How to Clear an ADF Paper Jam

Why ADF jams are different

The main paper tray feeds one sheet through a relatively open, direct path. The ADF pulls pages through a much tighter, curved path lined with small rollers designed for single-pass scanning — this means a jammed page is often bent or wedged against a roller in a way that isn't simply "stuck," and pulling it straight out the way you would with a regular jam risks bending internal rollers or tearing the page and leaving fragments behind.

Step 1: Power off before touching anything

Turn the printer off first. Pulling paper while the ADF motor is still engaged fights against the rollers actively trying to feed it, which is exactly what causes torn pages and damaged rollers.

Step 2: Open the ADF cover, not the main printer

Most ADFs have their own dedicated access cover, usually on top of or behind the feeder tray itself, separate from the main printer body. Lift this cover to see the actual jammed page and which rollers it's caught on.

Step 3: Pull in the direction of travel, not against it

Once you can see the page, pull it gently in the same direction it was already being fed — forward, following the path it was traveling — rather than backward toward the input tray. Pulling backward is what typically catches the page against a roller edge and tears it.

Step 4: Check for torn fragments before closing the cover

If the page tore, check carefully for any small torn pieces still caught in the rollers before closing everything back up — a leftover fragment is the single most common reason an ADF keeps jamming repeatedly right after you thought you'd cleared it.

Preventing it going forward

ADF jams are disproportionately caused by stapled corners, curled or creased paper, or feeding more pages than the ADF's rated capacity at once — flip through your stack and remove any bent corners or staples before loading a multi-page scan or copy job.