How to print double-sided

Printing smarter with double-sided printing

Double-sided printing – which is also known as duplex printing – quite simply means printing documents on both sides of a single sheet of paper.

There are a whole host of home or business requirements that call for printing double-sided pages, whether you’re putting together reports in the office or creating handmade gift cards at home.

You can achieve double-sided printing with any printer manually, simply by flipping the side of the pages between prints. But to make things easier, the majority of modern printers and computer software will allow for automatic double-sided printing – so you can print these documents with as little effort as the click of a button.

When looking for a new printer, consider looking for an option that includes automatic duplex printing as standard.

Understanding duplex printing: automatic vs. manual

If you want to learn how to print on both sides of paper on your Brother printer, the process can be slightly different depending on the software and printer you’re using. Your printer may allow you to do this automatically via your computer or device, but if not, you’ll need to print on both sides manually by refeeding the paper through the machine.

• Automatic duplex printing: A printer with duplex is automatically set to print on both sides without user intervention

• Manual duplex printing: The user needs to manually reinsert the paper in order to double-sided print

How to enable double-sided printing on macOS

Let’s breakdown how to print double-sided on macOS.

1. If you have a document open that you’d like to print, go to ‘file’ and then ‘print’, or press ‘command + P’ on your keyboard.
2. In the print menu, click on the box below ‘presets’ and select ‘layout’ from the drop-down menu.
3. In this menu, you’ll see a tick box next to the option labelled ‘two-sided printing’, ensure this tick box is checked if you want to duplex print.
4. Once you’ve selected this option, your computer will remember this and carry it over to your next printing job – so be sure to deselect it if you’d prefer to print single-sided.

How to enable double-sided printing on Windows

The process of double-sided printing is slightly different on Windows.

1. You can set your printer to automatically duplex print by heading to the Windows ‘control panel’ from your ‘start’ menu.
2. From the control panel, select ‘view devices and printers’ from under the ‘hardware and sound’ tab.
3. In the following menu, find your desired printer, right-click on it and select ‘printer properties’.
4. In the properties menu, go to the ‘device settings’ tab and select the automatic duplexing unit’ tick box, then click ‘apply’.

How to manually print double-sided

For printers that do not support automatic duplexing, you have the option of doing so manually. This isn’t too difficult – it simply requires you to refeed the paper back through the machine yourself.

1. Go to your printer and open the paper tray. Make a clear pencil mark in one corner of the piece of paper that’s on top, on the side that faces upwards at you.
2. For both Windows and Mac, go to ‘file’ and ‘print’ to pull up the printing options menu.
3. Once you’ve checked that your printer is connected, go to the ‘print pages’ box and enter the number of all odd numbered pages in your document, separating these with commas (e.g. for a five-page document, this would be numbers 1, 3, 5).
4. Select print and collect the pages once they’re complete, being careful to keep these in order.
5. Look at your first page which bares the pencil mark you made at the beginning. No matter which side the printing has taken place on, you’ll need to re-enter the paper with the marked side facing down, starting with page 1 at the top and running downwards in order from there.
6. Go back to your computer and go to print again, this time listing all the even numbers in the ‘print pages’ selection box (e.g. 2, 4, 6).
7. Select print and collect your pages once complete.

The benefits of duplex printing

There are lots of benefits to a double-sided printer, whether it’s speeding up the process of printing or reducing your business’s overall paper use and wastage.

1. It can cut down costs

Duplex printing could effectively see you or your business cut its paper use by as much as half when compared to single-sided printing. By speeding up the printing process, you’ll see a reduction in the energy costs of running your business - which is a huge benefit for busy offices.

2. It can save time

By automatically printing documents two-sided, you should spend less time waiting for your documents to print, as your printer has less paper to process and may even be able to complete both sides at the same time.

3. It’s better for the environment

By reducing your paper waste and energy usage of your printer, you’ll also reduce your impact on the environment. You can couple this with ReNew by Brother, Brother’s ink cartridge and toner cartridge remanufacturing scheme to further reduce your environmental impact.

4. It can save space

Double-sided documents take up less physical space, which can make storing and transporting documents easier – especially if you are working from home or have limited storage space in your workplace.

5. It can look more professional

Many documents, such as reports and brochures, look more polished and professional when they are printed on both sides. If you print documents that are going to be presented or given to prospective clients, double-sided printing is a great choice.

Final tips for optimised double-sided printing

Printing double-sided documents is a simple process, and the ability to do so automatically is a default feature with most Brother document printers. To get the most out of your double-sided printing, make sure you:

• Use draft mode for less ink usage when printing internal documents
• Load the paper properly, to avoid jams
• Consider using Eco Mode for energy efficiency

Double-sided printing with Brother

Brother has a range of affordable printers with automatic duplex printing as standard. Our duplex printers are equipped with a variety of functions that make them efficient and easy to use, with a selection of 3-in-1 and 4-in-1 printing solutions that are tailored to all kinds of home office or business demands.

If you’d like to explore our home office solutions that incorporate double-sided printing, you’ll find a selection here.

Or if you’re looking for other ways to print smarter, take a look at our managed print services here.