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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

Best reply

PAHU

Level 6

16,705 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.

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52 replies

Dec 1, 2015 6:03 AM in response to mcdonsco12345

Thanks Pahu, your instructions solved my issue. I was able to turn off the "forced" duplex printing which apparently was caused by my recent update to El Capitan.

Great stuff!

Feb 25, 2016 7:24 AM in response to mcdonsco12345

Since 'migrating' from a PC to Mac recently, this has been driving my nuts, too, but I think I finally figured it out! To get around the '2-sided default', I had to set a NEW PRESET, which is thankfully easy to do. (I am using an HP 8600 All-in-One printer - hopefully yours has similar options). When the print dialog came up:

1. I Clicked on the 'Copies & Pages' bar; from the list, I chose 'Layout'.

2. There is a 2-sided option at the bottom of that box; click on arrows & select 'Off'.

3. Go back to the bar at the top that now says, 'Layout' and return to the 'Copies & Pages' tab.

4. Click on 'Black & White' & it will take you to a drop-down menu. Choose 'Save current settings as Preset'.

It 'named' the preset for me & I just left mine 'Black & White 1' which is easy to remember it's for single-sided in B & W; I also created a

Color 1, for 1-sided color copying.

5. Each time I print, I click on the 'Black & White' tab & choose the 'Black & White 1' or 'Color 1' preset to have 1-sided copies.

A little bit of a pain, but not too bad. It will become routine pretty quickly. 🙂 Hope that helps!

auscan

Level 1

8 points

May 26, 2016 7:05 PM in response to mcdonsco12345

If you're using InDesign go under File - Print Presets - Define - Edit - make sure you have the "Default" highlighted, then push the printer.... button at the bottom and then select your printer in the pull down menu.... change your settings depending on your printer - Konica has the layout / finish. Simply click okay and your preset will be whatever you have chosen.

May 2, 2017 11:20 AM in response to PAHU

Thanks @PAHU!!!! You are my go-to for this issue and it works every time.

Jul 9, 2017 5:25 PM in response to ducducgoose

Thanks 'simpleanswer'

Worked perfectly

amit555

Level 1

4 points

Sep 22, 2017 12:53 PM in response to mcdonsco12345

I have just done this CUPS- sounded like you had to be pretty IT savvy (needed to find out how to get terminal via google). BUT it worked- cannot believe it!

ahk55

Level 1

4 points

Nov 1, 2017 1:19 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thank you! I realize it's been three years since this post but I had the problem NOW and your solution worked.

How to STOP default two sided printing