Bug Report: Duplex Printing Fails in LibreOffice Writer on Linux Mint (PIXMA TS9560TS)

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#1

Summary

LibreOffice Writer fails to print double-sided documents on my Canon PIXMA TS9560TS, despite duplex working correctly from other applications (e.g., Document Viewer). This appears to be a LibreOffice-specific issue affecting duplex flag handoff to the printer driver.
System Details

LibreOffice Version: 25.8.2.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 580(Build:2)
OS: Linux Mint 22.2 Zara (based on Ubuntu 24.04)
Kernel: Linux 6.8
UI Render: default

  • VCL: gtk3
  • Locale: en-AU (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-US
  • Ubuntu Package Version: 4:25.8.2rc2-0ubuntu0.24.04.1lo1
    Calc Threads: threaded
    Printer: Canon PIXMA TS9560TS
    Driver Source: CUPS auto-detected via USB
    CUPS Version: 2.4.7

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Open a multi-page document in LibreOffice Writer.
  2. Go to File ▸ Print, select the PIXMA TS9560TS.
  3. Enable Duplex Printing (Long Edge).
  4. Print the document.

Expected Result

Document prints double-sided.

Actual Result

Document prints single-sided only. No error message. The printer retrieves the paper as though it will print double sided, but then sends out the page with the reverse side un-printed. The reverse side prints in a separate page and the process repeats.

Additional Notes

  • Duplex printing works fine from Document Viewer and other GTK apps.
  • LibreOffice Safe Mode does not resolve the issue.
  • Switching to LibreOffice’s native print dialog (Tools ▸ Options ▸ LibreOffice ▸ General ▸ Use LibreOffice dialogs) does not fix the issue.
  • Exporting to PDF and printing via Document Viewer is my current workaround.
  • I have not modified CUPS defaults to force duplex globally, as this affects other apps.

Request

Can this be confirmed as a known issue? Is there a fix or patch planned? Would be great to align LibreOffice’s print pipeline with GTK/CUPS behavior for duplex support.

#2

Only if you create a bug report on Bugzilla.

#3

and even if …

let’s try a bit of reality check :
Dependency tree for Bug 108800 [META] Print related issues ] depends on 451 bugs.

and that’s the likely “resolution” to be expected :
153650 – PRINTING - Writer does not print multiple copies on Brother MFC-J1205W

so, in order to help those willing to help those needing help, maybe we need a more down to earth approach ? :wink:

can you find some logs showing a parameter is actually not passed thru cups ?

and of course, even if it sounds silly, make sure you try in Safe Mode

#4

@fpy Perhaps you missed this?

#5

yes and no :expressionless:
thing is, trying to reproduce to get cups logs would need to make sure it’s still safe.

problem is, LO doesnt produce logs, and the nuclear answer is very high : Development/How to debug - The Document Foundation Wiki

maybe on linux, an intermediate approach is strace(1) - Linux manual page

let’s see what @CorkHead can follow up with …

#6

It seems that the non passive aggressive answer to my question is:

YES: It’s part of Bug 108800. But its not likely to be resolved anytime soon as there are 451 bugs that need to be fixed first.

As for logs to help you help me and others: I have no idea what you are asking me to do…

I’m a big fan of LibreOffice and have been donating towards development - Being able to print duplex is pretty fundamental and LibreOffice does not seem to manage to do it, even when other apps installed in my system seem to. I thought I would contribute further by reporting the issue so that if it hadn’t already, would make it into the bug fix pipeline sometime, not tomorrow, not next month, whenever other priorities allow.

As it is I need you to help me help you help me and others like me :slight_smile: by telling me how to generate the logs you say are required.

Then I can send all that in a report through Bugzilla.

Keep on keeping on

1 Like
#7

This might help: cupsd-logs(5) - Linux manual page

#8

that’s the naive agressive approach :wink:

somehow, but in reality the “priority” is far from just FIFO.

Maybe also, @Timur will remember some tricks from 5y ago to help you into useful troubleshooting&diagnosis …
→ 60428 – Duplex Printing - HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus

#9

Thanks you for the follow up! I like your naive aggressive persona much better than the other |-)

For my part I managed, with a bit of help from Co-Pilot, to get two CUPS logs for a two page document - one for the ODT document printed from LO (which failed to print double sided). The other log for the same document, printed first to PDF from LO and ten printed double sided successfully from Document Viewer.

It was Co-Pilot (the Microsoft LLM AI) that suggested that the problem is in the codes that LO passes to the printer through CUPS. I looked at the debug logs - but I have no idea what to look for AI suggestions did not work - so that’s the extent to which I am able to help.

I will submit these on Bugzilla - as you originally suggested - I feel that this much help is already above my depth.

Now that I am looking really carefully at the printer behavior, it pauses printing at the first page, retrieves the page and turns it, but ejects the page it without printing on the other side, then prints the second page on a separate piece of paper. so I think that there maybe some kind of “page eject” command being sent that causes the paper to be ejected without printing the second side of the paper.

As for a work around: I will just continue to print to PDF and then use Document Viewer to print double sided - It’s annoying but works well enough. As mentioned, printing on safe mode etc did not work for me. I’ll mark this thread solved.

regards

Jorge (CorkHead)

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