To print double sided (also called duplex printing), you have two main situations: printers that support automatic duplex and those that don’t.

Check if your printer supports duplex

Most modern home/office printers have an automatic “Print on both sides” or “Two‑Sided” option in the print dialog or printer preferences. Many guides note you’ll usually find it under a dropdown like “Print One Sided” or “Two- Sided” / “Print on both sides”.

  • On Windows, it often appears in the printer’s “Printing Preferences” under options such as “2‑sided”, “Duplex”, or “Multiple pages → 2‑side”.
  • On Mac, you’ll normally see a “Two‑Sided” checkbox in the system print dialog (sometimes hidden under “Layout” or “Copies & Pages”).

If you do not see any such option, your printer probably does not support automatic duplex, but you can still do it manually.

Basic steps: automatic double‑sided

Here’s the typical workflow when your printer supports duplex:

  1. Open your document (Word, PDF, Google Docs, browser, etc.).
  1. Press Ctrl + P (Windows) or Cmd + P (Mac) to open the print dialog.
  1. Find the setting called:
    • “Print on both sides”, “Two‑Sided”, or “Duplex”.
 * Sometimes under a dropdown like “Print One Sided → Print on Both Sides”.
  1. Choose how pages flip:
    • “Flip on long edge” for normal book‑style pages.
 * “Flip on short edge” for calendars or landscape booklets.
  1. Confirm the printer and page range, then click Print.

If your documents are coming out double sided by default and you want single‑sided instead, turn off that same setting (uncheck “Print on both sides” or choose “Print One Sided”).

If your printer is single‑sided only (manual duplex)

You can still print double sided by doing it in two passes (odd pages, then even pages). Multiple tutorials suggest this pattern in Word, PDF tools, and other apps.

  1. In the print dialog, choose:
    • “Odd pages only” / “Odd pages” or a similar option.
  1. Print and collect that stack of pages in order.
  1. Put the printed stack back into the tray:
    • Usually print‑side facing down and top edge aligned, but this depends on your printer, so test with a few pages first.
  1. In the print dialog, choose:
    • “Even pages only” / “Even pages”.
  1. Print again; the even pages will go on the blank sides.

Some apps (like Word on Windows) also offer “Manually print on both sides,” which guides you through this same process with on‑screen prompts.

App‑specific quick pointers

  • Word (Windows/Mac) : Use File → Print → change “Print One Sided” to “Print on Both Sides” (or choose “Manually print on both sides” if needed).
  • Google Docs / browsers (Chrome, Edge) : Use File → Print or the print icon, then under “More settings” or similar, tick “Print on both sides / Two-sided”.
  • Campus / public computers : Many default to single‑sided, but Chrome often defaults to double‑sided—use “More Settings → Print on both sides” to toggle.

Common pitfalls and quick tests

  • Do a test with 2–4 pages first to check page order and flipping before printing a big document.
  • If pages are upside down, switch between “flip on long edge” and “flip on short edge.”
  • If the order is wrong when manual duplexing, check whether your printer pulls pages from the tray print‑side up or down and adjust how you flip/reinsert the stack.

TL;DR:
Find the “Print on both sides” / “Two‑Sided” setting in your print dialog; enable it and choose long‑edge flip for normal documents. If your printer doesn’t support duplex, print odd pages first, flip and reinsert the stack, then print even pages.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.