Duplex print functionality combined with Word's Page Setup

[Vinland]

I have a problem with Word 2003, and have so far made a qualified suspicion
concerning Word's Page Setup (First page and Other pages) combined with a
fully equipped multifunctionprinter that do duplex printing.

When I set my document's Page Setup's First page = Bin 1 and Other pages =
Bin 2, and then set my printer to duplex print, then I get a conflict ... It
seems that the printer then acknowledge Bin 2 as the papersource, only, and
does the duplex printout from only Bin 2. My suspicion is that since my
document's page 2 is the backside of the First page (Bin 1) and is defined as
Bin 2, then all of the paper is taken from Bin 2. I could use the duplex
functionality delivered with Word 2003 and and print the odd pages first,
then manually turn the printed papers before the even pages are printed. But,
considering 30 such printers and 400 users, I'd really like to be able to do
this by automation.

My question is really simple: Will Word 2007 be able to define a document's
page setup with parameters such as i.e. First page = Bin a, Other pages = Bin
b, Last page = bin c? Put more simple, will it have print functionality that
does fit with the modern printers' duplex functionality?

It there's an easy answer for Word 2003 I would really appreciate some help.
We're enrolling a new application which will serve over 500 end users, where
Word 2003 is the letter editor, and where the printout is to be in duplex
modus.

Per now we are working on a work-around where we're trying to make a special
printstream for Word which will use a specific profile on the end user's
installed printer - where the printer's profile settings will define which
bins to use.

Sincerely,
Paul Vinland, Norway

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hello Paul

I have a problem with Word 2003, and have so far made a qualified suspicion
concerning Word's Page Setup (First page and Other pages) combined with a
fully equipped multifunctionprinter that do duplex printing.

When I set my document's Page Setup's First page = Bin 1 and Other pages =
Bin 2, and then set my printer to duplex print, then I get a conflict ... It
seems that the printer then acknowledge Bin 2 as the papersource, only, and
does the duplex printout from only Bin 2. My suspicion is that since my
document's page 2 is the backside of the First page (Bin 1) and is defined as
Bin 2, then all of the paper is taken from Bin 2. I could use the duplex
functionality delivered with Word 2003 and and print the odd pages first,
then manually turn the printed papers before the even pages are printed. But,
considering 30 such printers and 400 users, I'd really like to be able to do
this by automation.

I've never tried this before exactly as you describe it here. But the
fact is that the information you are giving Word are conflicting: you
tell it to pull page 2 onwards from Bin 2, but (understandably) have the
implicit assumption that, with duplexing on, it should print "page 2" on
the backside of the first sheet from Bin 1.

Frankly, I wouldn't know how to set this up so that it meets your
expectations. :-(

First/rest and even/odd is the only thing Word can distinguish. [And
most other software I've encountered so far, too.]

You _could_ separate page 1-2 from the rest of the document with a
section break (then you wouldn't need "Different First Page" in this
first section at all unless you need that for different
headers/footers). But this is not really sustainable for any kind of
document (because you cannot reflow the text from page 2-3, then.

Failing that, I only see a pretty clever VBA solution which would help you.

2cents
Robert