Canon PIXMA TR8520: Setup, Drivers, Ink and Common Problems

Is the Canon PIXMA TR8520 right for you?

The TR8520 was the flagship home-office PIXMA of its generation, combining five inks, a 4.3-inch touchscreen, Ethernet, fax, a 20-sheet ADF and an SD slot in one compact unit. It was a favorite of reviewers and remains widely used, especially in the UK as the TR8550. Its Achilles heel is the removable printhead, which can fail with B200 after years of service, and its absorber pads are now filling on units bought in 2017 and 2018.

Best for: Home offices wanting fax, ADF, touchscreen and Ethernet in one unit

Setting up the Canon PIXMA TR8520

Ethernet gives the most stable connection; for Wi-Fi, use the touchscreen wizard on a 2.4 GHz network. Install the head, then the five tanks, and complete the alignment from the Maintenance menu. On Windows, install the Canon IJ driver rather than relying on WSD discovery, and set a static IP or DHCP reservation to avoid the printer going offline after router restarts.

1. Unbox and prepare. Remove every piece of shipping tape and packing material, install the ink cartridges, and load paper in the tray.
2. Join your Wi-Fi. Keep the printer close to the router for setup. Most printers only connect to the 2.4GHz band, so if your router broadcasts one merged network name you may need to split the bands temporarily. See our Wi-Fi guide if it will not join.
3. Install the setup app. Use Canon's official app rather than a driver you found on a search result — third-party driver sites are the most common source of printer malware.
4. Add the printer. On Windows 11: Settings › Bluetooth & devices › Printers & scanners › Add device. On macOS: System Settings › Printers & Scanners › Add Printer.
5. Print a test page and run a scan if this is an all-in-one, so you find any problem now rather than when you are in a hurry.

Ink, toner and supplies

The Canon PIXMA TR8520 uses the following consumables. Match the number exactly when you buy: the same printer family often uses several different cartridge numbers by region.

• PGI-280 PGBK
• CLI-281 BK/C/M/Y
• XL / XXL sizes
• UK: PGI-580 / CLI-581

High-yield (XL) versions almost always cost less per page if you print regularly. On third-party ink and toner, read our honest assessment first, and note that some manufacturers push firmware that rejects non-original chips.

Full specifications