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I have a one side printer and I want to print on front and back.

What do I do? First print odd pages, turn papers, then print even pages.

I would like to know if there is an add-on or an option to print front and back on one side printers. On windows there is an utility that guides you to do so with one click, is there something similar on Ubuntu for Evince?

Vitor Abella
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  • this question may be related: https://askubuntu.com/questions/281620/how-to-print-only-even-or-odd-pages-hp-laserjet-1018/1049774#1049774 – hiro protagonist Jun 26 '18 at 06:42

1 Answers1

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Technique

  1. Assuming pages are output in the normal order. Print only even numbered pages in reverse order.

  2. Put stack of printed pages back in the tray. Print only odd numbered pages, in normal order.

  3. Print only the even numbered pages, printing in normal order. Put the stack of printed paper back in the fresh paper tray. Print only the odd numbered pages, printing in reverse order.

  4. If the number of pages in total is odd, remember to put a blank sheet on the end after printing the even number pages to give something for the final odd page to print on the back of.

Getting the Paper the Right Way Round

The only tricky bit is getting the paper in the right way round when putting it back in. Getting it the wrong side up will cause overprinting and getting it the wrong end up will cause half the pages to be upside down. The correct way up will depend on the particular printer.

Most small laser printers these days take paper in from a fresh paper tray at the bottom, fed in short edge first, print on it starting with the page top, flip it over top to bottom and spew it out above the fresh paper tray. For these, put the even-side printed paper back in the fresh paper tray face down with the top of the page pointing towards the printer. Most cheap inkjet printers these days take paper in from a fresh paper tray at the top, fed in short edge first, print on it starting with the page top, and spew it out below infront of the printer. For these, also put the even-side printed paper back in the fresh paper tray face down with the top of the page pointing towards the printer. Anyway, it only needs testing once for a printer, there are only 4 possibilities to test and the sheets of paper consumed in testing will immediately be compensated for by the first pages of two-sided printing.

Etc. If the application print dialogue contains the option to print a selection of pages, just put "1,3,5,7" etc. in that box, print & repeat with "2,4,6,8" etc.. If you need a list of the first thousand page numbers divided into odd & even comma separated lists for convenience, here they are: odd numbers;even numbers. 2. Convert it to PDF. I've read, but not tested, that the Acrobat Reader 8.1 has the option to print odd & even pages separately. 3. Alternatively show the navigation pane in Acrobat Reader, resize the thumbnails so exactly 2 columns fit in and drag select the whole of one column then print that selection.

Benzle
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