I saw this question asked somewhere and I think it’s a pretty legitimate one. Yes, photo printers can print text fine. The only exception would be compact photo printers, which can only print 4 x 6 photos. The question is whether or not it’s a good idea to print text with dedicated photo printers.

As mentioned before, these days manufacturers like Canon and Epson market every printer they make as a photo printer. Basically HP is the only company left these days that just makes true inkjet printers. Everything else on the market is either a multifunction printer, a real photo printer or an inkjet labeled as a photo printer. If you go to the store and buy a $100 HP inkjet that’s called a photo printer, then it will be fine printing text. It will print text like the HP Deskjets of yesteryear. Same thing goes for any mid-level Epson printer out there.

The only ones you may have an issue with would be expensive photo printers. It’s not that they can’t print text, it’s just that they aren’t going to print it efficiently. Either it will be slower than a standard inkjet or else it will be more expensive in the long run since you are using more expensive ink cartridges. But this really only applies to photo printers that cost about $300, and most people buying those printers probably won’t use them for text. But if you are just buying a decent photo printer, then you can definitely use it occasionally to print text.