Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 3, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
When people talk about "duplexing" documents, they mean printing on both sides of the paper. Many printers these days include the ability to print on both sides of the paper, without the need for manually feeding the paper through the printer twice. With most of these printers, you can turn the duplexing capability on by displaying the Print dialog box, and then clicking the Properties button. This gives you access to the settings in the printer driver, one of which invariably controls duplexing.
What if you want the duplexing to always be on for a particular document? What if you want a particular document to always be printed duplex, and never single-sided? There is no setting in Word to do this, but with some printers you can send special codes to the printer that switch it to duplex mode.
For example, let's say that you have a printer capable of printing duplex copies, and that the printer understands the PCL language. You could embed a field in the document that will switch the printer to duplex mode. Follow these steps:
The PRINT field sends characters directly to the printer, bypassing the normal slicing and dicing that Word does with characters. When you perform step 3, the field "disappears" because it doesn't display any result in the document itself. However, if the field is at the very beginning of the document—perhaps in the header for the first page—then it will switch on duplex mode in the printer and your output will be printed as you want it.
You can find detailed information on how you use the PRINT field—particularly with PCL printers—in the following Knowledge Base article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/135569
Even though the Knowledge Base article indicates that the article is "retired," it still works with versions of Word up through Word 2003 just fine.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6904) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!
Serious users of Word often display non-printing characters on-screen so they can see them easier. If you want those ...
Discover MoreIf you want to print a list of all the AutoCorrect entries in your document, Word doesn't provide a method. You can use ...
Discover MoreWord automatically maintains a number of properties for each document you create. As part of those properties you can ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
Visit the WordTips channel on YouTube
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2024 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments