Multiple printers

Hello Jackhandle Welcome to the Ten Forums!

One suggestion that could prove useful for you there would be turning the Cannon model off when going to print envelopes so none of that type of print job is accessed by the wrong printer. The Cannon printer wouldn't see any of that type of print job in it's cache which basically is remembering what print job was left remaining.

During the normal everyday color printing you would leave the Lexmark lazer printer turned off instead. In fact you would turn each printer off so that would be unavailable in between print jobs. You might have to adjust settings as far as which is set as the default however while Windows usually will prompt for which printer to use or provide the option to choose when two or more are present.

Jackhandle said:

I have two printers both connected by USB. One is a Lexmark Mono Laser and the other is a Canon colour Ink Jet. I do not want to set either of them as the default. The Lexmark will be used for B & W printing of letter heads and envelopes. Ideally I want to set the Lexmark up twice so version one can be set to print the normal stuff and version two to do just the envelopes. I can then rename them as Letters and Envelopes respectively then with a simple click I can choose to print whatever is required.

Problem as is at the moment the Canon is picking up the settings of the Lexmark. The Lexmark is set for duplex and the Canon should be single sided but no it picks up the duplex signal from the Lexmark. Ergo it takes ages to set each printer up before I can actually print. Is there any way windows X can sort this or is there an aftermarket Printer Controller available or do I have to find another OS altogether.

Being 70 years old I do have difficulty with technical jargon so please be gentle with me!!!!

That's a strange problem, Jackhandle! I have three printers; a Brother Laser, a Brother Color and an HP that will print up to 16 x 20 Color. None of these printers ever takes on what was printed on another one, so that's a new one on me.

Have you gone into Settings>Devices,Bluetooth,Printers,Mouse and turned off "Let Windows Manage My Default Printer"? It's turned on by default and will always make the last printer you used the default. If you use the Lexmark, it will try to print from that the next time; if you used the Canon last, it will try to use that the next time you want to print.

One thing I do here often is first save the print job to a file first and then simply right click to choose the print option. The printer(s) detected at the moment when more then one is present will usually see a list of them to choose from. When turning a printer off following the last print that completes the printer cache or memory of the job generally is cleared out.

Sometimes when a print plays stubborn and simply won't happen right away I end up turning the printer in use off and back on and then back off again a few times while seeing the job canceled to see that happen. The next fresh attempt will then likely see the print completed.

While looking into this a bit further I ran across a pair of blogs regarding a free print tool called the Automatic Print Switcher app that you click for each print and select the printer as you go along. Just as in your set up there if you have one for documents and another for images, photos, etc. you simply send that type of print job to that printer regardless of which one is set as the default in Windows. The free app is old however while the system requirements show All Windows both blogs point to the 32bit Windows 7 as well as XP and Vista. The first is seen at the Lifehacker blog site. Automatic Printer Switcher Changes Default Printer for Different Programs

The second blog at the addictivetips blog site has a Softpedia download link in that found at Change Default Printer For Different Print Jobs

Now the Sofpedia link in that blog is for the 2..0.0.0 version dated 10/19/2013 while the latest you would be interested in would be the 2.1 version found at Automatic Printer Switcher 2.1 Download (Free) - PrinterSwitcher.exe

The page there was just updated in Dec. 2015. Just click No to the software informer prompt for subscribing to that site's feed being the only annoyance found. The tool is compatible with both the 32bit and 64bit Windows so that wouldn't pose any particular compatibilty issues and the tool now sees a 4 out 5 star rating overall. This might be what will the best for you.

Just to note one more thing here is that the two versions were found at "clean sites" as well as while flags went up on a few other places! So there is any worry about malwares being tossed at you while the other places had question marks.

tomahawk said:

okay

Hello there! tomahawk Welcome to the Ten Forums!