Disclosed is a, printing instructing apparatus to instruct printing in an image forming apparatus, the apparatus including: a storage section to store a plurality of pieces of printing setting information, each piece of the information including a plurality of printing conditions regarding a plurality of setting items, respectively; a display section; an operation section to receive a selection of a piece of printing setting information to be applied at the time of printing execution among the plurality of pieces of printing setting information stored in the storage section; and a control section to obtain the selected printing setting information from the storage section, to respectively compare the printing conditions of the setting items in the selected printing setting information with those in reference printing setting information, and to recognizably display information indicating a difference between the selected printing setting information and the reference printing setting information in the display section.