default printer settings

[Bullmule]

Hi;  I was looking at the control panel under devices and printers. I have the HP envy 5660 eprint and there are other devices listed such as fax, which this model doesnt have and 3 others listed that are microsoft print to PDF, Microsoft XPS document writer, and PDF creator, along with this printer. I thought it might be a good idea to make the 5660 the default printer but when i click on set to default printer a warning comes up that says caution if you set this as your default printer windows will stop managing  your default printer. I am afraid it will mess something up. Is this something i should do or not? I had read that you should set your printer as the default printer. Thank-you.

[Bob_Headrick]

There should not be any issue in setting a default printer.  The only case it could make sense for Windows to manage your printers would be if you had a notebook computer and two places where you printed, and wanted to have a different default printer based on location.

[Bullmule]

Hi; Thank-you for your response. Is there any advantage to having your printer set as the default? I do have a notebook but it will not be printed from and is always here at my home. I have read so much if the forums about making sure your printer is set to the default printing settings. Thanks.

[Bob_Headrick · Accepted solution]

The advantage is when you select print it will send to the right place.  Some programs (Printmaster?) will only send things to the default printer.  If you do not have a default printer set print jobs may be sent somewhere else.  I do not see any disadvantages.  

BTW, you can also set default printing preferences - for example, if you always want to print black only and draft mode you can right click on your printer, select printing preferences, set what you want, Apply, OK.