HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 will not print duplex from Word on macOS

[BrianLMoe]

Just installed new HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 on macOS Sierra version 10.12.2. Using MS Word for Mac version 15.29.

I bought the 6978 in a large part because the product sales info said "Save paper and conserve resources—consume up to 50% less paper with automatic two-sided printing."

However, I cannot get it to print 2 sided from Word. The Word Print dialog box does not offer a "Two-sided" checkbox, and when I  go to the "Layout" section and click "Two-sided" either Long edge or Short edge binding, it does not print two sided, just prints 2 sheets of paper.

Note that the MS Excel Print dialog box does show a "Two-Sided" checkbox. And, that the Mac "Preview" program's Print dialog box does have a "Two-Sided" checkbox, and it correctly prints a PDF document on both sides.

If I can't get this feature to work I'll have to return this printer.

[MKazi]

@BrianLMoe

Happy New Year to you! Thanks for reaching out to us on HP Support Forums. 🙂 I came across your post and would like to help.

I understand that you have an HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One Printer install on Mac OS Sierra and you are unable to get the two sided printing to work on Microsoft Word on Mac. The Word Print dialog box does not offer a "Two-sided" checkbox. I also read that the  Microsoft Excel Print dialog box does show a "Two-Sided" checkbox. And, the Mac "Preview" program's Print dialog box does have a "Two-Sided" checkbox, and it correctly prints a PDF document on duplex. I appreciate the steps you have performed and have certainly done a good job.

I would like to inform you that the print dialog boxes for both Excel and Word should be the same. 

Refer to printing and Changing Print Settings (Mac)

Let me know if this is similar to what you see in Word (though without the duplex printing option). Let me know. Cheers! 🙂

[BrianLMoe]

Thanks, Kazi, for taking a look at this issue.

I've attached screen shots of the Word and Excel dialog, you can see that they are different, the Excel dialog offers a "Two-sided" checkbox, the Word dialog does not.

Word:

Excel:

By the way, I have a found a workaround ... I can print the Word document to a PDF, and the PDF print dialog allows 2-sided printing. This is not preferred, however, it's an extra step.

Thanks,

Brian

[MKazi]

@BrianLMoe

You are welcome Brian.:)

Thanks for sharing the pictures. 

Seems like there is some limitation imposed by Word. Because if duplexing is present in Excel, it should come up in Word as well. 

As an alternate, I suggest you to check the steps mentioned in "Configure the automatic duplexer in the HP software" mentioned under "Frequently asked questions" from this link: http://hp.care/2ffZJbG

Let me know how it goes. Thanks again!

[BrianLMoe]

I  tried the "Configure the automatic duplexer in the HP software" solution you mentioned before I submitted the issue.

When I go to the Priter Setup utility, choose "Options and Supplies", note that my dialog does not have the "Options" tab, so I cannot select  "HP Two-Sided Printing Accessory" as the FAQ posting indicates I should.

[MKazi]

@BrianLMoe

Please try reinstalling the printing system in Mac and then restart the Mac and check. Please view this video regarding resetting printing system: http://hp.care/2f9ksug.

Let me know. Thank you!

[BrianLMoe]

I did the reset and restarted the  machine and 1) now the Options and Supplies dialog only shows "General" and "Supply Levels", I don't have the "Utilities" tab any more, and 2) Word still doesn't show the "Two-sided" printing checkbox.

[MKazi]

@BrianLMoe

Could we try to run the Word program as an administrator and check if it helps. Otherwise, we may uninstall and reinstall the printer drivers again and check. 

Today, I faced an issue with Windows where only Microsoft Word documents would not print. So after running the Word program as administrator it started to print. Again, the steps I suggested as trial and error based and may help us.

Let me know if you happen to try the steps. Thank you again. I appreciate you taking your valuable time to troubleshoot.

Cheers!

[BrianLMoe]

Hi, Kazi -

The account that I log into on my Mac has admin privileges. Other than that, I don't know how to run Word as an Administrator. I googled it, but I'm not experienced enough on a Mac to know what to do, sorry. If that ends our conversation, well, thanks for trying to help me! Again, I have a workaround, though not a preferred solution.

[MKazi]

@BrianLMoe

Thank you for replying. 

This link should help from Mac: http://hp.care/2hPh5gp

Otherwise, we could try to uninstall and reinstall the printer drivers to check if it helps. For any further help let me know. Thanks again!