HP P2055D, 2055, 2050 Series Auto Two-Sided Duplex Printing on Mac OSX 10.6.8 [ Edited ]

[tonosity]

This is just a post to document the results of my troubleshooting with HP Support to determine the problem of not being able to auto print two-sided (duplex) pages on a HP P2055D, in the hope that it will be useful to others with the same problem.  I hadn't see anything else in my search of the 'Net that was specific enough to help me find the solution.

The solution: First, the obvious: Connect the printer to the Mac via USB, etc., as per manual's instructions.  Install the most up-to-date drivers from Apple for this printer.  HP will direct you to do the same, as they don't host the print drivers (for Mac, anyway) on their support Web site.  Reboot the Mac and printer.  From System Preferences, select the facility for managing printers, and add (if the P2055D isn't already in the list of available printers or print devices) the P2055D 

Second, the not-so-obvious: Select File-->Print... from the application (e.g., Adobe Acrobat).  A dialog will appear.  Near the top, there is a pull down list to allow the selection of the printer to send the print job.  If the P2055D isn't set as the default printer (done in the System Preferences-->Printers setup dialog), use the pull-down menu to select it.  TO THE RIGHT OF THIS SAME PULL-DOWN MENU IS A BUTTON CONTAINING A DOWN-ARROW.  There is no text next to this little button to indict its function.  In any case, press this button, and the dialog will expand to provide many print options.  Within this expanded dialog is a pull down menu containing an item named "layout."  When selected, this will provide you with the means to select two-sided printing.  Also, when doing this also select "long binding."  Not sure about the "long and short" of this option--I was just directed to do so by the HP support tech.

After this is done, and two-sided printing is tested and operational, you can save this particular "layout" option in a preset.  This is done from the same dialog using the Preset pull-down menu, and selecting Save As...

Hope this is helpful to those who missed the obscure little button that expands the print dialog box to expose layout options, after selecting to File-->Print..., or who were otherwise at a loss of how to navigate the menus and buttons to establish this setting.