We’re living in an increasingly paperless world. This is great for the environment, as not printing out documents definitely saves trees.
Sometimes printing can’t be avoided, though. Or you might just prefer to read something on a piece of paper. A few trees have to be sacrificed for that. But you can at least save more of them by printing on both sides of the page.
It’s pretty easy to print double-sided on a Mac if you know where to look. We’re here to help with that, and save a few of our leafy friends along the way.
How to Print Double-Sided on Your Mac
To print double-sided (also known as duplex printing) you need a great printer that works with your Mac and something to print.
What you print could be a Word or Pages document or it could be a recipe or article from your internet browser. The actual content of what you’re printing doesn’t matter. What matters is the application you’re printing from.
This is because the Print menu looks a little different in different applications. Therefore the location where you turn on double-sided printing is different depending on the Print menu layout you’re looking at.
You can generally access the Print menu by hitting the Cmd + P keys on your Mac’s keyboard. Otherwise you can click on File > Print in most applications.
Printing Double-Sided From Pages
Once you’re in the Print menu, most of the time you’re looking for a checkbox that’s labeled Two-Sided. Click to enable that box and hit the Print button. Your printer should print whatever you’re printing on both sides of the paper!
The above Print menu format is generally what you’ll encounter when printing from Mac-based applications. An app like Preview may have some additional options in the main Print menu, but for double-sided printing you just need to find the Two-Sided checkbox.
Printing Double-Sided From Google Chrome
In an application like Google Chrome, it looks different. To print on double-sided from Google Chrome on your Mac, or a similar Print menu format, open the Print menu and click on the down-facing arrow beside More settings.
Scroll down, and make sure to enable the box between Two-sided and Print on both sides. A dropdown menu will appear asking which way you want the print to flip—on the long edge or the short edge.
To read your printout like a book, set this dropdown to Flip on long edge. To read your printout like a stenographer’s spiral top notepad set the dropdown to Flip on short edge.
Click the Print button, and your printer should start doing some duplex printing.
Printing Double-Sided From Microsoft Office
Printing double-sided from Microsoft Office applications on a Mac is equally simple. It just takes a few extra clicks.
Once in the Print menu, change the third dropdown menu from Copies & Pages to Layout.
Click on the dropdown menu beside Two-Sided and select Long-Edge binding for a book-like double-sided printout.
You can also select Short-Edge binding for a spiral top notepad-like printout. Booklet will print two pages side by side on one sheet of paper in landscape. The next pages after that will be on the same sheet of paper, turned on the short edge.
You can also turn the menu to Off to turn off double-sided printing. Just like you can uncheck the Two-Sided box in other Print menu setups.
If You’re Having Trouble or Not Seeing the Double-Sided Option
If you’re following our steps above and your printer still isn’t doing double-sided printing from your Mac or if you can’t recreate your success with double-sided printing, update your printer drivers to make sure they’re on the most recent versions. It’s possible a bug has emerged that an update will correct.
How to Update Your Printer Drivers
To update your printer drivers go to System Preferences on your Mac and click on Software Update. Install any software related to your printer manufacturer.
You can also try Googling for your printer make and model to download the latest driver from the manufacturer’s website.
Remove and Re-Add Your Printer
Another thing to try is removing the printer from your Mac’s memory and then re-adding it. To remove a printer go to System Preferences > Printers & Scanners.
Click on the printer you’re having issues with and click the minus button (–).
To re-add the printer click the plus button (+) and click on your printer’s name and make from the local network list that appears. You may have to hit the Add Printer or Scanner button in a popup before you get that list.
Tweak Your Printer Settings
Once you’ve clicked on your printer’s name, choose an option from the Use dropdown menu. AirPrint will be an option if your printer supports it—it’s software from Apple that lets you use a printer wirelessly without downloading a driver.
If you’d like to download the proper driver for your printer click Select Software in the Use dropdown. If you’ve downloaded a driver separately and have it on your Mac, select Other and navigate to the file in question.
When you’ve made your Use menu selection click the Add button in the bottom right. Then try doing double-sided printing again and see if the issue is resolved.
It’s possible you may not be able find the Two-Sided checkbox or binding selection options in the Print menu in any application on your Mac though regardless of your drivers. If that’s the case it’s very likely your printer can’t do double-sided printing.
Manually Print Double-Sided
Though it’s a very common feature in modern printers, double-sided printing isn’t seen in every printer model.
You can work around it to a degree by printing only the odd pages of a document, and then loading those pages back into the printer so that you can print the even pages on the back. You can also print one page, then turn that paper over in the printer to print on the back.
This method can take a long time and it requires knowing how to feed paper into your printer in the right direction. It’s an option, but it’s not terribly efficient and it’s far from our preferred method.
So if you’re on the market for a printer, we would highly recommend making sure double-sided printing is an option alongside other important printer features we look for.
Double-Sided Printing on a Mac Is Easy
Printing on both sides of a piece of paper saves paper and trees. We hope our guide above helps you successfully print double-sided from your Mac and that it helps you like your printer that much more going forward, too.