How do I adjust my printer's DEFAULT printer settings?

This is the best way I have found to adjust the DEFAULT print settings on MacOS.

https://kb.mit.edu/confluence/display/mitcontrib/Change+the+default+print+settings+on+a+Mac

It sounds like you opened the Printers folder in your user account. That's almost always empty. You need to look in the root /Library/Printers folder. Which is the one alongside Applications, System and Users.

Specifically, this folder:

/Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources

The simple answer is this...

It all gets down to whether the Presets are "sticky" or "temporary". And we can control this.

(If you don't have a Preset for what to want as the Default, you can create one. I'll explain that in PART 2 below. I think this is the case for 1-Sided option).

PART 1: Make the selected Presets persist, until you change them.

• On the Print Dialog page, near the top, there is a Presets menu (your's probably says "Default Settings"). Click on this menu.

• Then choose Edit Preset List...

• Another dialog will pop-up.
• Uncheck the box shown below. Unchecking it means that you will NOT go back to Defaults on subsequent print jobs. This Preset will persist (sticky) until you choose something different.
• This behavior applies all Presets (both Standard Presets, as well as Print Job Presets). What is highlighted in the list (e.g.. the 2X) has nothing to do with the check-box at the bottom (just unfortunate confusion).

• Finally, you can now select a Presets, ,and keep them active for the next Print Job.
• When I choose my "Black and White Preset", it goes back to to it every time.
• Even when I click other options for a "one time" color print, it still goes back to my "Black and White Preset".

Note: If you want the old behavior (going back to Defaults on every print job), you can check re-check this box and go back to the original behavior. This may be handy in the case were many people share the same computer.

PART 2: What if the Preset you need does not exist? (optional)

You can create your own presets. There is little or no documentation on this, but I did experiment a bit with it, so take this with a grain of salt.

• On the Print Dialog page, choose the settings that you'd like to save in a Preset, but don't click the blue Print button yet.
• Now, click on the Presets pull-down Menu, and select "Save Current Settings as Preset"

• Type in a name for your new Preset. Note: I prefer the Print Job Presets, over the Custom Presets, but you may want to explore both.

I did play with this, and this is how I was able to make the 1-sided option persist on my printer.

Cheers!

-Craig

Kurt Lang wrote:

That exact make and model printer are you using? Some don't even give you an option to turn duplexing off.

The setting (in my case, Color) can clearly be controlled from the MacOS Printer Dialog page. What I (and the OP) are looking for is a way to make a setting part of the DEFAULT, so that we don't have to Mouse & Click to change that setting every time we print.

Kurt Lang wrote:

When you have a color printer, there's no possible way to fix it on a B&W setting.

...

I'm not sure what specifically you mean by "fix it".

What we want is to "default it". In other words, make the print dialog page come up with Color=OFF as the default each time I print (instead of Color=ON, like it does now).

(See picture from my previous post)

The OS can't possibly know when you want to use B&W or color. It's not sentient and it can't read your mind.

What we have is: Default to Color every time, unless I select something different in the Dialog Page.

What we want is: Default to B&W every time unless I select something different in the Dialog Page.

If the last thing you printed was color, then that's what will come up the next time.

No, that's only true if you have the Dialog Page set to "Last Used Setting", instead of "Default". Look for yourself.

A decade or so ago, when these concepts were invented, users could have a "Default" which they could specify, and a "Last Used Settings" which repeats the set print job settings. Simple.

Somehow today, users can no longer specify what settings are in the Default. Or maybe it's just harder to find?

Did you not see my edit?

Edit: Figured out what I did wrong. I can get those pages to work, but still don't need them.

The key word there is in the first sentence. I. As in me, myself. *I* don't need to use that method. I didn't say they wouldn't help anyone.

But regardless, unless they're a really cheap model, most printers now have their own web pages built in to do these types of changes.

adam0072 wrote:

canon mf743cdw. The options are there to turn off 2-sided printing, and I can easily manually select it, but I want to change the DEFAULT so I don't have to keep changing this every time I print a document.

This Apple Support article should help: Save frequently used print settings for routine printing on Mac - Apple Support

Is there a way to change the order of the presets? I have a long list:

• BW Simplex
• BW Duplex
• Color Simplex
• Color Duplex
• Color Matte
• Color Matte Photo-High Quality
• Color Glossy Photo-High Quality
• Mirror image

Unfortunately they are not in the order I've indicated above, and I'd like them to be--with the most used presets at the top, the least-used at the bottom.

As Kurt Lang mentioned, different printers display things differently, but here's what my Canon AIO printer dialog box looks like. It's been set this way for a long time now, but I vaguely recall having to make the changes I want it defaulted to (when it's set to Default Settings)...and print something. From then on it comes up with the Default Settings set up the way I want.

After you make all the settings that you want to save and use by default you need to name that under the presets line item (save current settings as preset). Name it "default #1" as an example. Then from now on that name will have your corresponding settings remembered for the next time. Just keep using "Default #1" here's is the screen shot:

You can set and forget. Mine stays the way I have it set from the last use. If you make a default to B&W it will stay that way.

<This REPLY deleted because it was showing up out of order... weird. (Replied on 4/14/24)

When you have a color printer, there's no possible way to fix it on a B&W setting. Not unless you use B&W all the time. In which case, why would you even bother purchasing a color printer?

The OS can't possibly know when you want to use B&W or color. It's not sentient and it can't read your mind. If the last thing you printed was color, then that's what will come up the next time.

I made four saved settings for my printer. The one I last used will show as the current setting:

If that's now what I want right at that moment, then I choose the one I do want from my saved settings:

You would replace:

*DefaultDuplex: DuplexNoTumble

with:

*DefaultDuplex: None/Off: "<< >>setpagedevice"

Note the main idea here is the word Default in DefaultDuplex. You're changing the default setting from DuplexNoTumble to None/Off.

Without seeing your print dialogue under normal use, I don't know if this may cause its own issue of never being to select duplex when you do want to use it.

These PPD instructions tend to be pretty long. It might be a good idea to post the entire thing so we can see what's all in there. Use the Additional text box for the PPD text.

If you want to give that one change a try, you can't really hurt anything. Move the original .gz file to the desktop so the only one in the Contents folder is your modified file. Otherwise, the OS will have no idea which one to use. You also may need to remove the printer in Settings and add it again. It all depends on whether or not the printer entry pointed directly to a .gz file it can no longer find.