Lawrence’s Little Printing Helpers #1: Duplex Helper
Duplex Helper is a printing extension for use with QuickDraw GX, to make it easier to print double-sided pages on printers that only print one side of the paper at a time.
To use Duplex Helper, you must have QuickDraw GX installed (the current version of QuickDraw GX as of this writing is 1.1.3). To install Duplex Helper, drag a copy to your Extensions folder, and restart your machine.
To make full use of Duplex Helper, you will need an application that supports QuickDraw GX printing. When you do a “Print...” from such an application, you will see a window that looks something like this:
(If you don’t see the scrolling list of icons down the left, click the “More Choices” button. Then look down the list for the Duplex Helper icon, and click that to bring up its panel, like you see above.)
The options that Duplex Helper offers are very simple: “All Pages” means to print all pages in the chosen range; “Even Pages Only” means to print only the even-numbered pages (2, 4 and so on), while “Odd Pages Only” means to print only the odd-numbered pages (1, 3 and so on). In addition, the “Reverse Order Printing” checkbox causes the chosen pages to come out in order of decreasing, rather than increasing, page number.
The procedure for doing double-sided printing depends on the kind of printer you have. Your printer could be of one of four kinds:
1) It prints on the upper side of the paper as fed from the input stack, and stacks the paper in the output tray printed side up;
2) It prints on the upper side of the paper as fed from the input stack, and stacks the paper in the output tray printed side down;
3) It prints on the lower side of the paper as fed from the input stack, and stacks the paper in the output tray printed side up;
4) It prints on the lower side of the paper as fed from the input stack, and stacks the paper in the output tray printed side down.
In each case, you will need to print your document twice, once doing just the even-numbered pages, and the second time just the odd pages. The following sections detail the procedure. (Actually, in each case, there is an alternative procedure that involves doing the odd pages first. But I’ll leave you to work that out, if you want...)
Warning: some printers (for example, colour lasers) are not designed to print again on paper which has already been printed on once (even if it’s on the other side). Duplex Helper is not recommended for use with such printers. If in doubt, check your printer’s instruction manual.
1) Printer Prints on Upper Side, Stacks Output Printed Side Up
(eg Apple StyleWriter, original LaserWriter and LaserWriter Plus)
1) Print the even-numbered pages of your document in reverse order.
2) Flip the output stack over so the blank side is up, and place it in the input tray,
3) If your document has an odd number of pages, place an extra blank sheet on top of the stack in the input tray.
4) Print the odd-numbered pages of your document in reverse order.
2) Printer Prints on Upper Side, Stacks Output Printed Side Down
(eg Apple LaserWriter II family using face-down output tray, LaserWriter Pro family using multipurpose input tray)
1) Print the even-numbered pages of your document in reverse order.
2) Place the output stack in the input tray, blank side up. If your document has an odd number of pages, make sure there’s an extra blank sheet beneath.
3) Print the odd-numbered pages of your document in forward order.
3) Printer Prints on Lower Side, Stacks Output Printed Side Up
(eg Hewlett-Packard DeskWriter family)
1) Print the even-numbered pages of your document in forward order.
2) Place the output stack in the input tray, blank side down.
3) If your document has an odd number of pages, place an extra blank sheet on top of the stack in the input tray.
4) Print the odd-numbered pages of your document in reverse order.
4) Printer Prints on Lower Side, Stacks Output Printed Side Down
(eg Apple LaserWriter Pro family using paper cassette)
1) Print the even-numbered pages of your document in forward order.
2) Place the output stack in the input cassette, blank side down. If your document has an odd number of pages, make sure there’s an extra blank sheet beneath.
3) Print the odd-numbered pages of your document in forward order.
Tip: you may want to practise with small documents of 3-4 pages, to get the procedure right before attempting a big one.
Setting Defaults
Unfortunately, you can only see the Duplex Helper printing panel in an application that supports QuickDraw GX printing—other applications will display restricted print dialogs that look like the pre-QuickDraw-GX ones. To get around this, you can control the default settings for Duplex Helper from the Finder. Select a desktop printer, and a menu called “Printing” will appear. Printing extensions can add their own items to this menu, and in particular you should see one named “Duplex Helper Defaults...”:
Selecting this item will bring up a dialog that contains the same options as in the Duplex Helper printing panel:
The settings you choose here will be the defaults for all subsequent jobs to this printer.
Single-Sided Printing Tip: even if you don’t intend to do much double-sided printing, you can still make use of Duplex Helper’s Reverse Order Printing setting, if your printer is such that this is more convenient. If your printer is of the first or third kinds (output is stacked printed side up), then it is usually easier if the pages come out in reverse order.
