Printing guide
How to print double-sided
Printing on both sides goes wrong in three ways: the backs come out upside down, the backs land on the wrong sheets when you feed the paper through twice by hand, or a booklet’s pages come out in an order that makes no sense once it is folded. Each has a setting behind it, and each can be caught with a few sheets before the whole job.
Where the setting is
- Word: File > Print, and under Settings change Print One Sided to Print on Both Sides, flipping pages on the long or the short edge. If only Manually Print on Both Sides is offered, the printer cannot print the backs by itself (see below).
- Chrome: Ctrl+P (Cmd+P on a Mac), More settings, tick Print on both sides and choose Flip on long edge or Flip on short edge. Edge offers the same choice in its print dialog.
- Acrobat Reader: tick Print on both sides of paper and choose the edge to flip on.
- Mac: turn on Two-Sided in the print dialog; the binding — Long-Edge or Short-Edge — is under Layout, its place depending on the version of macOS.
- iPhone, iPad and Android: the print options show Double-sided (Apple) or Two-sided (Android) when the printer can do it.
The printer’s own Properties or Preferences may call it 2-sided printing or duplex. Set it in the program you print from as well, or the two can disagree.
Long edge or short edge
The setting names the edge of the sheet that the pages turn over on, as if it were the binding. Choose the wrong one and every back comes out upside down.
| Pages | Turned | Choose |
|---|---|---|
| Portrait | sideways, like a book | Long edge |
| Portrait | upwards, like a notepad | Short edge |
| Landscape | sideways, like a book | Short edge |
| Landscape | upwards, like a wall calendar | Long edge |
The rule behind the table: the left side of a portrait page is a long edge of the sheet, the left side of a landscape page is a short one, and the top of a landscape page is a long one. If the backs still come out upside down, switch the setting and print the two test pages again.
Both sides on a printer that cannot do it
Any printer can print both sides if you feed the paper through twice. In Word, choose Manually Print on Both Sides: it prints the fronts and then tells you when to turn the stack over and put it back. Everywhere else, do it in five steps.
- Find out how your printer turns paper. Draw an arrow on a sheet, on the side facing up and pointing into the printer, print one page on it and look where the print landed: on the marked side or the other, at the arrow’s end or the far one.
- Make the page count even. With an odd count, add a blank page at the end, so every front has a back and the stack stays in step.
- Print the odd pages. Word: Print All Pages > Only Print Odd Pages. Acrobat: More Options > Odd or Even Pages > Odd pages only. Chrome: Pages > Odd pages only.
- Put the printed stack back in the tray, turned the way your test showed, without changing its order.
- Print the even pages the same way: Only Print Even Pages in Word, Even pages only in Acrobat and Chrome. If page 2 lands behind page 3 rather than page 1, the stack needs the opposite order: tick Reverse pages in Acrobat, or in Word turn on Print pages in reverse order under File > Options > Advanced > Print.
Try it with a four-page document first: two sheets show both the turn and the order.
Booklets
A booklet is a stack of sheets printed two pages to a side, folded in half and stapled on the fold: A4 sheets make A5 pages, Letter sheets make 5½ × 8½ in pages. Each sheet carries four pages, so a booklet has 4, 8, 12, 16 and so on — any missing pages come out blank at the end. Add blanks yourself if you want them somewhere else, such as before the back cover.
- From Word: Layout > Margins > Custom Margins, and under Pages set Multiple pages to Book fold. Leave Sheets per booklet on All, or choose a number to make a long document as several booklets bound together, and add a gutter for the fold. Print on both sides, flipping pages on the short edge.
- From a PDF: in Acrobat or Acrobat Reader, choose Booklet under Page Sizing & Handling. Booklet subset Both sides prints both sides on a printer that can; otherwise print Front side only, put the sheets back, and print Back side only. Binding Left for documents read left to right. Acrobat puts the pages in folding order itself.
Fold the whole stack in half together, crease it with a ruler, and staple through the fold: a long-arm stapler reaches the middle of an A4 or Letter sheet.
Why the back does not line up with the front
A home printer seldom puts the back exactly behind the front; a shift of a millimetre or two is common, and more when the paper goes through twice by hand. A design that needs both sides to match — a border on each side, a cut line printed on both — will show it. Keep important things away from the edges, or print the back with a margin to spare.
Dark print also shows through ordinary 75–80 gsm (20 lb bond) paper. Heavier paper of 90–105 gsm (24–28 lb bond) shows much less; the paper weight converter translates between the two systems, which disagree about what a pound means. Card is often too thick for a printer’s duplexer even when the printer takes it one side at a time.
Something printed at the wrong size altogether is a scaling problem rather than a two-sided one: how to print at actual size.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the back of my page upside down?
The sheet turned over on the other edge. With portrait pages read like a book, choose Flip on long edge; with pages that flip upwards like a notepad, or landscape pages read like a book, choose Flip on short edge. Switch the setting and print again.
What does flip on long edge mean?
That the sheet turns over on one of its long sides, so the back reads the right way up when you turn it like a page of a book — the usual choice for portrait documents. Flip on short edge turns it on a short side, like a notepad or a landscape booklet.
How do I print double-sided on a printer that does not do it?
Print the odd pages, put the printed stack back in the tray turned the way your printer needs, then print the even pages. Word does this for you with Manually Print on Both Sides and tells you when to turn the stack; in Acrobat, use Odd or Even Pages under More Options. Test with four pages first, and add a blank page if the page count is odd.
Why is Print on both sides missing or greyed out?
Either the printer cannot print both sides by itself — use the manual method — or its driver does not know it can: in the printer’s Properties, some drivers have a Device Settings tab where the duplex unit must be set to Installed. The option also disappears for paper the duplexer cannot take, such as envelopes, labels and heavy card.
How do I print a booklet from a PDF?
In Acrobat or Acrobat Reader, open the print dialog, choose Booklet under Page Sizing & Handling, set Booklet subset to Both sides (or Front side only, then Back side only, on a printer that cannot print both sides) and Binding to Left. Acrobat puts the pages in folding order, two to a side.
What is back-to-back printing?
The same as double-sided or duplex printing: the next page on the back of the sheet. Every method on this page applies.