Print presets no longer work

[DominikHoffmann]

Note: The post “Printer Issue (Xerox 7328)” may describe a related issue

I have an old HP LaserJet 400 Color M451dn.

I have been able to print to it without problems until more recently. Problems probably started with the first release of macOS Ventura.

Here is what I posted to the Apple Feedback Assistant:

Print presets are not saved or adequately saved in the print dialog. When I change Double-Sided to “On (Short Edge),” and then save that as “Duplex Landscape,” it does not stick. This was no problem prior to Ventura. When I change to a different preset and then back to “Duplex Landscape,” Double-Sided is now “Off.”

Here are a sequence of screenshots that show exactly, what I did:

 

[Ruggy]

Maybe save it just for that printer not for 'All printers'?
Maybe if it realises all printers can't do that it won't save it?

 

[AtariAge]

Yes, this is completely broken in all versions of Ventura so far, and I wish I had known this before I upgraded from Monterey months ago. I have many large printers I print to on a regular basis, and using printer presets to manage settings for different printers, paper trays, media, and so forth, is an important time saver. It's been a nightmare with Ventura, as I now have to manually set every option that would normally be saved in a preset. And if I make a mistake when doing this, I end up wasting paper, toner, and time.

There are multiple threads on Apple's support forum about this, and Apple has yet to fix the issue. At this point, I'm not even sure it'll be fixed in the next version of macOS. And for the record, this happens on Intel and AS machines, and across different printer manufacturers.

 

[70700]

Its been a fun 15 years but I've come to the conclusion that Apple no longer wants Pro users. They are too fussy and are difficult to satisfy with their interest in "functionality" and "productivity".

Clearly the message from Apple is that serious creativity will soon be the exclusive domain of Windows.

 

[Thirio2]

I have a 2018 MBP and an m2 mini bot running Sonoma. The MBP saves my printer settings but the mini doesn’t. I was hoping to find a solution in this thread, but apparently not yet.

 

[Change Agent]

There are multiple threads on Apple's support forum about this, and Apple has yet to fix the issue. At this point, I'm not even sure it'll be fixed in the next version of macOS. And for the record, this happens on Intel and AS machines, and across different printer manufacturers.

I have the same problem in both OS 13 and OS 14 on several machines with Brother and Canon printers.
Anybody found a fix?

 

[AtariAge]

I have the same problem in both OS 13 and OS 14 on several machines with Brother and Canon printers.
Anybody found a fix?

Unfortunately, it still is broken for me in Sonoma as well, and I'm primarily using Xerox machines (C500, Phaser 7800 and C60). I'm absolutely stupefied that this was completely broken for the entirety of Ventura and still seems to be broken in Sonoma. It's like Apple doesn't even care. And there are threads all over the internet about this, there's no way they don't know this is an issue after over a year.

My only choice at this point is to setup a Windows machine and use that for printing. I've confirmed that Xerox's print drivers in Windows support saving and loading presets. I'll verify this first and then install the applications I need to print from (primarily Acrobat Pro and Photoshop). I'll then use Microsoft's Remote Desktop Client to remote into the machine when I need to print.

When you're printing on something like a C60 and have seven paper trays, most loaded up with different sizes and types of media (not to mention a ton of other print-related settings), doing frequent printing without presets is a nightmare.

 

[Thirio2]

I just realized that the printer that still works is a few years newer than the one I use with the mini. I guess Apple considers my older printer vintage and no longer supports it. Thirty years ago technology was advancing so rapidly that 5-7 years old would maybe be vintage, but I don’t consider that the case today. I guess that’s just part of the “Apple Tax”.

 

[Gabe-888]

I can confirm that today it's still running into an issue with macOS 13. but my issues are a little bit different, sometimes I can set a couple of them, but not all of them, and the only time I can be successful is to set two, not 4 presets that I want to set, it's odd.

Working for a managed printing service is very frustrating, the old mac works fine, and the customer buys a new Mac, especially since the customer doesn't even know it is a macOS problem.


The next thing I will try is to edit the

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.print.custompresets.plist

file or one other file that is specific to the printer. And reboot or load and unload the files, to see if that helped


My device is a Canon Imagerunner.

 

[Change Agent]

I am talking to Canon, per email, it is slow, let's see....

 

[Ybersetzer]

Giving this a bump in 2025 (!) – on Sequoia (had the same issue with previous OS-versions.) This problem has been bugging me for years now, at first I thought it was just my configuration or something I did wrong, but no, it's a known problem. For the life of me I cannot understand how this has not been fixed. It borders on gaslighting.
If anyone has found a workaround in the meantime: I'm all ears!

 

[Change Agent]

In my case it did go away after a update to OS15.

 

[Ybersetzer]

In my case it did go away after a update to OS15.

With which programs? My specific pet peeve is that Microsoft Word for Mac simply will not save or rather *apply* a preset for printing my documents without markup (without comments in the margin).

My workaround is to have a shortcut (control-F) for toggling "View Changes", which will toggle showing or not showing comments in the document. If I hit command + P for printing from the no-comments-visible-mode, then the print preference automatically reverts to "document" (without markup).

 

[DominikHoffmann]

I had it working properly on a virtual machine running a beta version of Sequoia, I got working under Ventura somehow. I used it for one day, only. Subsequently, I had high expectations for the release version. I have been very disappointed.

I am about to install a new printer. This time it is a Canon, not the HP I used to have. Maybe a different manufacturer’s printer driver will improve the situation. May be not, though.

 

[Ybersetzer]

I had it working properly on a virtual machine running a beta version of Sequoia, I got working under Ventura somehow. I used it for one day, only. Subsequently, I had high expectations for the release version. I have been very disappointed.

I am about to install a new printer. This time it is a Canon, not the HP I used to have. Maybe a different manufacturer’s printer driver will improve the situation. May be not, though.

My research led me to this excellent post, which basically crushed my hopes that a true fix is around the corner, regardless of printer manufacturer: https://valleau.art/blog/printer-presets-no-longer-working-right/

 

[Change Agent]

I had it working properly on a virtual machine running a beta version of Sequoia, I got working under Ventura somehow. I used it for one day, only. Subsequently, I had high expectations for the release version. I have been very disappointed.

I am about to install a new printer. This time it is a Canon, not the HP I used to have. Maybe a different manufacturer’s printer driver will improve the situation. May be not, though.

FYI I run Canon and Brother and when the problem manifests it is in both.