• Home
  • About 404TS
  • Contact

404 Tech Support

Where IT Help is Found

  • Articles
    • Code
    • Entertainment
    • Going Green
    • Hardware, Gadgets, and Products
    • Management
    • Network
    • News
    • Operating Systems
    • Security and Privacy
    • Software
    • System Administration
    • Talking Points
    • Tech Solutions
    • Web
    • Webmaster
  • Reviews
  • Media
    • Infographics
    • Videos
  • Tech Events
  • Tools
    • How do I find my IP address?
    • Browser and plugin tests
  • Get a Technical Consultation
You are here: Home / Articles / Tech Solutions / Setting Printing Defaults in Mac OS X through presets and CUPS

Setting Printing Defaults in Mac OS X through presets and CUPS

2012-08-28

New printers around my organization mean different default settings than what people are used to. On the Mac side, I had to look into saving Presets and changing the default behavior to make people happy. Duplexing (printing on both sides) by default seems like a great way to save paper but many people don’t care for it or it doesn’t work for professional printing. The copiers also have PIN codes on them to track printing by department. Having to enter this PIN at each print can be quite annoying when the copiers cancel any job that doesn’t include a PIN by default.

To configure the print settings, you start by looking from a print job, not under system preferences. In my example, I opened Safari and went to File, Print… This brings up the quick print screen you see below.

By clicking the down arrow at the end of the printer drop-down, it expands to the full list of options in the print dialog window.

You can see some common printer settings now but a lot more customization is in the bottom drop-down, in this case labeled Safari. Clicking that gives a lot of options to choose from where multiple settings can be configured. The big settings that I have been asked about are printing to only one side instead of both sides by default and including a PIN code with a print job.

To change the 2-sided printing, you’ll find the settings under Printer Features, which will likely be different for each driver. In this case, another drop-down will be listed below and we’ll select Layout. There, we can change Print Type from 2-Sided to 1-Sided.

The next setting for this Konica Minolta is found under Security. I checked the box for Account Track and entered the department’s PIN code. Now to save these two settings that I have configured, I went to the Presets drop-down and chose Save As… (You can’t save over the Standard settings.).

After clicking Save As, a Save Preset As dialog will popup asking you to give the preset a name and whether it should be available on all printers or only this printer.

Now that you have a preset configured with the settings you want, you can choose it from near the top of the print dialog box. Unfortunately, you will have to choose it every time over the Standard settings. If you want a setting to be the new default hold down the Option key when you hit print to set this new preset as the default preset for future print jobs.

In my instance, the preset didn’t quite do the trick for me. Selecting the preset remembered that I only wanted to print one sided and it remembered the PIN code but it didn’t remember the checkbox to use the PIN code.

To fix that problem, I had to access the Mac’s CUPS web interface. To do that, I used Safari and went to http://localhost:631 On the page that comes up, I clicked on the Printers tab and selected the link to my printer. On the right drop-down, I chose the Set Default Options from the menu.

That took me to an Administration tab. Clicking on the Security link, it gave me roughly the same options I saw through the print dialog interface. I switch the Account Track radio button to On and hit the ‘Set Default Options’ button. This prompted for the Mac’s administrator account and password. Upon entering the credentials, the defaults were updated.

Now, when the user goes to print, the dialog defaults to the 1-sided preset that I created and the Account Track checkbox is checked by default. Everything is now working how they want it.

If it was only a matter of wanting to print 1-Sided instead of 2-Sided, I could skip the Presets step altogether and jump into CUPS. From there, I can configure the printer under the Layout tab and set the default to be single sided printing as the default option and this would affect the Standard preset that was previously available in the account.

Filed Under: Tech Solutions

Trending

  • Microsoft’s new All-in-One Media Keyboard
    In Hardware, Gadgets, and Products
  • Make Your Firefox Search Engine use Google’s SSL (https) Search for Security Reasons
    In Media, Security and Privacy, Software
  • nLite – Easily integrate drivers into Windows XP/Server 2003 install CDs
    In Software, System Administration, Tech Solutions

Latest Media Posts

Multifunctional Video Conversion Tools – Wondershare Video Converter

Multifunctional Video Conversion Tools – Wondershare Video Converter

The WannaCry Post-Mortem

The WannaCry Post-Mortem

  • Popular
  • Latest
  • Today Week Month All
  • Microsoft Word: “This modification is not allowed because the selection is locked.” Microsoft Word: "This modification is not allowed because the selection is locked."
  • How to edit the message subject in Outlook 2016 How to edit the message subject in Outlook 2016
  • What is the AllJoyn Router Service on Windows 10? What is the AllJoyn Router Service on Windows 10?
  • Increase IIS Private Memory Limit to improve WSUS availability Increase IIS Private Memory Limit to improve WSUS availability
  • Scan-To-Email with Office 365 from a multifunction copier or printer Scan-To-Email with Office 365 from a multifunction copier or printer
  • 5 Factors To Look At When Choosing Web Hosting 5 Factors To Look At When Choosing Web Hosting
  • How managers can improve their team’s written communication skills How managers can improve their team’s written communication skills
  • Online Casino Technology – How Does It All Work? Online Casino Technology – How Does It All Work?
  • Virtual Assistant Devices Will Reshape Your Life in 2019 Virtual Assistant Devices Will Reshape Your Life in 2019
  • The 5 Most Common Problems with PC Gaming The 5 Most Common Problems with PC Gaming
Ajax spinner

Upcoming Tech Events

There are no upcoming events at this time.

Elevator Pitch

404 Tech Support documents solutions to IT problems, shares worthwhile software and websites, and reviews hardware, consumer electronics, and technology-related books.

Subscribe to 404TS articles by email.

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

  • 5 Factors To Look At When Choosing Web Hosting
  • How managers can improve their team’s written communication skills
  • Online Casino Technology – How Does It All Work?

Search

FTC Disclaimer

404TechSupport is an Amazon.com affiliate; when you click on an Amazon link from 404TS, the site gets a cut of the proceeds from whatever you buy. This site also uses Skimlinks for smart monetization of other affiliate links.
Use of this site requires displaying and viewing ads as they are presented.

Copyright © 2019 · 404TechSupport.com