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How to STOP default two sided printing

I have a macbook air (2013) and a Canon 8350 all in one laser printer...it ALWAYS defaults to two sided printing and I NEVER want to print two sided as I print for business and have no use for it...I often forget to uncheck it and thus end up wasting paper and ink.

I have looked through all the settings and cannot figure out how to get it to NOT default to two sided printing. I know I can save the settings, however it doesn't default to that new profile, so I would have to select the profile every time to change it, which makes no sense as a solution (I still have to remember to do it EVERY TIME).

Anyone know of a way to stop this behavior?

Posted on Aug 17, 2013 11:22 AM

Top-ranking reply

PAHU

Level 6

16,711 points

Posted on Aug 17, 2013 3:36 PM

You can change the default via CUPS, which is the core printing system of OS X.

Open Safari and enter the following URL

http://localhost:631

By default on 10.8, access to the CUPS page is blocked. To enable it, open Terminal and type "sudo cupsctl WebInterface=yes" (without the quotation marks). Enter the admin password when prompted and then refresh the Safari view.

With the CUPS web page open, select the Printers tab and then select the printer you want to modify. Then from the Administration drop menu, change to "Set Default Options".

This will show a new page with four menu headings (links); Options Installed, General, Banners and Policies. Select General.

Scroll down the list until you see the Print Style menu. Change it from 2 Sided to 1 Sided and then scroll down the page until you see the Set Default Options button.

Click on this button to save the change. You will then be prompted to authenitcate to CUPS.

Enter the account name and password that has been set as the admin for this Mac. And then press the Log In button. You will then see another page stating that the information change is completed.

You can now check that the change has been successful by selecting to print this page from Safari. With the correct printer selected, change to the relevant menu to ensure your modification has worked.

View in context

52 replies

FJ9999

Level 1

15 points

Jan 11, 2014 10:00 PM in response to mcdonsco12345

PAHU's suggestion worked perfectly. Thanks so much!

Feb 23, 2014 7:19 AM in response to PAHU

Thanks again! By selecting Finishing instead of Layout, I got all the options I wanted.

Jun 2, 2014 11:47 AM in response to PAHU

PAHUs "fix" worked perfectly. My-freaking-man, that had been driving me nuts since upgrading to Mav.

Jul 24, 2014 7:15 AM in response to gruuvebot

Pahu = winner!

Thanks man.

Oct 8, 2014 12:04 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thank you, Linc, for that clear and easy to follow advice.

Oct 29, 2014 8:26 AM in response to PAHU

THANK YOU @PAHU!!! This was driving me nuts!

Nov 19, 2014 10:31 AM in response to PAHU

This was a lengthy resolution, but it worked! Thank you so much for taking the time to write this out!

Dec 17, 2014 7:45 PM in response to wahinef

Option 2 worked great! Quick and easy way is to delete printer and re-add. Completely resolved the issue for me! Thanks!

kanyiva

Level 1

4 points

Feb 5, 2015 11:02 AM in response to PAHU

Thank you PAHU! 🙂

FranzB

Level 1

0 points

Feb 18, 2015 9:29 AM in response to PAHU

Fantastic Answer PAHU, thank you! Much more helpful type of answer (than saying contact Canon! 🙂)

Feb 24, 2015 1:06 PM in response to PAHU

for some reason this does not work for me. i know other people say it worked. but i had the message saying successfully done but when i printed, still comes out 2-sided. ?:(

tetra89

Level 1

51 points

Feb 28, 2015 11:20 PM in response to PAHU

Thanks PAHU... you saved me today setting up a new Canon for someone's first Mac... much appreciated!!!

csmackey

Level 1

0 points

May 21, 2015 6:44 AM in response to PAHU

Brilliant! I will give this a try, and perhaps even write a script to replace this file. Shouldn't break anything right?

PAHU

Level 6

16,711 points

May 21, 2015 6:00 PM in response to csmackey

csmackey wrote:

Shouldn't break anything right?

No it shouldn't. You're just replacing a text file.

KC928

Level 1

0 points

May 28, 2015 12:30 PM in response to Sachino

YES! Thank you!! I had the same issue - I clicked "draft" at one point and all of the sudden, everything was printing two sided. Switching back to default settings fixed my problem!

How to STOP default two sided printing