Printing paper on both sides has two major advantages: it is good for the environment and it saves costs. But how do you print double-sided in Word?
Manual or automatic duplex
The approach to duplex printing depends largely on the capabilities of the printer. Some printers can print duplex on their own. Other printers require the user to manually flip the paper over and return it to the input tray. The back is then printed.
Automatic two-sided printing
If the printer can print double-sided, do the following (as of Word 2010):
- Start Word and open the document you want to print.
- Click on the tab File > Print.
- The print menu opens. Halfway through the menu, ‘Single-sided printing’ is selected by default. Click on it to open the selection menu.
- click on Duplex Printing.
- Click at the top Print.
Manual duplex printing
If the printer cannot automatically print duplex, you can do it manually. Of course you can first print all the odd pages yourself, turn the papers over and then print all the even pages. But it is more convenient to use the ‘Manual Duplex’ option. Word then gives instructions during printing to turn the paper over and put it in the printer.
- Click on the tab File.
- click on Print.
- Under ‘Settings’, click the drop-down menu with ‘Single-sided printing’.
- click on Manual duplex printing.
- click on Print.
While printing, Word prompts you to turn the page(s) and put them back into the printer.