choose the Right Paper Source in your Printer Driver

To choose the right paper source in your Brother Printer Driver, do the following:

How to Choose the Right Paper Source in your Brother Printer Driver on Windows

Follow the steps below to choose the right paper source in your Brother Printer Driver on Windows:

Step 1: Open your Printers folder:

Windows XP Users

i. Click on “Start”.

ii. Click “Settings”.

iii. Click on “Printers and Faxes”.

Windows Vista Users

i. Click on “Start”.

ii. Click on “Control Panel”.

iii. Click on “Hardware and Sound”.

iv. Click on “Printers”.

Windows 7 Users

i. Click on “Start”.

ii. Click on “Devices and Printers”.

Windows 8 or 8.1 Users

i. Move the cursor of your mouse to your Desktop’s screen bottom left corner. Or move the cursor to your Start Screen.

ii. Right-click the screen.

iii. Left-click on “Control Panel”.

iv. Move to “Hardware and Sound”.

v. Click on “View devices and printers”.

Windows 10 Users

i. On the keyboard, press the “Windows” + “R” keys at once.

ii. In the dialog box that appears for the Run program, type in “control printers”, then press “Enter” on your keyboard.

Step 2: Right-click on your Brother Printer driver.

Step 3: Left-click “Printing Preferences”.

Step 4: For the paper source settings, choose “Auto” for the “First Page” as well as “Other Pages”.

Step 5: Click on “Apply”, then click “OK”.

How to Choose the Right Paper Source in your Brother Printer Driver on Windows on Mac

Follow the steps below to choose the right paper source in your Brother Printer Driver on Mac:

 Step 1: Open the application you want to print from.

Step 2: Click on “File”.

Step 3: Click on “Print”.

Step 4: From the dropdown, choose “Print Settings”.

Step 5: Select “Auto” as the paper source.

After choosing the right paper source for both Windows and Mac, try to print a document.

If it prints, then the problem has been fixed.

If it doesn’t, move to the next troubleshooting…

7. Confirm that the Application Settings isn’t overriding your Printer Driver Settings

Depending on the application in use, you need to ensure that the settings are agreeing with your driver settings. In other words, both settings must be the same for each item. For example, your application paper source setting shouldn’t be on “Manual” when it is on “Auto” in your driver setting.

Once you are sure that both settings are correct, and then try printing a document.

If it prints, then the issue has been fixed.

If it doesn’t print and the manual feed error is still showing, go to the next fix…

8. Print from your Brother Printer’s Main Paper Tray

If your Brother Printer keeps saying manual feed, then you can bypass it and print from your main paper tray instead of your Brother Printer manual feed tray.

How to Print from your Brother Printer’s Main Paper Tray

Do the following to print from your Brother Printer’s main paper tray when Brother Printer manual feed message keeps appearing:

Step 1: On your Brother Printer’s control panel, press “Job Cancel”. This action is to clear all pending print jobs.

Step 2: Ensure that your paper setting isn’t set to print from your printer’s manual feed slot. If it is, then change it because when you try to print, the document instead of printing from the main print tray will try to print via the manual feed despite your paper source selection in your printer driver.

Step 3: Choose any of these options:

i. Option 1 – You want the tray changed temporarily. When you choose this, only the next document will be printed using your selected tray (paper source).  

ii. Option 2 – You want the tray set as default. When you choose this, all your print jobs will be from your selected paper source.

How to Temporarily Change your Brother Printer Tray Setting

Follow the steps below to temporarily change your Brother Printer tray setting:

How to Temporarily Change your Brother Printer Tray Settings on Windows

i. Go to the “Print” menu of the application you want to print from.

ii. Click “Properties”.

iii. Click on the tab labeled “Basic”.

iv. From the “Paper Source” dropdown, choose “Tray1”.

v. Click on “OK” to print the document.

How to Temporarily Change your Brother Printer Tray Settings on Mac

i. Go to “File” menu.

ii. Choose “Print” and then open the application’s print dialog.

iii. Choose “Default Settings” or “Standard” for “Presets”.

iv. The print options menu will pop up; choose “Print Settings”

v.Click on “Basic”.

vi. Choose “Tray1” as the “Paper Source”.

vii. Click on “Print”.

How to Change your Brother Printer Tray Setting to Default

Follow the steps below to change your Brother Printer tray setting to Default:

How to Change your Brother Printer Tray Settings to Default on Windows

i. Open “Printing Preferences” under your Printer folder.

We shared how you can open “Printing Preferences” above.

ii. Click on the tab labeled “Basic”.

iii. From the dropdown under “Paper Source”, choose “Auto Select” or “Tray1”.

If you choose “Auto Select”, your Brother Printer will automatically print from the paper source (manual feed or main print tray) that is loaded while selecting the size of paper that will match the document you intend to print.  If your Brother Printer manual feed is not working, then selecting this option can fix it.

If you choose “Tray1”, the printer will only use your main paper tray as the paper source. If your Brother Printer keeps going to manual feed, then selecting this option will keep it permanently in the main print tray instead.

iv. Click on “Apply”.

v. Click on “OK”.

How to Change your Brother Printer Tray Settings to Default on Mac

i. Go to “File” menu.

ii. Choose “Print” and then open the application’s print dialog.

iii. For the “Presets”, choose “Last Used Settings”.

iv. The print options menu will pop up; choose “Print Settings”

v. Click on “Basic”.

vi. Choose “Auto Select” or “Tray1” as the “Paper Source”.

If you choose “Auto Select”, your Brother Printer will automatically print from the paper source (manual feed or main print tray) that is loaded while selecting the size of paper that will match the document you intend to print.

If you choose “Tray1”, the printer will only use your main paper tray as the paper source.

vii. Click “Print”.

The above troubleshooting steps should fix your Brother Printer manual feed error. However, if it doesn’t, then you need to contact Brother for further assistance.

The following troubleshooting will fix all Brother MFC printer manual feed error messages including Brother Printer mfc-j4510dw manual feed slot error.

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How to Fix Brother Printer Manual Feed Jam

Follow the steps below to fix the jam in your Brother Printer manual feed:

Step 1: Gently remove any appear jammed inside the manual feed slot as well as around it. You should do this by pulling out the paper gently out of the slot.

Step 2: Press the button labeled “GO” or the “Retry” (depending on your printer model) to resume the print job. “Manual Feed” will then be displayed as well as a message that requires you to load the slot with the right paper size.

Ensure that the paper you are using meets the following requirements:

  • Weighs 28 to 43 pounds
  • Glossy paper, labels, and envelopes only

Step 3: Feed the paper into the manual feed slot as we described at the beginning of this article.

These steps should fix the jamming problem. If it doesn’t, contact Brother.