Print multiple copies of a page or document in Windows 7 + Collate settings when printing several pages
The default print setting in Windows 7 (and Windows Vista or Windows XP) is to print only a single copy of the selected document - and even if you previously printed multiple copies of the same file, it will automatically revert to printing a single copy next time you try to print a document (a nice automatic option that prevents wastes of paper!) This tutorial explains how to print several copies of the same file or document, and will also show you how to customize your collation settings (choosing in what order the printer should "spit out" each page). Note that while this tutorial focuses on Windows 7, the same technique can be used in Windows Vista or Windows XP.
How to print several copies of the same document or page in Windows 7
Follow these steps to send a number of duplicate pages to your printer.
- First, start by invoking a Print command of some kind to get to the "Print" dialog: this could be choosing "Print" from the File menu, clicking on a printer icon in a toolbar or inside the ribbon, or even by pressing the Ctrl+P keyboard shortcut. All that matters is that you end up seeing a dialog that looks like this (all applications have the option of using their own, customized version of the Print dialog, but it should look quite similar in most cases). Here's the standard Print dialog in Windows 7:
- Look towards the bottom right corner of the dialog, and you will see the multiple copies options we mentioned, including the so-called "Collate" settings: (disabled/grayed out when only a single print copy is selected, since this option doesn't apply in that case)
- To print several versions of the same document, simply type another number than "1" (single copy) inside the "Number of copies" text field. You can also use the up or down arrow buttons to increase or decrease the number of copies you want printed.
- Either way, the collating options become available once you choose to have more than one copy printed; in the screenshot below, you see the default setting, which is to collate, in other words printing all pages in order, and than starting over; this is taken from the Print dialog in Word 2007:
- Notice that as you check or uncheck the "Collate" checkbox, Windows 7 will update the icons of printed pages to show you the difference; here is the screenshot of multiple document copies to print without collation: (still for the Print dialog in Word 2007, but you will get the exact same effect by turning collation on or off inside the standard Windows 7 Print dialog)
- Once you have chosen the number of copies of the document you want to print, make sure that you have selected the right printer and configured the other printing options, if any, that you needed.
- Finally, click on the "OK" button to print all your copies (or press Enter on your keyboard).
Note that, depending on the printer or print driver you are using, and from which program you are trying to print multiple copies of the same document / file, you may receive the following error message: "This printer cannot support this many copies. Number of copies will be set to printer maximum of 1." If this is the case (as when printing from WordPad to PDF print driver, for example), you will just need to manually print the same document multiple times, back-to-back, instead of printing once for multiple copies.