doug.bartlett
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Q: hp two sided printing checkbox keeps clearing

Recently printing double-sided on my HP Officejet Pro 8500 has become a problem.  This worked fine until about the time of 2 HP Printer Software Updates were provided by Apple via App Store updates. 

  • Version 3.1 Installed Jul 3, 2015
  • Version 3.1 Installed Jun 29, 2015

 

I have made no other printer driver changes or changes to  the printer itself.  This problem happens on two different Macbook Pros.  Both are running OS X 10.10.4.

 

I can launch System Preferences, then "Printers & Scanners", select the Officejet Pro, and then click on "Options & Supplies..."  where under the "Options" tab I check the HP Two-sided Printing Accessory (Duplexer) box as shown here.

Screen Shot 2015-07-15 at 17.19.26 .png

 

And then I can print double sided like I always have before these updates.  However, some time later (possibly after the Macbook goes to sleep) this same checkbox CLEARS ITSELF and I once again lose the ability to print double-sided.  The ability or inability to print double-sided is common across all applications.

 

How can I fix the extremely annoying and recently introduced bug?

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Jul 15, 2015 4:24 PM

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doug.bartlett

Q: hp two sided printing checkbox keeps clearing

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  • by Carolyn Samit,

    Carolyn Samit Carolyn Samit Jul 15, 2015 4:31 PM in response to doug.bartlett
    Level 10 (122,076 points)
    Apple Music
    Jul 15, 2015 4:31 PM in response to doug.bartlett

    Reset the print system >  Mac OS X: How to reset the printing system

  • by doug.bartlett,

    doug.bartlett doug.bartlett Jul 15, 2015 5:07 PM in response to doug.bartlett
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 15, 2015 5:07 PM in response to doug.bartlett

    I have now proven that the two-sided check box will clear itself WITHOUT the machine going to sleep.  The check box cleared again after about 20-30 minutes of continuous work on my Macbook.  Throughout that time I repeatedly checked to see if double-printing was still available.  The clearing does not correlate to the use of any single app (Safari, TextEdit, MS Word, MS Excel, Finder) because I used each and quit each app at least once with double-sided printing still being available.  Then POOF -- it disappeared and the checkbox was cleared again...

     

    Don't tell me to reset the whole printing system unless you have evidence or prior proof that this actually solves this problem.  That's like Microsoft telling me to reinstall the OS -- a sledge hammer with no real reason to expect it to fix anything...  and usually it doesn't!

  • by doug.bartlett,

    doug.bartlett doug.bartlett Jul 25, 2015 12:27 PM in response to Carolyn Samit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 25, 2015 12:27 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

    Out of shear desperation, my wife tried the above suggestion to "Reset the printing system".  She reconfigured our printer and checked the two sided printing accessory box.  As before, after a period of time, the checkbox became uncleared and two sided printing again became unavailable.  Thus Reset the Printing System" It did not resolve the problem.  (Not a surprise to me...)

     

    Some piece of rogue software is CLEARING this check-box.  Does anybody know where (ex perhaps in a plist file) this setting is stored?  If I knew that, I could go searching for apps that open this plist file.  Or I could even create a tiny program that runs in the background and periodically checks the setting and resets it to double-sided enabled.

  • by L Roden,

    L Roden L Roden Jul 30, 2015 9:12 AM in response to doug.bartlett
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 30, 2015 9:12 AM in response to doug.bartlett

    Hi Doug,

     

    I too am now experiencing this problem and I also reset the printer system to no avail (and it wiped out all my other printers as well - so now need to install those again)

     

    If anyone knows why this is now happening and the solution it would be a great help.

     

    It was working last week okay - it was only after the HP updates that were supplied by Apple that I installed :-(

  • by L Roden,

    L Roden L Roden Jul 30, 2015 11:15 PM in response to L Roden
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 30, 2015 11:15 PM in response to L Roden

    I thought I would add some more information about this problem:

     

    • I am running OSX Lion with an HP Officejet 6500A Plus
    • The problem seems to be the HP Two-sided Printing Accessory checkbox gets cleared each time you print. So there seems to be some weird re-initialisation of this after printing (whether single sided or double sided)

    Apple - could you provide some help on this as it is extremely annoying, many thanks.

  • by L Roden,

    L Roden L Roden Jul 30, 2015 11:11 PM in response to Carolyn Samit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 30, 2015 11:11 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

    Hi Carolyn,

     

    I too am now experiencing this problem and I also reset the printer system to no avail (and it wiped out all my other printers as well - so now need to install those again)

     

    If anyone knows why this is now happening and the solution it would be a great help.

     

    It was working last week okay

     

    I thought I would add some more information about this problem:

     

    • I am running OSX Lion with an HP Officejet 6500A Plus
    • The problem seems to be the HP Two-sided Printing Accessory checkbox gets cleared each time you print. So there seems to be some weird re-initialisation of this after printing (whether single sided or double sided)

    Apple - could you provide some help on this as it is extremely annoying, many thanks.

  • by doug.bartlett,

    doug.bartlett doug.bartlett Jul 31, 2015 7:37 AM in response to doug.bartlett
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2015 7:37 AM in response to doug.bartlett

    Out of continued desperation, I tried reinstalling the HP printer drivers from Apple's support web site.  Unfortunately, that made no difference.

     

    L Roden - I have found that sometimes I can print multiple times before the checkbox gets cleared.  However, it does seem to clear after every print from within one of the Microsoft Office tools (Word, Excel).  Do you have office installed on your Mac?  Just looking for a configuration commonality between you, my wife and me.  We both have Office for Mac 2011 installed.

     

    Doug

  • by L Roden,

    L Roden L Roden Aug 2, 2015 8:22 PM in response to doug.bartlett
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 2, 2015 8:22 PM in response to doug.bartlett

    Hi Doug,

     

    Yes I also did this to no avail. For me, it resets the checkbox every time I print and it doesn't matter where I print from. It could be a pdf, or an email or some Microsoft document.

    I have Lion OSX and I have Office for Mac 2011 installed.

     

    The problem seems to have happened after I installed the upgrade from Apple for Office and also the HP printer. It could have been either of these upgrades causing a problem. I hope we get some suggestions or upgrade soon to fix the problem.

     

    Lloyd

  • by Nick in IL,

    Nick in IL Nick in IL Aug 3, 2015 8:01 PM in response to doug.bartlett
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 3, 2015 8:01 PM in response to doug.bartlett

    I too am having the same problem as listed above.  It all started after the last Apple HP Printer software update.  I have the HP Officejet 6500A Plus printer.  I've tried the "Reset Printer System" procedure and it does not fix the problem.  I can find no rhyme nor reason as to what is causing the duplexer box to become unchecked.  Once I check the box, the printer will print duplex for one print cycle and that's it.  I then have to go back into Printer Options and check the box for the duplexer again. 

     

    If I know I'm going to be doing a lot of printing, I just leave the Printers & Scanners Option window open all the time so I can easily access it.

     

    I'm running on Mac OS X Yosemite (10.10.4).  I do NOT have Office for Mac software loaded.  I haven't found a correlation to any particular program.

     

    It is certainly frustrating, but maybe if enough of us share this problem, a solution will be forthcoming.

     

    --Nick

  • by John Bryan,

    John Bryan John Bryan Aug 6, 2015 12:51 PM in response to doug.bartlett
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 6, 2015 12:51 PM in response to doug.bartlett

    I'm just adding my voice to the frustrated.

     

    Running Yosemite (10.4.4) on MacBook Pro

    Hp Officejet Pro 8500A

     

    1) I check the box "HP Two-sided Printing Accessory (Duplexer)" found in System Preferences / Printer & Scanners / Options & Supplies / Options.

    2) Double sided document prints correctly

    3) box "unchecks" itself in System Preferences requiring me to recheck box every time I want to print double sided.

     

    Yes, I've reset my reset my printing preferences.

  • by Orgelfreund,

    Orgelfreund Orgelfreund Aug 27, 2015 2:16 PM in response to John Bryan
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 27, 2015 2:16 PM in response to John Bryan

    I observe the same behaviour after printer software update. I suspect it has to do with printer going in sleep mode. But did not test it. I could not find a permanent solution for the problem either. So it would have been better not to touch a running system and not update software. But for the moment this does not help of course.

     

    (OS X 10.10.5, HP Officejet 6500 E710n-z).

  • by Orgelfreund,

    Orgelfreund Orgelfreund Aug 27, 2015 2:36 PM in response to Orgelfreund
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 27, 2015 2:36 PM in response to Orgelfreund

    I will add: I tried the air print driver as well as the ordinary one.

  • by m.fromutrecht,

    m.fromutrecht m.fromutrecht Sep 14, 2015 12:16 PM in response to Orgelfreund
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 14, 2015 12:16 PM in response to Orgelfreund

    I have the same problem on both my Imac and Macbook with my Officejet PRO 8500 A910 printer.After every printjob I have to check the double sided box in system preferences. Is there a solution now?

  • by Orgelfreund,

    Orgelfreund Orgelfreund Sep 14, 2015 1:07 PM in response to m.fromutrecht
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 14, 2015 1:07 PM in response to m.fromutrecht

    At the moment this is working (at least it worked for some days so far): additionally to the printer installation with the ordinary driver I installed the HP Officejet 6500 with its airprint driver and use this as the standard printer. So far it works. Do not know why. Perhaps the checkbox does not clear, because it does not exist with the airprint driver ... As it runs, I will not test out, if it still runs, when I uninstall the not used printer installation with the ordinary driver.

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