How to Change Default Print Settings in Windows 11

If you change default print settings in Windows 11 once, every new print job starts the way you want: on the right paper size, on both sides of the page, in black and white for everyday documents. Without that, you end up picking the same options in every print dialog, or worse, wasting paper and colour ink. This guide shows where the defaults live, which ones are worth changing, and why an app sometimes ignores them.

Defaults vs one-off settings

Windows printing has two layers:

• Printing preferences (the driver defaults): set once per printer, used by every app as its starting point.
• The app’s print dialog: changes made there apply to that job, and some apps remember them for the next job or save them in the document.

So the defaults set the baseline, and an app can still override them. That explains most “Windows ignores my settings” complaints.

The default printer itself is a separate setting. Our guide to setting a default printer in Windows 11 covers it, including the Let Windows manage my default printer switch that Microsoft describes.

Step 1: open Printing preferences

1. Select Start, then Settings.
2. Go to Bluetooth & devices, then Printers & scanners. This is the path Microsoft’s support pages use.
3. Select the printer.
4. Select Printing preferences.

The window that opens comes from the printer driver, not from Windows, so the tabs differ between brands and between the maker’s full driver and the basic Windows driver. Common tab names are Main, Layout, Paper/Quality, Finishing and Advanced. If you do not see an option you expect, it may need the maker’s full driver; see installing a printer driver in Windows 11.

Step 2: the defaults worth setting

Paper size

Set Paper size (also called Page size or Document size) to the paper you actually load, usually A4 outside North America and Letter in the US and Canada. A computer bought in another country, or a printer set up with the wrong region, often defaults to the other size, which leads to cropped pages or a paper size mismatch error.

Also check the paper size and type set for the tray on the printer’s own control panel, if it has one. The printer compares what the job asks for with what the tray says it holds.

Two-sided printing

Look for Two-sided, Duplex, Print on both sides or 2-sided printing. Choose long-edge binding (also called book or flip on long edge) for normal portrait documents; short-edge is for calendars and notepad-style layouts. If your printer has no automatic duplex unit, you may only see a manual option, where the printer asks you to turn the stack over.

Colour or black and white

Set Grayscale, Black and white or Monochrome as the default if most of what you print is text. You can switch to colour in the print dialog when you need it. Note that grayscale printing on some inkjets can still use some colour ink; the printer’s documentation explains how its mode works.

Quality

Standard or Normal suits most documents. Draft or Economy saves ink or toner for drafts and is worth making the default if you print a lot of internal pages. High is for photos and is better chosen per job.

Paper type

If you only ever print on plain paper, leave the type on Plain paper. Do not set photo paper as the default, because the printer will lay down far more ink.

Click Apply, then OK, and print a short document to check.

Step 3: rename the printer

A clear name saves picking the wrong printer from a list:

1. In Printers & scanners, select the printer.
2. Choose Printer properties.
3. On the General tab, type a new name in the box at the top, for example “Upstairs laser”, and click OK.

The new name applies on that PC only. Other computers keep their own name for the same printer. If you see two entries for one printer, for example one for USB and one for Wi-Fi, remove the one you do not use; our guide to adding a printer in Windows 11 explains how to remove and re-add it.

Defaults are per printer and per user

Printing preferences apply only to the printer you changed. If you have two printers, or the same printer added twice, set each one. On a PC with several Windows accounts, each user has their own preferences, so set them in each account.

For a printer shared on the network, each client PC can set its own preferences too.

When an app ignores the defaults

• Word and other Office apps store a paper size in each document. A document created with Letter stays Letter even if the printer default is A4. Change it in the document’s page setup.
• Web browsers keep their own print settings, such as headers, margins and scale, and some remember the last choice.
• PDF readers may have a “Choose paper source by PDF page size” option that overrides the tray.
• Some apps remember the last printer and settings, so a one-off colour job can become the new starting point. Reset it in the app’s dialog.

If the defaults still do not apply, remove the printer, add it again and set Printing preferences before you print anything.

Mac and other systems

On a Mac, the equivalent defaults are split. Apple’s guide explains that in System Settings, Printers & Scanners, you choose the default printer and can give each printer a descriptive name or location; the same settings page has a default paper size menu. Two-sided, colour and quality settings are chosen in the print dialog, where you can save them as a preset. Our Mac printer guide covers adding the printer first.

On Windows 10, the path is Settings, Devices, Printers & scanners, select the printer, Manage, Printing preferences; see our Windows 10 guide. To check the result on any system, print a test page.