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Print directly from finder, change defaults

Hi,

I have to print a lot of PDFs and in stead of opening each one of them, I can simply press cmd+p from the finder and they'd automatically be printed. But the default setting is two-sided and colour, while I want them to be 1 sided, b/w. In the Printers&Scanners I can only set the default size. I tried to print one "normally" from Preview, set all the settings I need, then select "Last used settings" as default, print a copy as I want it, and then go back to cmd+p for the following file, but the system switches back to colour, two-sided.

Is there a way to solve this?

Thanks


Posted on Dec 12, 2021 4:06 AM

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4 replies

Dec 12, 2021 11:35 AM in response to anticafase

You cannot change printer presets without manually launching the printer dialog and switching to a preconfigured black & white preset that also does not perform duplex.


Someone would have to write a complicated swift or objective-c drag and drop application that manipulates your print settings programmatically with NSPrintInfo/NSPrintOperation and then sends the dropped PDF onto the designated printer with the desired preset. You could even suppress the print dialog appearance.


If this was not a b&w settings issue one could at least configure single-page output via the lpoptions for the command-line lp printing tool and put this in an Automator application where you could just drop your PDFs onto it.

Dec 13, 2021 6:49 AM in response to anticafase

You could enable the CUPS web interface and set the printer’s default options there. I don’t know if this applies to Finder printing, but it’s worth a try.


You can access CUPS via http://localhost:631 in Safari, but you need to enable the web interface first, which is done with


cupsctl WebInterface=yes


in Terminal. In macOS Big Sur and Monterey there is a weird new behaviour which forces you to unlock the System Preferences padlock first in order for CUPS being reachable for Safari. See more about that at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252638638


Once you are in the web interface you select Administration / Manage Printers (select yours) / Set Default Options



You can see in the screenshot that my printer defaults to color + duplex here.

Dec 12, 2021 10:27 AM in response to anticafase

This won't really help with batch printing - I don't know how to change the default settings when printing from Finder - but a possible workaround, a slow workaround, is to open the printer proxy of the target printer, select the pdf, then the option key, and drag the pdf on to the proxy's window. That should present a print dialog where you can change the settings - or use "Last Used Settings". Not really answering your question, but I hope this helps.

Print directly from finder, change defaults

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