Printer printing in the wrong orientation: fix landscape and portrait

A printer printing in the wrong orientation, landscape when you wanted portrait, sideways, or upside down, is a settings problem, not a hardware one. The printer prints the page exactly as the computer describes it. The trouble is that orientation can be set in three places at once (the document, the print dialog and the driver defaults), and some apps rotate pages on their own. This guide shows where to look and how to stop it coming back.

If the orientation is right but content is lost at the edges, see printer cutting off edges. If everything is shrunk, see printer printing too small.

How orientation is decided

• The document: page setup in the app says portrait or landscape. Some documents mix both.
• The print dialog: usually follows the document, but can be changed for one job.
• The driver: has its own default, used when the app does not say otherwise, and some drivers have extra rotate options.
• Auto-rotate: PDF readers, browsers and photo apps may turn a page to fit the paper best.

When these disagree, the result can be a portrait page printed sideways and shrunk, or a landscape table cut off on a portrait sheet.

Step 1: Set the orientation in the document

Open the app’s Page setup, Layout or Page orientation option.

• Word processors: on the Layout tab, choose Orientation. If only some pages should be landscape, they need their own section, and the orientation is set per section.
• Spreadsheets: page layout options include orientation per sheet. Each sheet can be different, so check the one you are printing.
• Presentation apps: slide size and orientation are set in the slide size or page setup options; print handouts have their own orientation setting.

Check print preview. If the preview looks right but the paper does not, go to Step 3.

Step 2: Match it in the print dialog

In the print dialog, look for Orientation, then choose Portrait or Landscape to match the document.

• Windows: the option may be on the main print screen, or under Printer properties, Preferences or More settings.
• Mac: choose Show Details; orientation is shown as two small page icons near the paper size.
• Browsers: Layout offers Portrait or Landscape. Some sites force a layout with their own print styles.

Step 3: Turn off auto-rotate

PDF readers, browsers and photo apps can rotate pages to fit the paper.

• PDF readers: look for Auto-rotate and center, Auto portrait/landscape or Auto orientation in the print dialog. Turn it off and choose the orientation you want.
• Photo apps: options such as Fit, Fill or auto-rotate may turn a landscape photo to fill a portrait sheet. Choose the orientation you want, or turn off auto-rotate.
• Mixed PDFs: a PDF with both landscape and portrait pages will have each page rotated to fit unless auto-rotate is off. Leave it on if you want each page to fill the sheet.

Printer won’t print PDF covers other PDF printing quirks.

Step 4: Fix the driver default

If every job from every app comes out the same wrong way, a default is saved in the driver.

Windows 11:

1. Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, select the printer and choose Printing preferences.
2. On the Layout, Basic or Finishing tab, set Orientation to Portrait (or what you normally use).
3. Turn off Rotate 180 degrees, Rotate by 180 or Mirror image options unless you need them.
4. Choose Apply. On drivers that show it, check Printer properties > Advanced > Printing Defaults too.

Mac: if you use a saved preset, choose it in the print dialog, set the orientation, and choose Save Current Settings as Preset to overwrite it, or switch to Default Settings.

If the same printer appears twice in the list, each entry has its own defaults; fix the one you print to, or remove the duplicate.

Step 5: Upside-down prints

A page that prints upside down is usually one of these:

• A rotate option: Rotate 180 is sometimes switched on for envelopes and then left on. Turn it off in the driver.
• Letterhead and forms: pre-printed paper loaded the wrong way makes the print look upside down relative to the letterhead. Load it the way the tray label shows; laser and inkjet printers often need it face up or face down differently.
• Envelopes: feed direction and flap position vary by printer. Follow the diagram in the tray or the user guide, and set the envelope size in the print dialog.
• Two-sided prints with an upside-down back: that is the binding edge setting; see printer printing double sided.

Step 6: Copies in the wrong orientation

When copies come out rotated, check how the original is placed. Most scanners expect the top of the page against a particular edge of the glass, shown by an arrow. In the document feeder, load originals face up with the top edge going in first unless the feeder shows otherwise. Some printers also have an original orientation option in the copy settings for two-sided or N-up copies.

Printing from a phone or tablet

Phones and tablets usually decide orientation for you. When you print through AirPrint on an iPhone or iPad, or through the Android print service, the system lays out each page to fit the paper and often rotates a wide page to landscape automatically. If the result is wrong, look in the print options for an Orientation or Layout choice before you tap Print; not every app shows one. Rotating the phone itself does not change how the page prints. For a document that must print a particular way, open it in an app that offers page setup, or save it as a PDF and print the PDF, which keeps the page shape fixed.

Quick checklist

• Document page setup set correctly, per section or sheet where needed.
• Print dialog matches the document; preview checked.
• Auto-rotate off in PDF readers and photo apps when it gets in the way.
• Driver default orientation set; Rotate 180 off.
• Letterhead, envelopes and originals loaded the right way.