MacOS – Create a mono only print queue for a colour printer

macosprinting

I would like to set up our colour printer (HP Laserjet 4650) such that by default it will only print mono. It needs to be such that a conscious choice has to be made to print in colour for every job – if this is not the case, our young daughter will inevitably print something in colour one time and then forget to set it back to black and white afterwards and cost us lots of CMY toner!

One possibility is to create a queue for the printer which does not allow colour printing. I can then set this as the default printer for all users… but I can't seem to find a way to do this either through the normal interface or the CUPS interface.

Or is there a way to make a Preset set of settings always the default that is reverted to for every job?

Or anything else anyone can recommend?

Best Answer

What I've done is:

  • Use the CUPS interface (http://localhost:631/ - specifically http://localhost:631/admin/#HPColorOptionsPanel) to change the default for Print colors as grey to on.
  • From a Print dialog, on the Presets menu choose Show presets...
  • Tick Reset Presets menu to "Default Settings" after printing.

When I want a colour print, I go to the 'Colour/Quality' section of the Print Settings dialog and set up the colour options as I want them. I've saved them in a preset, so I can just select a colour printing preset when I want it, but after each job it reverts to black and white.

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