Offset double sided printing

[MacZi]

Hi, I'm trying to print double sided from a Powerpoint document to make a booklet. I've included a centre line for the fold and each 'page' has boxes. When I print black and white everything aligns up perfectly, but when I print in colour nothing is aligned. I've searched for potential reasons and fixes, tried them but they still don't work. Manually flipping is the only thing that makes any differences - by about a quarter of a centimetre. I this because I'm printing from Powerpoint and not Word? is there something I'm missing 

[Hawks_Eye]

Hi @MacZi 

Welcome to the HP Support Community! We're here to help you get back up and running.

Thank you for providing those details. We understand how important it is for a booklet layout to align accurately, especially when the black-and-white output is correct but the color version shifts during double-sided printing.

Since the alignment is accurate in black and white, the printer hardware is likely functioning as expected. Color printing uses additional ink layers and printhead passes, which can sometimes cause slight differences in page positioning compared to monochrome printing. 

PowerPoint can also contribute because it is primarily a presentation application and does not always maintain duplex print alignment as precisely as document-layout applications.

Please try the following:

1. In PowerPoint, save the file as a PDF and print the PDF instead of printing directly from PowerPoint.
2. In the HP App, check the print settings and set the paper type to match the paper being used. An incorrect paper type can affect print positioning.
3. Disable any "Fit to Page," "Scale to Fit," or similar scaling options and print at 100% actual size.
4. Ensure the same duplex option is used for every test. Try both "Flip on Long Edge" and "Flip on Short Edge" depending on the booklet orientation.
5. Print a color test on a few sheets and compare the front-to-back shift. If the offset is consistent, slightly adjust the booklet layout margins to compensate.

To better understand the behavior, could you let us know:

• Are you printing directly from PowerPoint or from a PDF created from PowerPoint?
• What paper size are you using (A4, Letter, etc.)?
• Approximately how much is the color print misaligned compared to black and white?

This information will help us narrow down whether the alignment difference is being introduced by the application, print settings, or the duplex print process itself.

Take care, and have an amazing day!

Regards, 

Hawks_Eye