Jump to content United States-English
HP.com Home Products and Services Support and Drivers Solutions How to Buy
» Contact HPPhone orders - 1-800-HP-DIRECT
HP.com home
Everyday Printing  >  Printing tips & how-tos

Print two-sided manually

Save trees and money by printing on both sides of the paper.
» 

Home & Home Office

»

Everyday Printing

» Buying guides
» Printing tips & how-tos
» Home printing ideas
» Home office printing
» Wireless printing
» Ink, toner & paper

Explore

»

Digital Photography

»

PC Learning Center

»

Free Online Classes

»

HP Newsgram Sign-up

Create

»

HP Creative Studio

»

Snapfish

Shop

»

Buy from HP

»

Find a Retailer

»

Rebate Center

Support & Drivers

»

Support & troubleshooting

»

Support Forums

»

Software & Drivers

»

HP Total Care

»

Product Registration

Content starts here

»  Find out if your printer offers duplex printing
»  Print on both sides manually
»  Upgrade to a printer with automatic double-sided printing
»  Learn more

Introduction

Printing on both sides of your paper is not only resourceful -- it's easy! But, there are two ways to do this and first you need to know the capabilities of your current printer.

Option 1 - If you have a printer with a duplexer, then you can print on both sides automatically. Read this article to learn more about Automatic two-sided printing.

Option 2 - If you don't have a duplexer, then you can still print double-sided, but this must be done manually. Read this article to find out how.


Find out if your printer offers duplex printing

To determine if your printer supports duplex printing, consult your printer manual or look for the Two-sided (Duplex Printing) option under Printer Shortcuts in the Printer Properties dialog box on your PC.

If your printer supports this, it will print two-sided automatically. Read this article or watch this demo to learn more.


»  Back to top

Print on both sides manually

double-sided birthday card in printer tray

Don’t be daunted by a printer that doesn’t have a duplex printing feature; it’s simple to print double-sided manually.

  • Step 1: Consult your printer manual or print a test sheet if you’re not sure which side—face up or face down—gets printed.  To print a test sheet, manually write a letter “A” on the top half of a plain piece of paper.  Run it through you printer, face-down, with the “A” still at the top.   If the printing appears on the same side of the paper as the “A” and is oriented correctly, you’ll know that your printer prints face-down.  If not, adjust accordingly.
  • Step 2: For full-size 8.5" x 11 pages, enter the numbers of odd-numbered pages to be printed (1, 3, 5, and so on) in the Print dialog box.
  • Step 3: Load the paper and click OK to print the odd pages.
  • Step 4: Keep the pages in order and reload them into the printer, with the opposite side of the stack facing up this time. Make sure the top edge of your pages is the same for both odd and even pages so you don’t end up with upside-down printing on one side.
  • Step 5: Enter the even-numbered pages to be printed in reverse order (12, 10, 8. 6, and so on) in the Print dialog box and click OK to print.


»  Back to top

Upgrade to a printer with automatic double-sided printing

There's no question that printing double-sided manually takes a bit more time and patience. If it's time for you to upgrade, and you'd like to have this capability, consider these HP printers:

» HP Photosmart Premium Fax All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Fax, Copier
» HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One
» HP Officejet Pro 8500 Premier All-in-One

Or, take a look at these product comparison charts to see more HP printers side by side. Be sure to look for the "Two-sided printing capability" row:

» HP Officejet comparison chart
» HP Deskjet comparison chart
» HP LaserJet comparison chart

To learn more about the benefits of printing two-sided automatically:

» Read this article on Automatic two-sided printing
» Watch this demo to see how easy Automatic two-sided printing can be

»  Back to top

Learn more


Printable version
Privacy statement Using this site means you accept its terms Feedback to Webmaster
© 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.