The aim of this work was to study the transfer properties of ink between the anilox roller and the plate during printing. The structure of the anilox roller was simplified into an axisymmetric trapezoidal groove, and the ink transfer process was numerically simulated using the finite element method, to simulate the ink transfer from the anilox roller to the plate. The influences of the contact angle, trapezoidal groove aspect ratio and the angular velocity on the ink transfer were studied considering the movement of the anilox roller and the plate cylinder. The influencing factors on ink transfer from the anilox roller to the plate were analyzed, and it was found that the ink transfer ratio decreased with the increasing upper plate contact angle and increased with the increasing dovetail groove contact angle; while the smaller the aspect ratio and the larger the angular velocity, the higher the ink transfer rate. The influencing rules of the contact angle, the aspect ratio and the angular velocity on the ink transfer were obtained by numerical simulation of the ink transfer in the flexographic printing process, which provided theoretical reference for the flexographic printing production.