Collate/Duplex defaults

[Bob Coleman]

PDF-XChange Viewer 2.5 (Build 204.0)

Is there any way to make the Print dialog open with Collate not checked and Duplex set to None?

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hi Bob,

Those are actually the default options for those two settings. Simply make sure to select them, and then "print" a document with those options - and the Viewer will remember them and use them from that point on.

Best,
Stefan

[Bob Coleman]

That's what I would have hoped.

In my case, the viewer does remember those options as long as the viewer stays active, but if I close and restart the viewer, the next time I print, Collate is checked and Duplex is set to "by Long Edge".

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hi Bob,

Please ensure you have only one instance of the Viewer opened, then open a single document and the print dialogue. Change all settings as wanted and print a page, then close the print dialogue and the Viewer to allow it to save all these new settings.

Now the next time you start the Viewer you should have the collate and duplex options just as you left them the previous time.

Alternatively please also try to export all your settings to a data file (to make a backup of your current settings) and then try resetting all the Viewer's settings to their defaults via the Viewer's "Main Menu -> Edit -> Reset all settings to defaults..."

Best,
Stefan

[Bob Coleman]

Please ensure you have only one instance of the Viewer opened, then open a single document and the print dialogue. Change all settings as wanted and print a page, then close the print dialogue and the Viewer to allow it to save all these new settings.

That's what I'm doing. I uncheck Collate and set Duplex to None. The Print dialog, of course, closes when I click Print. After printing, I close the viewer then view another or the same PDF and use either the toolbar Print icon or File -> Print and the Print dialog opens with Collate checked and Duplex set to "by Long Edge".

Alternatively please also try to export all your settings to a data file (to make a backup of your current settings) and then try resetting all the Viewer's settings to their defaults via the Viewer's "Main Menu -> Edit -> Reset all settings to defaults..."

The same behavior persists even after resetting all settings to default.

I wonder if there is something preventing the saving of the Print dialog options. Where should they be saved?

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hi Bob,

Very strange that even resetting the settings to defaults doesn't fix it for you.
The printing settings are stored in the registry on a per user basis in:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDFViewer\Print

Best,
Stefan

[Bob Coleman]

Interesting. There doesn't seem to be much there. The data at that registry location is shown in the attached zip file.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hi Bob,

Our Viewer stores in the registry only settings that have been altered from their defaults - so the fewer entries there the closer to the defaults your settings are - which makes the behaviour at your end even stranger as it definitely should not be like this.

Did you install build 204 of the Viewer from the .exe or .msi installer and have you tried reinstalling recently?

Best,
Stefan

[Bob Coleman]

I used the .exe (extracted from PDFXVwer.zip).

Just now, I uninstalled, manually deleted HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDFViewer from the registry and re-installed.

The only things below HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDFViewer now are International and Registration. Specifically HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDFViewer\Print doesn't exist, but still the Print dialog opens with Collate checked and Duplex set to "by Long-Edge".

I understand that you may not be able to solve this if it is, for some reason, unique to me.

[Bob Coleman]

As an experiment, I installed the viewer on a copy of Windows 7 on which it has never been installed before. The first time the Print dialog appeared, Collate was checked and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDFViewer\Print didn't exist.

The chances that I somehow caused this seem minimal in this scenario. Am I really the only one who gets this behavior? This is admittedly a rhetorical question that probably can't be answered.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hi Bob,

I spoke with our devs and the reply is that we do not store printing settings between sessions, and for each session we do initially obtain those from the defaults for the printer - so it seems like your printer (in it's driver's settings) has duplex mode turned on. Please go to Start -> Devices and Printers and change the duplex mode settings from there and all should be well in our Viewer too.

Best,
Stefan

[Bob Coleman]

True enough. The printer has a "2-sided printing" setting which has been on during the previous discussion here. Turning that off causes the Print dialog to open with Collate and Duplex off.

Apparently, I have a fundamental misunderstanding regarding these options.

I knew I had "2-sided printing" on in the printer settings and thought I'd want Duplex off in the viewer. I thought that otherwise Duplex on in the viewer would cause the viewer to print all pages for one side first and the printer would then take those pages and separate them into fornt and back pages which I thought would result in pages being out of order.

Are the viewer options essentially just showing how the printer settings are set and not actually affecting how the viewer outputs pages?

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hi Bob,

The print dialogue in our Viewer will only show options that the specific device supports. So for e.g. our virtual printer you will not be able to select multiple copies to print - as it does not make sense as the output is a file and not printed sheets of paper. So all the settings you see there are checked with the selected device's drivers - and only the supported options are active. If a printer does not support duplex printing this option will be greyed out and you will need to select to print e.g. odd pages only - then manually flip the pages and print the even pages at the backs.

Hope this clarifies the options a bit

Best,
Stefan