Do printers that allow for duplex printing require software that enables the duplex printing? What I'm currently looking for is a printer that will allow for duplex printing but does not require the user to input on his computer whether or not the document is printed in duplex or not. Instead, I was hoping this could be done by switching the duplex part of the printer on and off. In theory, the computer would never even know if the printer was printing two-sided or not.

My experience has been that duplex support is built into the printer driver. If there is a driver for your printer built-in to Windows it may not include duplex support. Download/use the driver supplied by the manufacturer of the printer. The printers I have used, require user input to print duplex. If the printer is robust enough you may be able to force duplex to be the default through the onboard bios settings(this is a guess.)

To print duplex properly requires that the printer also has duplex capabilities. It can usually be turned on or off via software. All printers with duplex capability I have seen allow for duplex to be on or off by default. To print duplex via software only requires the you print all the odd pages, turn the batch over and feed them back in and print the even pages. Not a very good way of doing it because if you get a paper jamb half way through the second run you will miss some pages. Stuart

"If the printer is robust enough you may be able to force duplex to be the default through the onboard bios settings(this is a guess.)" ...of the printer, in which case it is better to call it firmware. I doubt you could do that. You probably can make duplex printing the default in the printer's settings if it isn't already the default, and turn it off only when you don't want that. It would probably default to one sided for photos, and some other situations, in any case. Download the manual for the printers you were considering getting and take a look. E.g. Canon printers have good manuals. If you want to spend the least on cartridges or ink tanks, check out the ink capacity of them, and the average number of pages rating stated. Sometimes the ink capacities are hard to find, even on the manufacturer's web sites - some state the capacity on the cartridge or ink tank packaging (e.g. Canon, some HP, some Epson)you see in stores. There are a lot of cheaper printers out there that have tiny ink capacities (e.g. many recent HP, Lexmark, Dell, some recent lower end Canon) and a lower average number of pages rating. Some can use optional higher capacity cartridges, many cannot. Some have a reputation of coming with cartridges that are not full (e.g. Lexmark). The money you save buying these printers is quickly negated by the higher cost of having to buy the cartridges or ink tanks more often. I recommend Canon - ones with ink tanks if you think you can be careful you don't abuse the built in printhead and let it clog or its ink ports dry out (e.g. that use CLI8 series cartridges) - or ones with the higher capacity cartridges (with printheads in the cartridge) if you not sure you'd be careful enough (e.g. that use the CL-51 and CL-52 higher capacity ones).

If the printer is connected to a print server, you would set the default duplex option on the print server (also allowing the user to change to print single-sided.) Assuming of course, that your printer supports duplexing. If it's not on a server, then the user would set the option. Life is more painless for those who are brainless.

Where did the OP say he was using an ink-jet printer. I don't know of any ink-jet printers that have duplex capabilities. Dragging a sheet of paper back into an ink-jet immediately after it has been printed is not going to do either the printer or the printout much good. We you talk about printers with duplex capabilities the assumption is we are are talking about laser printers. Stuart

Lots of inkjet printers can do duplex printing these days. I just bought a Canon IP4200 for a friend that does it.