Using Duplex Printing

Some (but not all) printers support duplexing, meaning that they allow printing on both sides of a piece of paper. Assuming that you have a printer that supports duplexing, and that you have a printer driver that supports it, you can turn it on by following these steps:

1. Press Ctrl+P to display the Print dialog box (Excel 2007) or printing options (Excel 2010 or a later version).
2. From the list of available printers, select the printer on which you want the document printed.
3. Click on the Properties button (Excel 2007) or Printer Properties link (Excel 2010 or a later version). Excel displays a Properties dialog box for the printer you selected.
4. Look through the tabs in the dialog box to locate the controls for duplexing. They may be named something like Flip on Long Edge, Flip on Short Edge, 2-sided Printing, or Print on Both Sides. (The exact wording depends on the type of printer driver you have installed.)
5. Close the Properties dialog box.
6. Use the controls in the Print dialog box (Excel 2007) or printing options (Excel 2010 or a later version) to print your worksheet as you normally would.

It is important to remember that this tip only works for printers that support duplex printing. You should also remember that the availability of duplex printing will depend on the printer driver you are using with your printer. For instance, if your printer will handle duplex printing, but your printer driver doesn't include controls for duplex printing, then you won't be able to actually print in duplex.

This last point is particularly important and can, unfortunately, result in a bit of frustration. I remember having one printer that I purchased specifically because it would duplex print. When I installed it, however, all I could find (in step 4, above) was a control that said "Print on Both Sides (Manually)." I didn't want to manually print on both sides; I wanted to have Excel do it automatically. The problem wasn't the printer or Excel, but the printer driver—it wouldn't take advantage of the capabilities built into the printer. I had to bug the heck out of the printer manufacturer until they created a printer driver for Windows that would do the duplexing correctly.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8187) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021.