How to Print Double Sided on Mac

Mac buries the duplex option in a dropdown that most people skip right past. But once you find it, enabling double-sided printing takes about five seconds. Here's the full walkthrough.

Where Is the Duplex Option on Mac?

macOS buries the two-sided option inside a dropdown menu in the print dialog. The dropdown initially shows "Copies & Pages" (or sometimes "PDF"), you need to change it to "Layout" to reveal the two-sided setting. This is unintuitive, which is why so many Mac users struggle to find it.

Step-by-Step: Enable Double-Sided Printing on Mac

1. Open the Print Dialog

   In any application, press Cmd+P, or go to File → Print.
2. Show More Options (if needed)

   If you see a compact print dialog with only basic settings, click "Show Details" at the bottom left to expand the full dialog.
3. Find the Dropdown Menu

   Look for a dropdown menu below the page range options. It may say "Copies & Pages," "Paper Handling," or something similar.
4. Switch to "Layout"

   Click the dropdown and select "Layout" from the list. The panel below will change to show duplex and layout options.
5. Enable Two-Sided

   Find "Two-Sided" and click the checkbox or dropdown next to it. Choose "Long-Edge Binding" for portrait documents, or "Short-Edge Binding" for landscape.
6. Click Print

   Click Print. Your Mac will send the duplex job to your printer.

Duplex in Specific Mac Apps

Safari and Chrome on Mac

Press Cmd+P → Show Details → change the dropdown to Layout → enable Two-Sided. Safari and Chrome use the same macOS print dialog.

Preview (for PDFs)

Open the PDF in Preview → Cmd+P → Show Details → Layout → Two-Sided. Preview is the simplest route for duplex printing PDFs on Mac.

Microsoft Word on Mac

Word for Mac has its own duplex setting: File → Print → under Copies & Pages, find the Two-Sided checkbox directly (Word exposes it without requiring the Layout dropdown).

Google Docs on Mac

See our dedicated guide: How to Print Double Sided in Google Docs.

Set Duplex as Default on Mac

To avoid changing the setting every time:

1. Open any print dialog (Cmd+P) and configure it exactly as you want (two-sided enabled, binding edge set).
2. Click the Presets dropdown at the top of the print dialog → "Save Current Settings as Preset."
3. Name it something like "Duplex Default" and choose whether to save it for this printer only or all printers.
4. Click OK.

Next time you print, select this preset from the dropdown and all your duplex settings will be pre-applied.

Manual Duplex on Mac

If your printer doesn't have automatic duplex, you can still print double-sided on Mac:

1. In the print dialog, go to the dropdown and select "Paper Handling."
2. Under Pages to Print, select "Odd Only." Print.
3. Flip the printed stack (usually face-down, top-up for most Mac-compatible printers).
4. Return to the print dialog, select "Even Only," change the page order to "Reverse" if needed.
5. Print the even pages.

Troubleshooting on Mac

"Two-Sided" option is not visible

Some older printer drivers on Mac don't expose the duplex option in the Layout pane. Try removing the printer (System Settings → Printers & Scanners → click your printer → click minus) and re-adding it, macOS will pull a fresh driver from Apple's Printer Driver list.

Two-Sided is visible but greyed out

Your printer may only support duplex for certain paper sizes or paper trays. Try switching to Letter/A4 size in the Paper Size dropdown, then check again.

Pages coming out upside down

Switch from Long-Edge to Short-Edge Binding (or vice versa). This is the most common cause. See also: Why Is My Double Sided Printing Not Working?