Affected models: Canon imageCLASS, PIXMA and MAXIFY models with fax, and imageRUNNER office machines. It appears as #012 on a transmission report or in the job log.
What This Error Means
Unlike most fax errors, this one means the connection actually worked. Your printer dialled, the receiving machine answered, the two of them started talking — and then the receiving machine reported back that it had no paper to print on. Your printer stopped sending and logged code 012.
That's genuinely all it is. Your printer, your phone line and the number you dialled are all fine. The paper tray at the other end is empty.
What Causes It
- The recipient's fax machine is out of paper — the documented cause, and almost always the real one.
- Their machine has a paper jam it hasn't cleared — some machines report this the same way, since either way they can't print.
- Their machine's memory is full — a few models fall back to reporting "no paper" when they've nowhere to put an incoming fax.
Notice what isn't on this list: anything you can fix by adjusting your own printer.
How to Fix It
Fix 1: Check whether it arrived anyway
Before you do anything else, call or email the recipient and ask if the fax turned up. Many fax machines hold an incoming document in memory and print it automatically once paper is reloaded. If theirs did that, you're done — and you've saved yourself sending a duplicate.
Fix 2: Ask them to load paper, then resend
- Ask the recipient to put paper in their fax machine and clear any jam.
- Send the fax again.
Also worth asking how many pages they received before it stopped. If the first three of five pages printed, tell them — otherwise they may end up with those three pages twice and wonder which set is current.
Fix 3: If you can't reach them, wait and resend
Someone will refill it eventually, usually the next working morning. Resend then. There's no benefit to retrying every few minutes; nothing changes until a human puts paper in the tray.
Fix 4: If it's urgent, send it another way
Email, a secure upload portal, or a photo of the signed page will all beat waiting on an empty paper tray. Worth remembering that a fax that won't print isn't the only route to the recipient.
If None of That Works
The one situation worth paying attention to: if you get code 012 on faxes to several different recipients, the problem probably isn't a coincidence of empty trays. Something on your line or in your machine may be misreading the signal coming back. That's the point to contact Canon.
Have ready: your model number, the serial number from the sticker on the back or underside, the exact code (#012), how many different numbers it's happened with, and whether your phone service is a traditional landline or internet-based.
