Printing On Both Sides of the Paper

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated May 26, 2017)

2

Some printers have the capability to print on both sides of a piece of paper. This feature is called duplexing, and it can add a big chunk of change to the cost of a printer. If your printer doesn't have duplexing, the only way to achieve the same result is to pass your paper through the printer twice. The following VBA macro will assist you in this process. It first prints the odd pages in a document, prompts you to turn the paper over, and then prints the even pages.

Sub PrintBothSides()
    Dim iTemp As Integer

    ActiveDocument.PrintOut Copies:=1, PageType:=wdPrintOddPagesOnly
    iTemp = MsgBox("Switch paper to continue", vbOKCancel, "PrintBothSides")
    If iTemp = vbOK Then
        ActiveDocument.PrintOut Copies:=1, PageType:=wdPrintEvenPagesOnly
    End If
End Sub

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1418) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is two less than 5?

2013-11-10 14:31:42

Phil Husband

I have a printer that will print on both sides of the page before going to page 3 for example. However I have MS word 2003 and I can only print on one side. Publisher 2003 allows me to print on both sides. Any help you can give will be appreciated.

2012-02-25 21:26:06

Milind Karnik

Please note that you must consider how you get the printed document. On my HP1070, I get the printed pages face down. So, if I want to maintain normal order of printed pages, I must instruct the macro to print "backwards" in the second go. Further, if the entire document has odd number of pages, then I must also work out whether to include the last printed odd page while switching pages. One can add a message to this effect based on page count.

Hope this is useful.

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