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javelinictFlag for Netherlands

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Duplex printing starts on wrong side of paper

Since a couple of weeks our duplex printing settings have changed.

We have a Windows 2003 print server.

Situation:
- multiple printers (HP and other brands) with multiple trays.
- each printer has a tray with letterhead

When I print a non duplex to letterhead tray all is well.

When I print duplex to letterhead I get page 1 on the back of the letterhead upside down, page 2 on the front of the letterhead (upside down as well) etc.

This seems to affect all 3 printers?

It's so unlogical? How did this suddenly happen? Windows update. How to reverse this behaviour.
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arnold
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Check to make sure you are not printing in reverse.  Often there is an order printing option, I.e. Even pages first, etc.
Presumably your use of duplex means you print double sided versus having the functionality of transmitting and receiving at the same time.

Check printing preferences.
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DansDadUK
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Thank you DansDad for the explanation. I'm going to look into it and see if I can find the option and scan the printer manuals for paper loading instructions.

I'll get back to it.
I agree with DansDadUK.

The reason for this behaviour is that, when duplexing, most printers print page 2 before page one, to make sure the pages stack correctly in the output tray. The stacking is such that, in simplex printing, the page ends up face down. If the printer were to print page 1 before page two, the paper would end up in the output tray with page two down, and the page order would be 2,1,4,3,6, etc.

Unless your printer has a special setting as suggested by DansDadUK, the only thing you can do is to reverse the letterhead in the tray.
What I don't yet understand is the implication of the claim that "Since a couple of weeks our duplex printing settings have changed", which I took to suggest that nothing has been changed on the printers, yet the printing behaviour has changed.

... and to correct a slight error in my original post, the tray 2/3 loading instructions for Letterhead paper, with Alternative Letterhead Mode = Off, for the Colour LaserJet CP3525 should have been:

for 1-sided (simplex) printing, load media "Face up; Top edge at the right side of the tray"
for 2-sided (duplex) printing, load media "Face down; Top edge at the left side of the tray"