Adobe Acrobat's "print on both sides" option does not do anything, and instead defers to the settings the printer has selected

Hi Wondermilk,

Hope you are doing well, and thanks for reaching out. We are sorry for the trouble you are experiencing.

Since you've already swapped drivers and confirmed other apps print duplex correctly, this looks like it's specific to how Acrobat is talking to the printer. A few things would help narrow it down:

1. Have you started experiencing this issue recently after an update or was it occurring earlier as well?

2. Which Acrobat product and version are you using (Acrobat Reader or Pro DC), and is it fully updated? You can check under the hamburger menu > Help > About Adobe Acrobat and make sure its updated to the latest version  26.001.21771 Planned update, Aug 01, 2026 go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

3. In the Print dialog (Ctrl+P), if you click the "Printer Properties" (or "Advanced") button next to the printer name, does the duplex option in that separate window stick when you set it there directly, or does it still default back to single-sided?

While you check those, here's what's worth trying:

• Set duplex directly in the printer's own properties dialog, not just Acrobat's checkbox. Acrobat's "Print on both sides" checkbox only works if your printer driver correctly reports its duplex capability to Windows. When that handshake breaks, Acrobat falls back to whatever the printer's own default is set to, which matches exactly what you're describing. Going into Printer Properties from inside the print window (rather than Acrobat's checkbox) sometimes bypasses this. Steps here: Basic PDF printing tasks – Print on both sides

• Update or repair Acrobat itself (Win Only), separate from the printer driver, hamburger menu > Help > Check for Updates, or Repair Installation if you're already current. General printing troubleshooting steps: Troubleshoot PDF printing in Acrobat and Acrobat Reader

• Since you've tried both the HP Smart Universal driver and the model-specific one, it might also be worth checking HP's printer-side duplex/default settings (via the Devices and Printers control panel, not just Acrobat) to make sure duplex is set as the device default there too.

Let me know which Acrobat version you're on and what happens when you set duplex directly in Printer Properties; that'll tell us whether this is an Acrobat-side or driver-side issue.

~Amal