Duplex printing can save you a lot of money by cutting the paper cost by half. Also, the less paper you use, the fewer trees are cut down to make paper, and less Carbon dioxide is emitted into the environment.
So, you are not only saving money but also saving the World.
Anyway, in this article, I’ve explained how to print double-sided using Microsoft Word for both Windows and Mac.
Here, I have shown step by step process on how to print on the front and the back of a page, whether your printer supports duplex/two-sided printing or not.
Let’s begin!
How to Print Double-Sided in Microsoft Word for Windows
Duplex printing is an easy process on Microsoft Word, and you have three different options to do it. You can perform double-sided printing automatically, manually, or print odd pages on one side and even pages on the other.
Unfortunately, which method to utilize depends on your printer.
If your printer supports double-sided printing, go with the automatic printing method. Or you can manually flip your page to print on both sides and print the odd pages first and then the even pages on pretty much any printer.
Also, check out our separate post on how to Microsoft Word Read Aloud Stopped Working.
Here’s how to print double-sided with MS word on Windows:
1. Pint Both Sides Automatically
When you enter the Print Options from Microsoft Word, if you see the Print on Both Sides option, your printer supports automatic printing on both sides of the page. And you can utilize this method.
Here are the steps to automatically print front & back on MS Word:
- Open the document you wish to print on Microsoft Word.
- Move to File and choose Print.
- Select Print One Sided under Settings.
- Choose either Print on Both Sides (Flip pages on long edge) if you want the print to be bound along the long edge of the page or Print on Both Sides (Flip pages on short edge) to attach the print along the short edge of the page.
- Click Print.
The Print on Both Sides option will be available for printers that allow duplex printing. Otherwise, you’ll only see Manually Print on Both Sides.
Read more on how to Unlock Selection in Word.
2. Print Both Sides Manually
For printers that do not support duplex or double-sided printing, you have to manually flip the page in order to print on the front and back of the page.
You will be notified when one side has finished printing, and you have to flip the page to complete printing on the other side of the page.
Here’s how to manually print on both sides of a paper on MS Word:
- Open the document you want to print on Microsoft Word.
- Move to File > Print.
- Click on Print One Sided under Settings.
- Choose Manually Print on Both Sides and click Print.
- Flip the page and place it on the printer tray when Microsoft Word notifies that one side is done printing.
- Click OK, and the other side will start printing.
3. Print on One Side with Odd Page and the Other Side with Even Page
When you have many pages to print, and your printer doesn’t have automatic printing on both sides, you should use this method.
It will finish printing all the odd pages first. Then you have to flip all the pages, put them back on the printer tray, and start printing the even pages.
Here’s how to print odd pages on one side and even pages on the other:
- Open the file you wish to print on Microsoft Word.
- Move to File and choose Print.
- Select Print All Pages under Settings and choose Only Print Odd Pages.
- Click Print and the odd-numbered pages will start printing.
- Flip all the pages when the odd pages are done printing.
- Select Print All Pages under Settings again and choose Only Print Even Pages.
- Click the Print Button; this time, the even-numbered pages will start printing on the other sides of the paper.
To maintain the correct order when printing odd and even pages separately in MS Word, go to File > Options > Advanced. Under Print, check either Print on front of the sheet for duplex printing or Print on back of the sheet for duplex printing.
You may also like to read, how to Fix: Find and Replace Not Working On Microsoft Word.
How to Print Double-Sided in Microsoft Word for Mac
Depending on whether your printer is capable of duplex printing or not, you choose to automatically print on both sides of a page or manually flip the page to print double-sided.
Check the printer manual or search online to see if your printer supports duplex printing.
But it doesn’t matter much if your printer supports two-sided printing because printing on both sides using a Mac is pretty simple.
Here are the steps to print double-sided in Microsoft Word for Mac:
1. Print Double-Sided Automatically
For the printers that allow duplex printing, you should always use this method to print on both sides of a page. So, you don’t have to go through the trouble of manually flipping the pages to print on two sides.
Here’s how to automatically print front & back in MS Word using Mac:
- Open the file you wish to print on Microsoft Word.
- Move to File and choose Print.
- Select Copies & Pages and choose Layout.
- Click on Two-Sided and select either Long-Edge binding if you want the print to be bound along the long edge of the page or Short-Edge binding to attach the print along the short edge of the page.
- Click Print.
If you don’t see the Two-Sided option, your printer doesn’t support double-sided printing.
In that case, you need to flip the page to print on both sides. In the following method, I’ve explained how to do that.
Check out our separate post on how to Double Space in Microsoft Word.
2. Print Double-Sided Manually
If your printer doesn’t have the functionality to flip the pages by itself to print on both sides of the page, then you’ll have to do it manually.
Here’s how to manually print double-sided in MS Word using Mac:
- Open the document in MS Word.
- Go to File > Print.
- Select Copies & Pages and choose Microsoft Word.
- Click on Odd pages only.
- Click Print and the odd-numbered pages will start printing.
- Flip all the pages when the odd pages are done printing. Put the pages back on the printer tray.
- Go to File > Print, select Copies & Pages, and choose Microsoft Word again.
- Pick Even pages only.
- Click the Print Button; this time, the even-numbered pages will start printing on the other sides of the paper.
When you print on both sides of a page manually, it’s a good idea to do a test run to find the correct way to insert the pages back into the printer.
Because depending on your printer, you might need to rotate the pages before putting them back for double-sided printing.
Also, check out our separate post on how to Flip Quotation Marks in Word.
FAQs
How do you Print front and back on Microsoft Word 2016?
To print on the front and back of a page on Microsoft Word 2016, open the document you want to print, go to File > Print, click Print One Sided and choose Print on Both Sides. Click the Print button to start printing the front and back of your page.
Why can’t I Print double sided on Word?
You can’t print double-sided, probably because your printer doesn’t support duplex or two-sided printing. Open Microsoft Word, go to File > Print, click Print One Sided, and if you don’t see Print on Both Sides, your printer doesn’t have both side printing.
Why Windows 10 Cannot print double-sided?
To print double-sided, enable the Automatic Duplexing Unit on your printer. Launch Control Panel on your Windows PC, select View devices and printers, right-click on your printer, choose Printer properties, and check Automatic Duplexing Unit.
Final Thoughts
You may have a printer that supports duplex/double-sided printing, or you may have a printer that only prints one side of a page.
It’s not an issue. Here, I’ve described how you can print the front and back of a page on Windows and Mac whether your printer supports two-sided or not; it doesn’t matter.
Let me know if you get any problems regarding your printer or anything else. See you in the comment section.
