What Is Duplex Printing? Two Sides Are Better Than One

Have you ever printed single-sided sheets for a document that easily could’ve been double-sided? In some cases, you might have just forgotten you had the opportunity for double-sided printing. In others, you may not have actually been able to work out if your printer even supports double-sided printing. Double-sided printing is by no means new to the world of printing technology, and yet somehow not all printer models are capable of double-sided printing.

Printer features have come a long way over the past few decades, and as our printers are capable of performing more tasks and functions, understanding just what your home or office printer model is capable of may become more complicated in and of itself.

So how do you know if your printer can handle double-sided printing jobs? That’s easy – look for ‘duplex printing’ in its list of product specifications.

What is duplex printing exactly? What does duplex mean in printing? If these are questions that are currently rattling around inside your head, simply stick with us as our experts at CartridgesDirect share all their insights when it comes to harnessing the power of duplex printing.

Today, we are going to discuss the key difference between duplex printing vs single-sided printing, and why this printing standard is becoming the norm for many home and office printer users today. Keep reading this article to find out all there is to know about duplex printing.

What is duplex printing?

Duplex printing refers to the ability of a printer to automatically print on both sides of a sheet of paper. Printers with duplex printing capabilities are able to automatically flip paper orientations after printing the first page, ensuring printed pages can be fed through the printhead again automatically (i.e. without user involvement) for printing page 2 on the opposite side. 

Today, duplex printing is a feature found on most multifunction printers, leveraging the two engine duplexers found in the printer. Other standard printers will typically have one engine duplexer, and so one side of the page will be printed on and then the paper will need to be flipped inside the printer and then printed on the other side. This is called ‘manual duplex printing’ (i.e. where the user must be involved in order to facilitate double-sided printing).

Automatic duplex printing vs. manual double-sided printing 

Automatic duplex printing is naturally far more efficient and in-demand than manual double-sided printing for a few key reasons. For starters, automatic duplex printing provides a seamless printing experience for printer users. You can simply queue up your printing jobs and return to fresh double-sided prints without having to worry about re-feeding paper through your printer manually.

On that same note, with manual double-sided printing, there are serious risks of feeding your prints through the printer incorrectly, resulting in upside-down page 2 prints or double-up prints (aka, your page 2 text being printed directly on top of page 1 prints). Errors that commonly occur with manual double-sided printing jobs can actually end up producing even more paper waste than simply printing single-sided documents.

Finally, automatic duplex printing ensures that your daily printing practices are greener and cleaner without you even having to make any conscious effort. With automatic duplex printing set up for all your documents, you can significantly reduce your paper waste, saving on office resources and lowering your carbon footprint. Simply put, duplex printing is one of the foremost sustainable printing tips to maintain in your home or office.

So to recap, here are the advantages of automatic duplex printing over double-sided printing that’s performed manually:

• Easier, automatic, and more efficient printing experience
• Less risks of human error which may result in further paper waste
• Promotes greener, more sustainable printing practices with zero effort

How does duplex printing work?

As we mentioned, modern printers that are capable of duplex printing possess a double-engine duplexer over a traditional single-engine duplexer. This means that most modern printers can actually use their double-engine duplexer to print both sides of a page simultaneously rather than having to feed a printed page back through the printhead to process page 2 on the opposite face.

This isn’t to say that printers with a single-engine duplexer can’t facilitate automatic duplex printing. When it comes to actual duplex printing, this can happen via two methods depending on whether you have duplexer hardware or two print engines.

With a single-engine duplexer, each page of your print job prints on a single side first and then flips over to print the rest of your content onto the other side. Whereas a double-engine duplexer, which is a more common design addition for new printers, prints on both sides simultaneously. With this method, a conductor belt generates a picture of both sides of the print job using the data retrieved from your PC or Mac. Then, it sends both sides of the page image to one of two transfuser belts that merge and apply toner as pieces of paper slide through the printing device.

Note too that the duplexer within a printing unit is typically a removable piece of hardware or even hardware that can be used to add-on to your printer should it come with double-sided printing capabilities. In addition to this, printer drives are also required as downloadable software programs that will connect your duplexer with your computer and operating system. So long as the printer allows for single- or double-engine duplex printing and your printer drivers stay fully in communication with your computer and operating system, your device should be able to facilitate automatic duplex printing with minimal fuss.

The Benefits of Duplex Printing

Now that you understand more about duplex printing and how this amazing technology works, let's take a look at some of the reasons why duplex printing is becoming the standard throughout businesses across Australia. From environmental benefits to cost savings, explore our shortlist of duplex printing benefits below.

1. Use less paper.

With automatic duplex printing, you can print double-sided documents without even having to process the request. This autonomous approach to reducing paper usage is preferred in most office environments with carbon targets or even just printer users who want to conserve their printing resources (i.e. paper, printer ink, etc.). 

Alongside helping you conserve paper, duplex printing can also help make lengthy documents more manageable in print form. Imagine having to print out a ~60+ page contract with single-sided printing. Now imagine the same document being half the thickness and with only 30 pages per print. For offices that deal with a higher volume of larger document printing jobs, duplex printing is just as sensible for everyday document handling as it is for office resource monitoring.

If you’re looking to potentially halve your paper usage or even just reduce the size of your printed documents, you’ll be sure to experience this foremost benefit of duplex printing immediately.

2. Save on printing time

As we’ve mentioned, multifunction printers with two engine duplexers can duplex print automatically. But did you know that even simple laser printers have the ability to auto-duplex print without you ever needing to change the settings? So even if you don’t have a top of the range all-in-one printer, you can still enjoy super speedy, automatic duplex printing.

When speed counts in the office, relying on a duplex printer is really going to be an effective tool in your productivity, especially when you don’t have to go through complex print settings on your computer or laptop just to process a print job. Anyone who has printed double-sided on a standard, non-duplex printer will know that it can be a two or three-step process that involves manually refeeding paper to be reprocessed by a printhead. With a reliable duplex-capable printer, however, you can greatly save on printing time from job to job.

3. Fewer paper jams

No matter how sophisticated our printers become, they are all susceptible to a paper jam here and there. Thankfully when you have a multifunction printer with duplex printing, those paper jams are significantly less likely to occur because the double engine design ensures that paper is more likely to be processed uniformly. 

That being said, paper jams may still occur for printers with single-engine duplexing, as the automatic refeeding of paper through the printhead for reprocessing may result in paper getting snuck and needing manual removal. This is why double-engine duplexers are recommended over single-engine for sustainable and efficient duplex printing.

4. Enjoy easy to use interfaces

Given that duplex printing can be found on multifunction printers across all printer brands, we cannot say that every interface will be what you and your office are looking for. What we can say is that telling your printer to duplex print is an automatic feature and will not need to be considered with much thought, making it an easier user experience. 

For offices that rely on mobile printing (i.e. printing jobs generated by mobile phones, tablets, and other mobile devices), this benefit becomes even more important, as you’re more likely to be dealing with larger print queues. With an improved user interface and higher-capacity printing technologies that are boasted by printers with double-engine duplexers, you can enjoy automatic duplex printing at a higher capacity as well as at a faster speed.

Is duplex printing the same as double-sided?

Both duplex printing and double-sided printing end up with the same result - a piece of paper with information printed on both sides. Double-sided printing is the outcome, whereas duplex printing is the technology that creates this outcome. And although duplex printing is a little different to double-sided printing depending on the printer model that you use, overall, they produce exactly the same results.

Duplex Printing Summary

Paper waste is a huge issue, typically accounting for up to 25% of the waste in landfill sites. To cut down on paper waste, better habits or technology need to be used. This is why duplex printing is becoming a standard practice throughout offices and homes, given the vast cost savings and positive environmental impact. 

Alongside being a greener printing practice, duplex printing can also be a huge time and paper-saver. Duplex printing is as fast and as economical as printing gets and can literally cut your paper costs and printing time down by 50% if you’ve invested in an office or home printer with a double-engine duplexer. When using your printer infrequently, half the paper usage may not seem like much. However, multiply that by thousands of prints each year and the benefits of duplex printing become very attractive, to say the least.

Should you want to start duplex printing, it may be time to upgrade your printing unit to ensure that this is possible throughout your office. Our CartridgesDirect team is always ready to discuss which multifunction printer is right for you and your business needs. Get in touch with our team today to learn more about any of our printer models available for purchase, or check out our blog for more green printing tips and printer industry and tech news.