Double sided printing

Try the following checks on the specific Word document that will not print double‑sided:

1. Confirm the printer supports duplex and is enabled
   • In Word, go to File > Print.
   • Under Printer, make sure the correct physical printer (not “Microsoft Print to PDF” etc.) is selected.
   • Under Settings, open the drop‑down that shows Print One Sided / Print on Both Sides.
   • If Print on Both Sides is available, the printer is set up for duplex printing. If only Print One Sided appears for this document, the driver or document settings may be limiting duplex.
2. Check that “Manual duplex” is not conflicting with printer duplex
   • In File > Print, open the Settings drop‑down.
   • Make sure Manually Print on Both Sides is not selected if the printer itself is already configured for automatic duplex in its Printer Properties.
   • If both Word’s Manual duplex and the printer’s own duplex option are enabled, Word can prompt for manual re‑feeding or behave unexpectedly. Clear Manual duplex in Word, then enable Print on Both Sides only in the printer’s properties.
3. Test duplex from a new document
   • Create a new blank Word document with a few pages of simple text.
   • Print it using Print on Both Sides.
   • If duplex works there but not in the original file, the issue is likely document‑specific formatting (for example, mixed orientations or other layout settings).
4. If the document has mixed portrait/landscape pages
   • Word applies one duplex “flip” rule (flip on long edge / short edge) to the entire job.
   • In a document that mixes portrait and landscape pages, this can make some pages appear to ignore duplex or print incorrectly.
   • Workaround: print the portrait pages and landscape pages as separate print jobs, adjusting the Flip on long edge / Flip on short edge option appropriately for each job.
5. Try saving to a new file
   • Use File > Save As and save the problematic document under a new name.
   • Close Word, reopen the new file, and try File > Print > Print on Both Sides again.

If duplex still fails only for that document after these steps, copy the content into a fresh Word document and re‑apply basic page setup, then test printing double‑sided from that new file.

References:

• Print on both sides of the paper (duplex printing) in Word
• Printing issues when you use 2 different page orientations in Word
• You are prompted to remove printout when you print to a duplex-capable printer in Word