I am a new Dorico 5 user (Mac Sonoma) and my Canon printer insists on printing double-sided even though I’ve set the single-sided option everywhere I can see. I have no such problem with any other application. I have reinstalled the printer (several times). I can’t mess about with the printer’s internal settings to debar double-sided printing because it is shared; in any case I often do want to print double-sided. I just want the choice, as every other app I use gives me.
This seems to me a major fault in an otherwise terrific program. Is there any chance of it being fixed?
Welcome to the forum, Katy!
This issue is because of the Qt environment in which Dorico is built, that compiles to three operating systems from one source. So it isn’t in their power to fix it. If you can’t set single-sided printing directly on the printer, I think the only other good way is to print to PDF, open that in Preview, and print to paper from there.
Thank you.
Well, I can do that of course. If it is not in Dorico’s power to fix this, I do wonder why they have committed themselves to using an environment which would fail to offer a facility that every other application manages without difficulty. it is almost (not quite!) enough to send me back to Sibelius.
Ironically the only time I really want single-sided printing is for (some) music - for everything else I do double-sided is fine.
Assuming that nothing can be done, so that this is a permanent (non-) feature, it would be good if there were a warning somewhere in the documentation; the problem does seem to be Mac-specific from what others have said, but it is certainly not confined to Brother printers.
I’m sure that someone in the team will chip in here, but a few things:
- On a Mac, you can always use the System dialogs at the bottom left of the screen;
(though I believe there are reasons why the Dorico print interface should be preferred.)
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Alternatively, you can set up a print queue (i.e. another “Printer” to the same device) with different default settings. And then just select that printer when you want to print single. (Though saving defaults for a given print queue on MacOS is not as simple as it should be – e.g. going to the CUPS web-based control.)
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The settings in Dorico’s print mode work for me on my Xerox laser printer (and on my old HP), even though they are set to duplex by default. So why some printers don’t respond to the settings is unknown.
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FWIW, MuseScore and Sibelius are both built on Qt, too; so I don’t think that’s the cause of any issue. It’s notable that the problem doesn’t seem to occur on Windows.
Thank you, that’s interesting. Using the System dialogs was the first thing I tried but it doesn’t make any difference - I still get double-sided when I ask for single.
The idea of a separate print queue might be worth pursuing - but as nobody seems to understand why the ss printing works in many instances and fails in others, I am not convinced that even that will work - and if I have to remember to send stuff to a different print queue each time, I might as well just go down the PDF route.
So, setting the print presets in the MacOS print dialog doesn’t affect duplexing in Dorico, but does in other applications? That’s very weird, as that should be essentially outside the app’s purview.
Could I ask a favour? Using a very small Dorico project (i.e. a brand new project with just one instrument and no notes), could you go to the system print dialog, set single-sided, but then under the “PDF” button, click on “Save As PostScript”?
You’ll need to zip the file (Right-click in the Finder > Compress) to upload it here. Hopefully I can see exactly what instructions are being sent.
Well, it’s just one additional option in the Print mode interface (which will then be remembered for next time), so not really equivalent to saving a PDF, finding it, opening it and printing it again.
I have just tried again with the system dialogs and this time it worked. I must have missed an option last time round, though I thought I had set everything several times over! It looks as though the problem is solved - sorry for taking up your time. (It is still anooying that Dorico purports to offer SS and then doesn’t do it, but that’s a minor point).
Since Dorico works properly with so many different printers, perhaps there is some fault with the printer or its driver. Needless to say, the Dorico Team would address the problem from their end if it were possible.
Well, if it were just me I could believe that, but many people with different makes of printer are having the same problem. We do seem to have a workaround, but I don’t believe all these different users separately have printer or driver faults.
I’m sure the Dorico team would like to solve it. I’m curious myself, as a former software developer, about things that misbehave only in particular contexts. But it may be beyond their control, and certainly tricky to investigate, as printer issues always are.