Changing Your Printer Settings

Depending on the characteristics and capabilities of your printer, you may be able to customize a variety of settings. For instance, you may be able to control how it prints graphics or handles paper when printing. To customize your printer settings, follow these steps if you are using Windows 8 or Windows 10:

1. Display the Control Panel.
2. Click the View Devices and Printers under the Hardware and Sound heading. You may have to scroll down a bit to find the Printers section. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Devices and Printers screen.

3. Right-click on the printer whose settings you want to change. Windows displays a context menu.
4. Choose Printer Properties from the Context menu. (You may see two Properties choices in the Context menu; make sure you choose Printer Properties.) Windows displays the Properties dialog box for the printer. (See Figure 2.)



Figure 2. The Properties dialog box for a printer.

5. Use the tabs and controls within the dialog box to specify the settings you want your printer to use. (The tabs and controls available in the dialog box will vary depending on your printer make and model.)
6. Close the dialog boxes opened by following these steps.

If you are using Windows 7, the steps are a bit different, primarily in how you get to the printer drivers on the system:

1. Click Start and then click Devices and Printers. Windows 7 displays the Devices and Printers screen. Note that the current default printer has a green circle next to it that contains a check mark.
2. Right-click on the printer whose settings you want to change. Windows 7 displays a Context menu.
3. Choose Printer Properties from the Context menu. (You may see two Properties choices in the Context menu; make sure you choose Printer Properties.) Windows 7 displays the Properties dialog box for the printer.
4. Use the tabs and controls within the dialog box to specify the settings you want your printer to use. (The tabs and controls available in the dialog box will vary depending on your printer make and model.)
5. Click OK.

 This tip (10722) applies to Windows 7, 8, and 10.