Printer tray reverts to bond paper type pauses job microsoft access

Printer: HP Laserjet P4510 network printer
Software: Microsoft Access 97, 2000

So you go to print from an Access database and when you hit PRINT, your printer prompts you for Bond type paper when all you wanted was some 8.5×11 Letter paper to pop out. Doh!

I’m not quite sure how this very strange error cropped up in the first place, but it’s been ongoing for months and I recently had time to look into it (I mean, it’s not the end of the world if you have to press a few buttons to change to Letter paper).  Anyway, the fix was easier than I could have imagined (which usually means it’s just a temporary fix!, we’ll see, hopefully not).

I made two changes, but only one seems to be a final fix. Here are both so you can try for yourself.

1. Simply change all the Printer’s tray types to accept *Any kind of paper.  This has to be done at the printer itself. 
   May want to change the driver settings and restore all the defaults as well, but try with just changing the tray paper types first
2. Open up the Access project, goto the form, and click PREVIEW
   When it opens, goto FILE–>Page Setup, then Page, then mess with the settings through there…make paper type Plain, change to Use Specific Printer, adjust the paper type to Plain, then click OK then go back and select to use default printer. One of those changes will make the setting stick.

The official word is this issue occurs because the Printer settings are being saved inside the Form itself. There are ways to programatically view and/or clear the settings, if you’re so inclined.

For more reading, see this link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/bb258178(v=office.12).aspx