This article will show you how to customize your print job settings when printing from Windows to Canon copiers and HP printers, the two supported brands on the SOU campus. The exact appearance of these settings might differ slightly from printer to printer, so if you find that this article does not help you, please contact your Computing Coordinator.

Finding the Printer Properties (Canon and HP)

This will vary from application to application, but typically you will find a button labeled "properties" or "preferences" when you go to print. Below are some screenshots of what this button looks like in Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, and a generic Windows print prompt.

Microsoft Word

Adobe Acrobat

Generic print prompt

The sections below will walk you through customizing the settings for your print job. In all cases, after you have dialed in the settings, you should click OK at the bottom of the properties window. Windows will then send you back to the application where you can click Print to send the print job with those settings. 

Canon Settings

Basic Settings

Under the Basic Settings tab you can quickly change between 1-sided and 2-sided printing, customize the binding location, set basic collate options, and change the color mode for you print job. This is the default tab that opens when you launch the Canon properties.

Page Setup

Under the Page Setup tab you will find settings pertaining to page size, orientation, page layout, and watermarks.

Finishing

Under the Finishing tab you can further customize settings related to 1-sided/2-sided printing, binding location, and collate settings.

Paper Source

Under the Paper Source tab you can customize settings pertaining to the paper to use for your print job. This is where you could tell the copier to use special paper from the bypass tray for your print job, but be careful! Make sure you have loaded the paper to use before sending the print job, otherwise the copier will stall and refuse to process other jobs until you have provided it with the paper it is expecting in the drawer or tray where it is programmed to look for it.

Quality

Under the Quality tab you will find settings to customize the amount of toner used to produce your print job. The General setting should suffice for the majority of all printing needs on campus, but ask your Computing Coordinator if you think your print job could benefit from a different setting.

HP Settings

Not all of the settings available in the HP settings window are useful, so this article will only focus on the most relevant settings.

Paper/Quality

Under this tab, you will find settings to control the paper size, paper source, and paper type. You can also control print quality here, although the default settings should suffice for the majority of print jobs. If you change Paper source from "automatically select," make sure you have loaded the paper to use in the proper tray before sending the print job, otherwise the copier will stall and refuse to process other jobs until you have provided it with the paper it is expecting in the drawer or tray where it is programmed to look for it.

Effects

In the Effects tab, you will find settings that control the size of your print job and scaling options. You can also add a watermark here.

Finishing

In the Finishing tab, you will find settings to control double-sided printing and "pages per sheet" settings. You can also select portrait or landscape orientation.

Color

In the Color tab on HP color printers, you will find settings to control your color settings. If you need to print in black and white, use the Print in Grayscale checkbox.