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I somehow managed to change my printer default to landscape and 80% scale. This is the same for all printers. Is there any way to change the default back to portrait, 100%?


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3 Answers 3

In a print dialog, you have the option to select a preset (and to save the current settings as preset). Is a preset selected that is not the "Standard" preset? What happens when you select "Standard", are the settings back to normal?

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No. I tried creating a new preset with "portrait" and "100%", but it still reverts to "landscape" and "80%". –  Ralph Sep 24 '10 at 10:56
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I found the answer on Apple's discussion forums: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11321622

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To quote the forum: The issue was resolved by removing the file com.apple.printingPref.plist from the User Library (~/Library/Preferences), logging out of the account and logging back in and immediately trying to print from the rogue application. Apparently the 10.6.3 update created a new Preference file that caused the first setting after installation to be captured as the default. This was solved with the help of AppleCare technicians who were experiencing a similar issue with some of their machines. –  Daniel Beck Sep 24 '10 at 14:36
@Daniel: Thanks for adding the quote. I should have done that. –  Ralph Sep 24 '10 at 16:56

You can reset the printing system by ctrl + left clicking the box in system preferences.

Reset Printing System

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That did not work. I just reset the printing system and reentered all of my printers (some not detected by Bonjour). Problem is still there. –  Ralph Sep 24 '10 at 11:33
You could also delete the preference files in ~/Library com.apple.PrintingPrefs.plist & com.apple.custompresets.forprinter."printername".plst, but it looks like you found another solution. –  Madison S Sep 24 '10 at 12:20

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