How to print web pages in Firefox

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This article discusses printing web pages in Firefox. For a tutorial on how to use Firefox's printing features, read below.

Printing a web page

  1. Click the menu button New Fx Menu and then click Print.
    Print Fx29 Win
  2. In the Print Preview window that opens, adjust settings for what you're about to print, if necessary. See Print window settings below for information on what settings can be changed.
  3. Click PrintOK to start printing.
  1. Click the menu button New Fx Menu and then click Print.
    Print Fx29 Win
  2. To adjust settings for what you're about to print (if necessary), click on the arrow beside the Printer selector, and see Print preview settings below for information on what settings can be changed.

    5b566c185ee0e0a9e4fbff7fab19f74f-1250097448-79-1.jpg
  3. Click Print to start printing.

Print preview settings

print preview win

Print

Print range

  • Navigate to different pages by entering a page number or using the arrows.

Page Setup

Scale

  • To try and make the web page fit on fewer sheets of printed paper, you can adjust the scale. Shrink to fit automatically adjusts the scale.

Orientation

  • Select Portrait for most documents and web pages.
  • Select Landscape for very wide pages and images.

Simplify Page

  • Select Simplify Page to save paper and ink when printing web pages. Remove unwanted ads, unrelated text and images, and blank spaces from the page to print your content on fewer pages. See Print simplified, clutter-free pages in Firefox for more information.

Print window settings

Changing the page setup

  • See
Note: The following settings are saved as Firefox preferences on a per-printer basis.

Print Frames section: If you are viewing a web page with frames, you can select how the frames print:
5b566c185ee0e0a9e4fbff7fab19f74f-1236733364-926-1.png

  • As laid out on the screen will print the way you see the web page in Firefox.
  • The selected frame will print only the content in the frame you've last clicked.
  • Each frame separately will print the content from all the frames, but on separate pages.


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  • Printer: Change which printer prints the web page you're viewing.
    Note: The default printer is the Mac one. When a web page is printed with the selected printer, it becomes the new default printer.
  • Presets: Select saved printer settings.
  • Copies: Lets you specify how many duplicates you want to print.
    • If you enter more than 1 in the Copies field, you can also choose whether to collate them. For example, if you choose to make 2 copies and select Collate, they will print in the order 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. Otherwise, they will print in the order 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3.
  • Pages: Select Pages and enter the range of pages you want to print. For example, selecting "from 1 to 3" prints the first three page of the document only.
    Note: The following settings are saved as Firefox preferences on a per-printer basis.
  • Options:
    • Select Print Selection Only to print only the part of the web page you've highlighted.
    • Select Shrink To Fit Page Width to scale the web page to be the same width as the paper.
  • Appearance:
    • Select Print Background Colors to have Firefox print web pages with color backgrounds as they are shown on the screen. Otherwise, Firefox leaves backgrounds white.
    • Select Print Background Images to have Firefox print web pages with image backgrounds as they are shown on the screen. Otherwise, Firefox makes background a solid color.
  • Frames:
    5b566c185ee0e0a9e4fbff7fab19f74f-1236733364-926-1.png
    • As laid out on the screen will print the way you see the web page in Firefox.
    • The selected frame will print only the content in the frame you've last clicked.
    • Each frame separately will print the content from all the frames, but on separate pages.
  • Page Headers and Page Footers: Use the dropdown menus to select what appears on the printed page. The top-left dropdown box's value appears at the top-left corner of the page; the top-center dropdown box's value appears at the top-center portion of the page and so on. You can choose from:
    • --blank--: Nothing will be printed.
    • Title: Print the title of the web page.
    • URL: Print the web address of the web page.
    • Date/Time: Print the date and time when the web page was printed.
    • Page #: Print the page number.
    • Page # of #: Print the page number and the total number of pages.
    • Custom…: Enter your own header or footer text. This can be used to show a company or organization name at the top or bottom of every printed page.

General tab

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  • Click on a printer in the list to select it.
    Note: The default printer is the Linux one. When a web page is printed with the selected printer, it becomes the new default printer.
  • Range section:
    • Select "All pages" to print everything.
    • Select "Current page" to print only the page you were viewing when you chose to print.
    • Select "Pages" and enter the range of pages you want to print. For example, entering "1" prints the first page only. Entering "1, 2, 3 - 7" prints pages 1, 2 and 3 through 7.
  • Copies section - Lets you specify how many duplicates you want to print.
    • If you enter more than 1 in the Copies field, you can also choose whether to collate them. For example, if you choose to make 2 copies and select Collate, they will print in the order 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. Otherwise, they will print in the order 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3.
    • Select Reverse to print the pages in reverse order.

Page Setup tab

Lets you change settings for your printer, including two-sided printing, multiple pages per sheet, whether to print even or odd pages only, what paper size to use and more. The available settings will vary based on your printer.

Options tab

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Note: The following settings are saved as Firefox preferences on a per-printer basis.
  • Print Frames section - If you are viewing a web page with frames, you can select how the frames print:
    5b566c185ee0e0a9e4fbff7fab19f74f-1236733364-926-1.png
    • As laid out on the screen will print the way you see the web page in Firefox.
    • The selected frame will print only the content in the frame you've last clicked.
    • Each frame separately will print the content from all the frames, but on separate pages.
  • Select Ignore Scaling and Shrink To Fit Page With to automatically adjust the width of the pages you're printing.
  • Select Print selection only to print only the part of the web page you've highlighted.
  • Select Print Background Colors to have Firefox print web pages with color backgrounds as they are shown on the screen. Otherwise, Firefox leaves backgrounds white.
  • Select Print Background Images to have Firefox print web pages with image backgrounds as they are shown on the screen. Otherwise, Firefox makes background a solid color.
  • Header and Footer section: Use the drop-down menus to select what appears on the printed page. The top-left drop-down box's value appears at the top-left corner of the page; the top-center drop-down box's value appears at the top-center portion of the page, and so on. You can choose from:
    • --blank--: Nothing will be printed.
    • Title: Print the title of the web page.
    • URL: Print the web address of the web page.
    • Date/Time: Print the date and time when the web page was printed.
    • Page #: Print the page number.
    • Page # of #: Print the page number and the total number of pages.
    • Custom…: Enter your own header or footer text. This can be used to show a company or organization name at the top or bottom of every printed page.

Changing the page setup

Note: The following settings are saved as Firefox preferences on a per-printer basis.

To change the paper size for printing and the page orientation:

  1. At the top of the Firefox window, click on the Firefox File menu and select Page Setup…. The Page Setup window will appear.
    5b566c185ee0e0a9e4fbff7fab19f74f-1243479623-843-1.png
    • Paper size: Select the type of paper for printing.
    • Orientation:
      • Select Portrait for most documents and web pages.
      • Select Landscape for very wide pages and images.
  2. Click Apply to save the settings and close the Page Setup window.

To change the orientation of the page that prints, change whether background colors and images are printed, change page margins and what to include on the printed pages' header and footer: At the top of the Firefox window, click on the Firefox button, go over to the Print… menu (File menu in Windows XP) and select Page Setup…. The Page Setup window will appear.

Note: The following settings are saved as Firefox preferences on a per-printer basis.

Format and Options

Print Web Page - Win3

The Format & Options tab allows you to change:

  • Orientation:
    • Select Portrait for most documents and web pages.
    • Select Landscape for very wide pages and images.
  • Scale: To try to make the web page fit on fewer sheets of printed paper, you can adjust the scale. Shrink to fit automatically adjusts the scale.
  • Options: Select Print Background (colors & images) to have Firefox print backgrounds for web pages. Otherwise, Firefox leaves page backgrounds white.

Margins and Header/Footer

Print Web Page - Win4
The Margins & Header/Footer tab allows you to change:

  • Margins: You can enter the width of the page margins for the top, bottom, left and right sides of the page separately.
  • Headers & Footers: Use the dropdown menus to select what appears on the printed page. The top-left dropdown box's value appears at the top-left corner of the page; the top-center dropdown box's value appears at the top-center portion of the page and so on. Choose from:
    • --blank--: Nothing will be printed.
    • Title: Print the title of the page.
    • URL: Print the web address of the page.
    • Date/Time: Print the date and time when the page was printed.
    • Page #: Print the page number.
    • Page # of #: Print the page number and the total number of pages.
    • Custom…: Enter your own header or footer text. This can be used to show a company or organization name at the top or bottom of every printed page.

Click OK to finish making changes and close the Page Setup window.

Print preview

To see how the web page you want to print will look when printed, press the Alt key to display the menu bar, then click on the File menu and select Print Preview.

The Print Preview window allows you to change some of the options detailed above. Access the Print window by clicking Print… or the Page Setup window by clicking Page Setup…. Click on the arrows next to the Page: field to flip through the pages of the document. The double arrows take you to the first or last page, and the single arrows go to the next or previous page. You can also adjust the scaling and orientation (see above).

Print Web Page - Win5

Click Close to exit Print preview.

Advanced tips

  • If you want to edit the web page content prior to printing, you can use an extension such as Print Edit.
  • To print a single image from a page, you can typically right-click it and select "View Image" or "View Background Image", then print using the instructions above.
  • Web pages can set themselves up to appear different on paper to how they look on screen, so don't be surprised to see some changes. (If you see some colors or background images missing, see Print Background Colors and Print Background Images above.)