Duplex printing issues

[Davidk]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel I haven't found this issue anywhere else in your forums or via google:

I am unable to duplex print when I create a document in Word and use the Print button on the main toolbar which "prints the active document using current defaults" (according to the description in "customize toolbars and menus" dialog box).

However, if I use the File - "Print..." option (where I have set up duplex as the default under "duplex printing and margin" settings) the same document will print in duplex mode....only lighter (text isn't quite as bold). The customize toolbar description for this print option reads "Prints the active document"

Doesn't seem to make sense that 2 print commands within Word result in 2 different results (one duplex, one not). It seems the difference lies in "using current defaults" difference between the 2 descriptions.

I'd like to be able to print duplex using the Print button on the main toolbar. How do I accomplish this? How do I change the current defaults to always be set to duplex? I tried to do this via the Normal.dotm template but can't see to find it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi David:

The two buttons are officially named "Print..." and "Print Default".

The one that gives you duplex is "Print..."

The one on the main toolbar is "Print Default". That will read your OS X
System Preferences and send one copy of the current document to whichever
printer you have set as the default there. It will use the options you have
set for that printer.

The trap is that OS X usually sets the "Default" to be "The last printer
used". You can change that, and you should, if you want the "Print Default"
button to always go to a specific printer in a specific configuration (e.g.
Double-sided).

So first install a printer that has the options you want set, then make that
the system default printer. Then the default print button in Word will do
whatever you have specified for your Default printer.

Or you can simply remove the Print Default button from the toolbar and
substitute the "Print..." button. If you do that, Word will ask you every
time how you want the document printed.

Hope this helps

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel
I haven't found this issue anywhere else in your forums or via google:

I am unable to duplex print when I create a document in Word and use the
Print button on the main toolbar which "prints the active document using
current defaults" (according to the description in "customize toolbars and
menus" dialog box).

However, if I use the File - "Print..." option (where I have set up duplex as
the default under "duplex printing and margin" settings) the same document
will print in duplex mode....only lighter (text isn't quite as bold). The
customize toolbar description for this print option reads "Prints the active
document"

Doesn't seem to make sense that 2 print commands within Word result in 2
different results (one duplex, one not). It seems the difference lies in
"using current defaults" difference between the 2 descriptions.

I'd like to be able to print duplex using the Print button on the main
toolbar. How do I accomplish this? How do I change the current defaults to
always be set to duplex? I tried to do this via the Normal.dotm template but
can't see to find it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

--

The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Davidk]

John,

thank you for taking the time to respond. I'm somewhat confused by part of your answer though. After I posted my problem, I found the following same issue

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...ad/ab4e2811507b4d53/a1196ca4f3378fe8?lnk=raot

where it seems you answered differently (in one part). Namely, in the response you my post you wrote

"The trap is that OS X usually sets the "Default" to be "The last printer
used". You can change that, and you should, if you want the "Print Default" button to always go to a specific printer in a specific configuration (e.g. Double-sided)."

but in the other post you wrote

"The Print button in the Standard toolbar is supposed to print one
copy to the current default. In OS 10.6, that "should" be the "Last preset used" provided that you have set "Last Printer Used" as the default in System Preferences."

I'm confused. I've tried using Last present used with Last printer used and it won't print duplex. I've tried saving a preset with duplex enabled and default printer=the actual printer I have (as opposed to last printer used).

In every case, the Print button won't duplex. Am I missing something?
The workaround in the meanwhile is using the "print..." command and placing it in the toolbar instead of the other standard icon.

Thanks for your time.

 

[John McGhie]

That seems to be one of the rare occasions when I agreed with myself
sufficiently to say the same thing twice

Doesn't always happen: as I learn more, I often change what I write. So
it's not usually helpful to quote me back at myself, because all I will say
is "Yeah, I was wrong. Both times" and probably give you a third answer

This area of Word has been buggy as hell for a while: partly because Word
can't read the printer driver properly, because Apple won't (or wouldn't...)
tell Microsoft what was in it.

The best they could do was grab the binary blob OS X returns when you query
the print subsystem, store it, and repeat it back again and hope that's what
the system wants. Not very sophisticated.

Hopefully this issue has been resolved in the next version, but we are
simply users, we don't know.

Cheers

John,

thank you for taking the time to respond. I'm somewhat confused by part of
your answer though. After I posted my problem, I found the following same
issue

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.mac.office.word/browse_thread/
thread/ab4e2811507b4d53/a1196ca4f3378fe8?lnk=raot

where it seems you answered differently (in one part). Namely, in the
response you my post you wrote

"The trap is that OS X usually sets the "Default" to be "The last printer
used". You can change that, and you should, if you want the "Print Default"
button to always go to a specific printer in a specific configuration (e.g.
Double-sided)."

but in the other post you wrote

"The Print button in the Standard toolbar is supposed to print one
copy to the current default. In OS 10.6, that "should" be the "Last preset
used" provided that you have set "Last Printer Used" as the default in System
Preferences."

I'm confused. I've tried using Last present used with Last printer used and
it won't print duplex. I've tried saving a preset with duplex enabled and
default printer=the actual printer I have (as opposed to last printer used).

In every case, the Print button won't duplex. Am I missing something?
The workaround in the meanwhile is using the "print..." command and placing it
in the toolbar instead of the other standard icon.

Thanks for your time.

--

The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[DavidK]

That seems to be one of the rare occasions when I agreed with myself
sufficiently to say the same thing twice

Doesn't always happen: as I learn more, I often change what I write.  So
it's not usually helpful to quote me back at myself, because all I will say
is "Yeah, I was wrong.  Both times" and probably give you a third answer

This area of Word has been buggy as hell for a while: partly because Word
can't read the printer driver properly, because Apple won't (or wouldn't....)
tell Microsoft what was in it.

The best they could do was grab the binary blob OS X returns when you query
the print subsystem, store it, and repeat it back again and hope that's what
the system wants.  Not very sophisticated.

Hopefully this issue has been resolved in the next version, but we are
simply users, we don't know.

Cheers










 --

The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

John,

Thanks so much for your time and attention to this issue. In the
meanwhile, I'll just keep using "print..." and replace the print
default icon on my toolbar with "print...". Truthfully wasn't trying
to put you on the spot with quoting you or get you to admit that you
were wrong in one case or the other (frankly, I wasn't sure if you had
changed your answer to that question or if I was simply not
understanding your responses). I'm kind of an apple newbie and have
used Word on Windows for years, so I'm just trying to get my issue
(and my understanding of it) figured out. Thanks again for your
insights. Very helpful in resolving my concern.

 

[John McGhie]

No worries, David: I just wish we had a better answer to give you.

For reasons I do not understand, companies including Apple and Microsoft
seem determined to give the minimum information on how things work, so that
when they "don't", we're left guessing.

Cheers

John,

Thanks so much for your time and attention to this issue. In the
meanwhile, I'll just keep using "print..." and replace the print
default icon on my toolbar with "print...". Truthfully wasn't trying
to put you on the spot with quoting you or get you to admit that you
were wrong in one case or the other (frankly, I wasn't sure if you had
changed your answer to that question or if I was simply not
understanding your responses). I'm kind of an apple newbie and have
used Word on Windows for years, so I'm just trying to get my issue
(and my understanding of it) figured out. Thanks again for your
insights. Very helpful in resolving my concern.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Lancsgreybeard]

I have had similar problems and the solution I have found for my Lexmark is as follows, (For both word and excel)

Select "File Print" from the menu bar

In the print dialogue box

if necessary uncheck "quick preview"

Click preview

Select "File Print" from the preview menu bar

The new dialogue box should show the option for two-sided,

if it does not Click the single arrow to the extreme right of the "Printer" drop down box this should then show the two sided option,

Hope this works for you

rgds

Lancsgreybeard

 

[Jeff Maday]

I have had similar problems and the solution I have found for my Lexmark is as follows, (For both word and excel)
Select "File Print" from the menu bar
In the print dialogue box
if necessary uncheck "quick preview"
Click preview
Select "File Print" from the preview menu bar
The new dialogue box should show the option for two-sided,
if it does not Click the single arrow to the extreme right of the "Printer" drop down box this should then show the two sided option,
Hope this works for you
rgds
Lancsgreybeard

Lancsgreybeard,

Thank you for your comment. I couldn't find any way at all to print
double-sided from Word. Your method makes sense because it takes the
file into the mac preview program which then allows for the double-
sided option. It's a little annoying having to take the extra steps,
but overall not too bad and at least it works!

Jeff

 

[CyberTaz]

Duplex Printing is a function of your printer driver - the program (in this
case, Word) has nothing to do with it. It should also not be necessary to
print through Preview. [1] The setting you're looking for should be among
those offered in the Print dialog delivered to Word. Exactly where may vary
depending on the driver, but if it isn't on the Copies & Pages page open
that list to check other pages of the dialog.

If you still can't find the setting it suggests that your printer driver
needs to be updated and/or reinstalled. Check the mfr's web site. Updates to
OS X and/or Office may be lacking as well.

[1] And, before you ask, yes it is entirely possible for a printer driver to
work properly with some apps but not work properly with others if it is out
of date That's one of the things that gives many people the impression
that the program they're printing from is at fault.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac