How do I change the settings on my wireless printer?

How can I change the printer settings on my Mac?

• I was very much a Windows/PC person until a year ago. We now have a Mac, which has its perks, but we just can't figure out its quirks... didn't mean to rhyme there, honest. Question is, it's so easy to change anything on a Windows PC, but how the heck do I change the printer settings so everything doesn't always come out "Best" and in color? I prefer B&W/"quick," to save ink. The System Preferences menu and the Print menus offer me no help, and I find their capabilities extremely limited. All I can manage to do so far is change the number of copies and the page orientation. And it's NOT the type of printer I'm using, either. It's brand new, HP, love it, blah blah blah. This is an internal, solely an I'm-still-new-to-Mac issue. Surpisingly, other Mac users I know who've never used a Windows PC can't help me, and the Mac Help menu goes nowhere. Step by step help, please. I'm not dumb with this sorta stuff, just Mac-challenged. Thanks!

• Answer:

  (1) Select File > Print (or hit Command-P) to invoke the Print sheet. (2) The 3rd pop-up menu (the one that says "Copies & Pages") is where all of the various printer settings live. Explore all the items there and change the settings to the defaults you prefer. (3) Once you've changed the settings to what you want them to be by default, select "Save As..." from the Presets pop-up menu, and type in a name like "My Favorite Settings". (4) Click Print. That's it! Now, whenever you print to this printer, your "My Favorite Settings" preset will be selected by default. Hope this helps!