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. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-06-22T17:03:10+00:00

    It has never been possible to do this in Word. When started, Word always defaults to the Windows default printer and the settings selected in the printer Properties, and it is not possible to save specific settings with a given document (Publisher can do this). If you were doing this before, you must have been using a macro. If you are selecting these settings through the Printers folder in Windows, they should be the default for all applications, not just Word.

    To clarify, no settings in the Print dialog (or the Backstage Print tab) can be saved in Word or with a document. Settings that can be saved with a document are found in the Page Setup dialog. These include tray settings and of course paper size.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-10-16T12:38:40+00:00

    MARTYN YOU ARE NOT GOING CRAZY I HAVE EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM!

    I ALSO HAVE BEEN USING WORD SINCE IT BEGAN, I USE IT FOR OVER 10 HOURS A DAY AND IT DID USE TO SAVE DOCUMENT PRINT SETTINGS.

    I HAVE THE SAME DOCUMENT I USE EVERY 3 MONTHS AND IS SET TO PRINT AS A BROCHURE AND THE SETTINGS ARE QUITE TRICKY, IN THE PAST WE HAVE NOT HAD TO WORRY ABOUT THE MANY HUNDREDS OF THIS DOCUMENT WE PRINT AS ONCE THE SETTINGS WERE ALL SET UP AS WE PRINT ON THE FLOOR ABOVE OUR OFFICE WE KNOW ITS OK TO DO ADDITIONAL PRINTS.  HOWEVER SINCE WE WENT ONTO WINDOWS 2013 1 MONTH AGO WE HAVE TO SET ALL THE PRINT (DOUBLE SIDED, BROCHURE, GLOSSY PAPER, PRINT A3) EVERY SINGLE TIME WE OPEN THE FILE.

    ALSO, IM NOT HERE TO DEBATE THIS AND DONT WANT TO GET ANYONES BACKS UP BUT IT REALLY DID DO IT BEFORE AND I ONLY FOUND THIS PAGE AS I TOO WAS SEARCHING FOR A SOLUTION BEFORE I LOSE THE WILL TO LIVE (THERE ARE A LOT OF STAIRS BETWEEN MY DESK AND THE PRINTER)

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-06-22T23:27:02+00:00

    Just tried it with Word 2003 in a VM and it remembers settings between sessions, in particular double sided printing.  Must be magic.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-06-22T23:08:48+00:00

    I have to agree with suzanne.

    I understand and sympathize with your  concern, but there had to be something else working to "save printer settings". Is it possible you had some sort of special addin (I haven't heard of any that do this, but ...) that somehow saved printer settings for you?  An addin that was NOT upgraded to 2013.  Maybe a utility from your network printer company or the printer company?

    My 20+ years experiece using Word has been that it has NEVER "saved" settings.  As a matter of fact, when my employer forced me to use Word in place of the much better WordPerfect for DOS, that was one of my (many) pet peeves.  WP DID save printer settings in the document. MS explicitly designed Windows to take control of Printers and printer settings away from the applications and files.

    Sorry. the only way I know of that settings could be saved in Word and Windows is via macros.

    One way I have simulated "saving settings" has been to define more than one logical printer pointing to the same physical printer if I wanted to partially automate things like printing 2-sided vs 1-sided, or telling it to use a special tray for first page and any other printer (driver) specific setting.

    ie Boss HP printer 2-sided

       Boss HP printer 1-sided

      Secretary printer letterhead drawer ....

      Secretary printer plain

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  5. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-05-19T22:41:31+00:00

    Options such as that are set in the Printer Properties dialog that you can access by clicking on Properties in the Backstage Print (File>Print) view.

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