Imaging and Printing Group: Duplex Printing: Printing on both sides of the paper

Double-sided printing, also referred to as two-sided or duplex printing, allows you to print on both sides of the page, cutting your paper use by up to 50%. Find out how to determine your printer’s automatic duplexing capabilities, and how to adjust your printer settings to use them.

Automatic double-sided printing can cut your paper use by up to 50%!

Automatic duplexing benefits

Automatic double-sided printing allows you to print on both sides of the page without having to stand by
flipping pages. Automatic duplexing can also help you:

Save money: Cut your paper use by up to 50%. And, if you make automatic duplexing your default printer setting, you can save paper every time you print.
Save space: Less paper takes up less room. It’s that simple!
Shrink your carbon footprint: Beyond the trees used to make paper, transporting and producing paper has an environmental impact, too; imagine reducing that impact by half!

This icon in the Printer Shortcuts tab of your Printer Properties is an indication that two-sided printing is already set up.

Your printer's capabilities
To find out if your printer supports duplex printing, refer to your printer manual or look for the Two-sided (Duplex printing) or Print on both sides drop-down menu in the Printer Properties dialog box on your PC (sometimes found in the Printer Shortcuts tab).

If you can't locate any of these options in your printer manual or Printer Properties dialog box, you may not have driver support for duplexing or automatic duplexing. However, there are always the options to print double-sided manually, or find a printer with automatic duplexing capabilities.

If your printer does offer built-in automatic duplexing, keep reading to see how to use it.

Step 2: Choose the Printing Shortcuts tab, and then select Two-sided (Duplex) Printing. It only takes a few simple steps to set your printer options to automatic duplexing:

Print two-sided automatically

Step 1: Go to your PC’s Print dialog box and click on Properties.

Step 2: Click on the Printing Shortcuts tab, and select Two-sided (Duplex) Printing from the drop-down menu.

Step 3: Select Automatic from the Print on both sides drop-down menu. (See picture at left)

For detailed visuals outlining automatic duplexing, watch the short demo below.

Recommended paper: HP Premium Presentation paper is the heaviest paper that can work with an automatic duplexer. For thicker paper, such as HP Brochure and Flyer paper, you still have the option to print two-sided manually.