Word 2013 forgets printer settings

Anonymous
2013-05-19T14:17:35+00:00

In past versions I would set the printer settings for a document and it would remember it so reprints default to the last used settings.  How do I set Word 2013 to do the same?

In particular I like to use double sided printing.

Thanks.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Stefan Blom 352.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2014-03-29T18:38:24+00:00

    Which dialog box are you referring to? If it is the Printer Properties dialog, its settings are determined by the printer, not by Word.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-05-01T12:13:13+00:00

    Wow, I can't believe people have been telling the original poster that he is wrong!

    Office programs have always remembered printer preferences while the program is kept open.

    You can see this in effect if you add the "Quick Print" button to the Quick Access Toolbar in Word.

    • Hover over the Quick Print icon, at first it says the default printer name.
    • Change the printer via File > Print and then go back to the document
    • It will now say the new printer name when you hover over Quick Print.

    This preference will then stick for each Word Document you open. It will only be forgotten when all Word windows are closed. The same would apply to duplex settings.

    Unfortunately this seems to have disappeared in our company on all of the Windows 7 x64 computers with Office 2013.

    The only "Workaround" is to create one printer on the server with duplex as the default and another one with single-sided as the default

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  3. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2014-05-01T13:07:18+00:00

    Many users don't keep Word open. They just open a single document (which starts Word) and then close it, quitting Word.  Open another, then close it. And so on. So of course Word reverts to the default printer every time (since printer settings are not saved with the document as in Publisher). But if Word 2013 isn't remembering printer settings even within a given session, then this is indeed a problem. FWIW, I'm seeing Word 2013 remembering my printer setting between documents.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-05-01T13:45:38+00:00

    The problem we were experiencing is actually with Outlook, not Word. However, it looks like I may have found a work around.

    The secret is to bypass the Print Preview screen and use the old Print Options feature.

    To get to this, you need to customize the Quick Access Toolbar

    • Click File > Options > Quick Access Toolbar
    • Choose Commands from "File Tab"
    • Select "Print Options" and click Add
    • Click OK to close the options page

    If you use this button to print, it seems to retain any preferences.

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  5. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2014-05-01T15:19:44+00:00

    You may want to repost this in the Outlook forum since it's off-topic here.

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