A printing apparatus includes a transport unit that transports a print medium in a predetermined transport direction, and a printing control unit that performs preliminary printing by ejecting ink droplets through a plurality of nozzles, which are the same as nozzles used for printing a reference mark, onto an area on a downstream side of a specific position in the transport direction in an area of the print medium before printing the reference mark on the specific position of the print medium by ejecting ink droplets through a print head provided with the nozzles for ejecting the ink droplets.