Printing two sided documents on an Epson Photo P50 from Word and Tahoe

A printer instance with AirPrint as its installed Driver has no access to printer features, such as two sided Printing.

Only a Printer instance installed with the Printer-maker's Driver can get access to those printer-specific features.

You can Add-A-Printer and create a new, differently-named Printer instance, without removing the old one. Be sure you install it with the Printer-maker's driver .

A side note:

Many Older Cheaper Printers did "Imaging in the Host (computer)" and did NOT use Postscript or a Postscript clone such as HP PCL to do "Imaging in the (slightly smarter) Printer".

These suffered a "Mass Extinction Event" at Catalina, when MacOS went 64-bit software ONLY. Some printer makers updated their drivers and ** not ship a beat. Others decided NOT to update their Drivers, and set their users adrift.

Duplexing:

To print both sides of a multi-sheet document (on a face-down delivery) printer that does not have that ability:

"Print the even pages oddly (reverse order)" -- this compensates for face-down delivery, by having page 2 at the top of the stack when the stack is placed in the input tray

(take the output stack and return to the input tray)

Then "Print the odd pages evenly (regular order)" -- this prints odd pages starting at page one on the backs of the previously printed even-page stack. If there is not an even number of pages, the highest-numbered page will print with a blank reverse side, as expected.

JMTHey wrote:

I am trying to print a document two sided using a MacBook Pro running Tahoe 26.3.1 on an Epson Photo P50.

I used to be able to print from Word two sided, but now the option is unavailable. On my old MacBook Pro 2011 it used to do a work around printing even pages first then flip them back into the printer feed and continue.

I have tried updating the printer driver but no joy.

Any thoughts please?

That printer dates from 2009. I also see a version of the user guide from 2012. Maybe the device is obsolete, which means while it may still function, not all options will be available. The online user guide has guidance for two-sided printing but it says "for Windows only." And it says ... "This feature is not available for Mac OS X."

To get more or better features, I would obtain a more modern printer. I just got an Epson ET-3950 printer/scanner and it seems to do just about everything I can think of, plus it uses negligible ink, which is refillable with inexpensive ink bottles. It even has a document feeder which can feed in double sided originals and scan them or copy them to one or two sided copies. It automatically updates its firmware over the air seamlessly, unlike the other two printers we have (2010 Canon and 2015 Epson) which are always a bit of effort to get back online after a MacOS update and which use copious amounts of expensive ink cartridges, and sometimes require cleaning cycles, which in turn use up even more ink.

JMTHey wrote:

I am trying to print a document two sided using a MacBook Pro running Tahoe 26.3.1 on an Epson Photo P50.

I used to be able to print from Word two sided, but now the option is unavailable. On my old MacBook Pro 2011 it used to do a work around printing even pages first then flip them back into the printer feed and continue.

I have tried updating the printer driver but no joy.

Any thoughts please?

Sounds like its been a complication for some time...

Maybe Epson Photo P50 is not the best choice for two-sided printing (?)

To perform manual duplex (two-sided) printing on the Epson Photo P50, select the "Double-Sided Printing" checkbox in the printer driver settings, choosing manual binding. The printer will print all odd-numbered pages first, prompt you to reinsert the paper, and then print the even-numbered pages on the back.

https://files.support.epson.com/docid/cpd6/cpd63622/source/printers/source/printing_software/mac_fy13/tasks/printing_double_mac_bus_fy14.html

https://www.epson.eu/en_EU/support/sc/epson-stylus-photo-p50/s/s798

https://www.epson.eu/en_EU/contactus

if considering a new Printer, be sure to read MrHoffman's User Tip:

Which Printer Should I Buy? - Apple Community

see post below