Changing Double-Sided Printing to Single-Sided, HP and Mac OS X 10.12

[bgbevan]

Most of the newer HP printers are programmed to print on both sides of the paper as the default.  Maybe this was done so HP could show off their double-sided printing technology or, maybe it was just one of those dumb oversights.  Yes, you can uncheck the “Two-Sided” option on each document you print but, if you are like me, I have single-sided hardwired in to my brain and end up having to re-printing documents with "Two-Sided" unchecked.  Anyway, it’s pain in the a$$ and finding information on how to make single-sided the default, is really frustrating.  There are numerous blogs and forums with half-baked procedures, many that don’t work, and many that are PC-only.  Here’s a fairly simple procedure I used with my HP OfficeJet 8702 and Macbook Pro running Mac OS X 10.12(Sierra).  I assume this procedure will work with other printers and other versions of Mac OS X.

1.  Open any file that has a print option.  This might be with Word, Excel, TextEdit, Safari, etc.

2.  Select “Print” from the file menu and when the print dialog screen opens, click “Show Details”(lower left) to get all the print options displayed.  If HIDE DETAILS  is displayed, you are already on the right screen.

3.  Unclick Two-Sided.

4.  Click on the “Presets” pull-down menu that is displaying “default”(second from top) and , select “Save Current Settings As Preset”.

5.  Pick a name for this printer profile you are saving, like “One-Sided” and then click “OK”.  The name, “One-Sided” should now display in the “Presets” menu.

6.  As a double-check, click on the “Presets” pull-down again and select “Show Presets”.  Make sure the “Resets Printing to Default Settings After Printing” IS NOT checked.  Click OK.

7.  Now, everything should print one-sided and if you want double-sided, just check the “Two-Sided” option in the print dialog menu before printing.

I couldn’t find any way to actually change the default setting.  The default profile will always remain as double-sided printing.  This procedure just builds another profile that replaces the default profile.

B. Bevan

10/28/2017

[agencyTHEpatrick · Accepted solution]

This is great! I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier. I'm always taught to change settings in system preferences! As a small business owner I often print checks as well and when you print something like 20-30 checks, then have to reprint and renumber them all it's absolutely terrible.

Thanks for clearing this up!

[Gerba]

That all makes sense but since my Macbook went through its most recent  OS update the command 'Show/hide details' has disappeared from the Print screen altogther and I am at a loss trying to turn off the two sided print option, which is now hard wired it seems. I could control it fairly easily before now ..... and it's a bore printing a long doc 1 page at a time as a solution .....

[Sharon31338744eag4]

My "details" button has disappeared as well.  Did you find a fix, and if so, please share!!!

Thanks!