LibreOffice Writer duplex printing not working

[Blue1]

2024-01-09
Operating System: Kubuntu 22.04
KDE Plasma Version: 5.24.7
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.92.0
Qt Version: 5.15.3
Kernel Version: 5.15.0-91-generic (64-bit)

Version: 7.3.7.2 / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 30(Build:2)
CPU threads: 4; OS: Linux 5.15; UI render: default; VCL: kf5 (cairo+xcb)
Ubuntu package version: 1:7.3.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.4
Calc: threaded

Printer: Brother MFC-L2710Dw

Several months ago before upgrades duplex printing was working, now it is not. I cannot recall when it stopped or which upgrades (Linux or LibreOffice) may have effected this.

Duplex on the printer does work - for example I can print using a pdf software to print duplex but in LibreOffice Writer when I choose duplex under properties it still prints out single side pages.

In writer - printer properties / device under options I can see:
Media type, print color mode; output tray, print quality, print scaling
but nothing about duplex. Of course in the past I have never touched these settings even when it was printing duplex.
I normally choose duplex under Properties/Paper settings.

The issue seems to be with LibreOffice.
How can it be fixed?

Happy New Year

[ericvanoirschot]

The same issue is experienced by me. Like Blue1, I do not recall after which update this issue started, but I am pretty sure that duplex printing was possible with the same settings in the system and in LibreOffice about a year ago.

After trying to configure it all again, duplex printing still failed. As a workaround it is possible to create a .pdf of the document in LibreOffice. Then print that .pdf, which is performed outside of LibreOffice. This confirms that the printer is able to print duplex, that my system (Ubuntu 22.04) can handle that properly, but only LibreOffice seems to fail in that sense.

Our printer is a Brother MFC-2730Dw (quite similar to Blue1’s printer).

Version information of LibreOffice running:
Version: 24.2.2.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 420(Build:2)
CPU threads: 16; OS: Linux 5.15; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: nl-NL (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Ubuntu package version: 4:24.2.2~rc2-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~lo1
Calc: threaded

There is a bug report, but in its discussion it seems to be connected to HP printer type(s).
The bug link: Bug #1779432 “[upstream] Libre Writer doesn't do duplex printing...” : Bugs : libreoffice package : Ubuntu
The bug report is rather old, at least much older than the days duplex printing to our printer was possible. So I am afraid it might not be connected.

Concluding, the duplex issue is still there. Workaround is to export to .pdf and use that file for printing duplex.

(Update:)
Tried printing with LO Writer (latest version) on a MacBook Pro to the same printer. Duplex works!