OfficeJet 8500 All-in-one Mac duplex printing fix

[treborj]

Frustration eased today.  After hours with HP and Apple, I figured out how to duplex print with OfficeJet 8500 All-in-One.  First, if you have Snow Leopard, the CD in the box with the printer is the wrong one.  Uninstall incorrect driver and go to HP website to install correct driver for Snow Leopard (10.6) on Mac.  Then, be sure you have latest updates from Apple, which include some HP driver updates (as of 2/23/10).  Some other issues appear to be resolved by those updates.  However, duplex printing was still an issue.  The key was something the Apple rep said.  Duplexing works okay with native Apple applications - you will see an option to select 2-sided printing with programs like Safari and iMail, etc.  It is third-pary vendor software that creates the problem for duplex printing.  Here is how to print duplex from Word, Adobe Reader, etc.

Open application (Word, for example) and a document you want to print that has at least two sides.  Follow this sequence:

File/Print/Layout (this box is in the hidden list in Copies & Pages box)/Two-Sided/Long Edge Binding.  We discovered that the default under two-sided in the third party software is OFF for two-sided.  By selecting "Long Edge Binding" you get perfect two-sided printing. 

Not an easy fix, but it works in both Word and Adobe Reader, which I tested.  Hey, programmers, get busy and just have the two-sided check box show up in these third party programs instead of all of this stuff.

Hope this helps someone!!

[lemoncream]

I just got off the phone with HP support.  After a couple of hours the rep was not able to help me print double sided on the Mac from a Word document.  I found your fix and it worked for me! Thanks.

[doctorharrison]

Great help. Found your answer a year later and it is much appreciated.

Cheers,

doctorharrison

[dagofee]

THANKS

yes it was frustrating

[ReverentJack]

Just got a new iMac with Lion (Mac OS X v. 10.7) and use MicroSoft Office Mac Home & Student 2011.  Have been having the same isssues. Followed treborj Student's recommendations below and it works. So, if anyone else has this duplex prenting issues with third-party software follow the 02-21-2010 05:24 PM posting by treborj Student, you'll be happy with the results.  A great help.

[egeezer]

All I want to do is make two-sided copies from the pack-feed slot on top.  I don't want to print a document from the computer, just have the "all-in-one" copier do what it is described as doing!  But when I open the Printer status page, there is no "print queue" to go to, so I can't tell it to print two-sided from that menu.  And the instruction pad on the printer itself only offers 2-sided from 1-sided copies.  What to do?  And I'm  still on Mac 10.5.8, but I don't see that being an issue.  This should be totally self-contained within the printer, no?

[ReverentJack]

Open application (Word, for example) and a document you want to print that has at least two sides.  Follow this sequence:

File/Print/Layout (this box is in the hidden list in Copies & Pages box)/Two-Sided/Long Edge Binding. I discovered that the default under two-sided in the third party software is OFF for two-sided.  By selecting "Long Edge Binding" you get perfect two-sided printing. 

Not an easy fix, but it works in both Word and Adobe Reader.

[egeezer]

Thanks.  But as I said, I'm not trying to print from the computer, just to make two-sided copies of a two-sided document, from the pack-feed slot.  Thus far, my solution has been to copy one side, determine the right

correlation for the printed sides in the paper feed, then copy the second side.  Much more tedious, but at least I got my two-sided copies 

[dv9000]

Thanks you so much, thought I had bought a complete lemon.  How on earth can there not have been a upgrade to this pretty obvious shortfall in the programing.

[bbrobozio]

I have been searching and searching for this answer!  I used to print double sided with no problem, however I've spent the last week trying to print a brochure.  I thought I would work on it one last time before resorting to taking my needs to an office supply store.  THANK YOU!!  (I also realized I needed a couple of other updates that will definitely solve some problems I've had over the last year.)