Two-Sided printing by E-Mail to my_printer_ID@HPePrint.com

[RF_Engineer]

SITUATION:

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HP state that using a "duplex" printer with double-sided printing is more considerate towards the environment.  HP also widely advertise that printing is possible from any place and any device by simply sending a document by e-mail to your_printer_ID@HPePrint.com.

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However, upon trying this I found that all printing is always single-sided regardless of the capabilities of the printer.

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For example, my printer is "duplex", capable of automatic double-sided printing, and I print double-sided all the time without any problems. But when printing a document by an e-mail to my_printer_ID@HPePrint.com  all prints always come out as single-sided regardless of the settings or the defaults on the printer itself (e.g. regardless of the setting on http://your_printer_local_IP_address/hp/device/set_config_ph.html  -- even when the setting here is "Duplex: On", all prints via e-mail to my_printer_ID@HPePrint.com  come out as single-sided).

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As of 2017 HP admitted that double-sided printing was not available for documents sent to your_printer_ID@HPePrint.com  (see this here response from HP: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/LaserJet-Printing/Is-it-possible-to-print-2-sides-with-hpeprint/td-p/6...).

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Five years on and still HP do not allow for double-sided printing when sending a document by e-mail to your_printer_ID@HPePrint.com  -- what a huge waste of paper. This is completely out of touch with all current environmental concerns and goes against the requirements to conserve natural resources. It is not only a huge waste for me, it is a huge waste for every user with a duplex printer who sends a document to their_printer_ID@HPePrint.com .

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And if someone would argue that many people still do not own "duplex" printers and therefore this is not a significant problem, because their printers anyway would print single-sided any documents sent by e-mail to their_printer_ID@HPePrint.com , then the response to this is that usually users who bought duplex printers are those with heavy printing and large volumes and therefore the largest paper waste (due to HP not allowing double-sided printing for documents sent by e-mail to your_printer_ID@HPePrint.com ) will be precisely on "duplex" printers. So this is  a significant problem whichever way one looks at it.

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QUESTION:

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Because (a) single-sided printing is a significant waste of paper and natural resources and because (b) this goes against all current environment-friendly practices: what can we, the users, do to make HP allow for double-sided printing on "duplex" printers when sending a document to  your_printer_ID@HPePrint.com?

[Dragon-Fur]

@RF_Engineer 

Welcome to the HP Community Forum.

ePrint is older technology.

At the time it was introduced, the capabilities were aligned with supporting different printers with different capabilities.

My personal opinion is that ePrint will not be changed or reconfigured to do more than what it can do now.

Select (newer) printers support "Print Anywhere".

Print Anywhere supports newer hardware, newer methodologies, and can still use my_printer_ID@HPePrint.com

“Print Anywhere App” Supported on Select Printers

  HP Printers - Print Anywhere with the HP Smart App

NOTE:  If a print job is blocked for more than 5 minutes, the HP Smart app cancels the job automatically.

For HP+ enabled printers only >> Open Subsection:  Private Pickup

Enable / Disable the service to hold the print job until the person who sent it is near the printer.

Thank you for participating in the HP Community.

Our Community is comprised of volunteers - people who own and use HP devices.

Click Helpful = Yes to say Thank You

Question / Concern Answered, Click "Accept as Solution"

[RF_Engineer]

@Dragon-Fur: thank you indeed for replying to my question and for sharing your thoughts on the prospects of HP improving anything on HPePRINT.com.

I heeded what you said about my question: HP would not want to do anything to allow HPePRINT.com to print double-sided -- for me this would be truly  disappointing because "Print Anywhere" is not really a replacement for printing by an e-mail to <my_printer_ID>@HPePRINT.com -- please see further down. 

About "Print Anywhere": thanks for explaining and pointing this out -- it might be useful functionality, but it does require installation of an app. By contrast, sending an e-mail to <my_printer_ID>@HPePRINT.com normally does not require any installation of anything because most, if not all, users already have some e-mail app (program) installed or they can use a web/browser interface to send an e-mail with the document attached to it. And thus, sending an e-mail is much simpler an action, than installing an app, and then learning how to use it. Consider the case when a guest needs to print a document:  my telling the guest to send the document by e-mail to <my_printer_ID>@HPePRINT.com is much simpler than my telling the guest to install an app, showing them how to use this app, and trying to justify all this by promising that in future the guest would have even more benefits from the app... (Of course, the guest could simply send an e-mail to me with the document in it and I could print it for them, but this would mean that I shall obtain and possibly shall retain an electronic copy of their document, which might not be desirable or even not acceptable for them).

In addition, there are situations when the user is not allowed to install apps on their device as is precisely the case with my corporate laptop, which I am using when working from home and printing on my home printer by sending e-mails to <my_printer_ID>@HPePRINT.com. Our IT Service Desk are not allowed to install drivers for wireless printing on my corporate laptop, including they are are not allowed to install apps from the Microsoft store, like "Print Anywhere", and therefore the only method for printing wirelessly for me at home is to send an e-mail to <my_printer_ID>@HPePRINT.com. This also means that when I print wirelessly I always print single-sided because HPePRINT.com does not allow double-sided printing  -- what a waste of paper!

Of course, I could print double-sided via a USB cable, if I bring my laptop to the location of the printer. But this is far from being convenient and although I do it from time to time, it is reminiscent of how things used to be twenty years ago, when in 2001 I bought my first USB HP InkJet printer. Ever since 2005 I have been printing wirelessly, and now reverting back to using a USB cable feels counterproductive. It turns out, like I explained above, that when working from home (about 95% of my time) if I want to print wirelessly, which also means that  I have to print single-sided because HP do not allow double-sided printing by e-mail to <my_printer_ID>@HPePRINT.com (and our IT Service Desk are not allowed to install any third-party apps for wireless printing like "Print Anywhere" on my corporate laptop). And this wastes a lot of paper...

I wish HP would would double-sided printing by e-mail to <my_printer_ID>@HPePRINT.com (but I heeded what you said, that HP are unlikely to do this, which also means that HP are unlikely to listen to their existing customers with existing printers).

Once again, thank you very much indeed for your response and for sharing your thoughts -- if it turns out that you are right, then this would be most regrettable (and it would mean a lot of wasted paper in my case, or a waste in the form of replacing a perfectly-working printer with a new different brand or model -- a waste whichever way I look at it).

Thanks and regards,

RF_Engineers