"Two-sided" printing option grayed out in "layout" drop down of Canon MX700 printer

[scorpion nebula]

Hi everyone,

I've converted from Windows to the new Macbook and have run in to a problem with my printer (Canon MX700). One of the functions I used often when connected to a PC was the double sided printing function. After installing the latest Mac drivers from Canon's American homepage I get a lot of printing options on my mac, but under layout the double sided printing option is marked gray and I'm unable choose this option.

Has anybody noticed something similar using a canon printer? Any ideas concerning how to fix this?

Thanks!

[danielbriggs]

I had a very similar problem.
I have 3 HP printers, (2 inkjet and 1 colour laser), none of them have automatic duplexing. But support manual two sided printing. However I came to print a two sided document today on my HP laser and the two sided printing option was greyed out. Now I used this LOADS in the past, so something must have changed. Turns out some new HP drivers came through on Apple Software Update, and somehow broke the manual duplexing (Driver Version 1.2.0.224). So I deleted the printer and found some older drivers, popped them in, at it worked - the option was no longer greyed out.

I also have a Canon iP4300 printer - however the option was never greyed out for me - manual duplexing has always worked.

So: Try getting some "older" drivers. It may bring back the option for whatever reason.

If not, try opening up System Preferences -> Print and Fax -> Click on the Printer -> Options and Supplies -> Driver Tab. Then look for a duplexing tick box. This needs to be ticked to do 2 sided automatic printing if you printer has a duplexer.

Hope that helps,
Dan

[rosshuggett]

That worked for me. Thanks.

[drolling]

rosshuggett what worked? I couldn't find the tick box referenced by danielbriggs nor did updated drivers solve the problem.

So how do you get manual duplex (i.e. two-sided) printing to work from a Mac OSX 10.6 to a Canon MX700?

[dholaday]

Try deleting the printer [systems preferences>print & fax]. Then add it back - when asked if you want to add the printer, look for a checkbox that says something like "duplex printing" and check it. That should enable 2-sided printing option in "Layout"

That worked for me.

[Marie310]

There's no tick box, or delete-and-add driver did not work. Help!

[danielbriggs]

Originally Posted by Marie310

There's no tick box, or delete-and-add driver did not work. Help!

Try installing the printer with some older drivers.

[bdeitemeyer]

Can you guys shed some light on which older drivers have in fact solved this issue for the mx700? Thanks in advance.

[horhay063]

I am new to mac as well and I have this problem with my canon mx 320 printer. I have found a band-aid for it though. I tried the driver downloads, I really don't know what I am doing though, and it didn't work. So I have found that if you set your printer to print the pages "Normal" instead of reverse order then print the odd pages of the document first. you can pick up the stack of printed papers, flip them over, put them right back into the paper feed and then print the even pages on back of them. Its kind of inconvenient, but it works.

[6killer]

1. Get to the PRINT dialogue box from the application.
2. Select the PRINTER... option (generally near the PAGE SETUP button)
3. Click OK/YES to get past the Print Setup dialogue box overrides.
4. Select your Printer
5. Under the LAYOUT pull-down menu under the page range to print (e.g. All vs. From 1 to 1) select Two-Sided Printing Settings
6. Under Two-sided Printing: Select either Long-Edge Binding (left side of page) or Short-Edge Binding (top of page)
7. Select the Document Type
8. Click PRINT

NOTE: You can save this under the PRESETS pull-down at the time by selecting SAVE CURRENT SETTINGS AS PRESET and name it something like: Portrait (Duplex).

[Giuly]

Originally Posted by 6killer

5. In menu under the page range to print (e.g. All vs. From 1 to 1) select Two-Sided Printing Settings

This was grayed out for people, which was the problem. So is it for me, because my printer doesn't have auto-duplexing without an add-on.

You can however print the odd page numbers in normal order (first page first or FIFO; both to select under 'Paper Handling'), then take the stack and insert it with the text facing up and top first, then print even page numbers in reverse order (first page last or FILO). At least that's the way I'm aware of to archive manual duplexing.
Just make sure that you don't end up with non-matching pages because the last page of the document was odd, in that case you have to remove it from the stack before printing the even numbered pages.