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"simplify page" option missing in print preview

  • 23 replies
  • 11 have this problem
  • 482 views
  • Last reply by Jonathan

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Today, when I go to print out a web page, the format of the Print Preview window has changed and the"Simplify Page" option is missing. I use this feature all the time. Without it many pages are impossible to print. How can I restore this feature?

Today, when I go to print out a web page, the format of the Print Preview window has changed and the"Simplify Page" option is missing. I use this feature all the time. Without it many pages are impossible to print. How can I restore this feature?

Chosen solution

Hi, Simplify Page applied Reader View to the page displayed in the Print Preview panel. With the new print experience, you can click the Reader View icon in the address bar to put the page in Reader View before calling up print and it should carry over automatically.

Does that work on yours?

Firefox 86 87 is likely to bring Simplify Page to the new print experience so if you forgot to switch the view before printing, you don't need to cancel printing, change view, and call up print again.


  • To tighten the line spacing or reduce text size in Reader View, see this reply.
  • To revert Firefox 85-86 back to the old design, see this reply.
Read this answer in context 👍 2

All Replies (20)

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Chosen Solution

Hi, Simplify Page applied Reader View to the page displayed in the Print Preview panel. With the new print experience, you can click the Reader View icon in the address bar to put the page in Reader View before calling up print and it should carry over automatically.

Does that work on yours?

Firefox 86 87 is likely to bring Simplify Page to the new print experience so if you forgot to switch the view before printing, you don't need to cancel printing, change view, and call up print again.


  • To tighten the line spacing or reduce text size in Reader View, see this reply.
  • To revert Firefox 85-86 back to the old design, see this reply.

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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Hello,

Same problem : simplify page option not found in new print preview (Firefox 84). Where is Reader View icon ? What does this icon look like ?

Thanks a lot.

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Hi PHF59, the Reader View icon appears in the address bar when the page can be simplified:

I have attached a screenshot for reference, and here's the article on that feature: Firefox Reader View for clutter-free web pages.

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Reader View is not at all helpful!!! The Print Preview feature was much easier to use and made it very easy to simply the page and customize it as needed. "Reader View" is horrible in this regard. Please bring back Print Preview.

Modified by yager

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yager said

Reader View is not at all helpful!!! The Print Preview feature was much easier to use and made it very easy to simply the page and customize it as needed. "Reader View" is horrible in this regard. Please bring back Print Preview.

Print Preview still exists. Are you not seeing a preview when you use menu > Print or Ctrl+P (on Mac, Command+P)?

If the new print experience is missing features you can't live without, you can roll it back for at least Firefox 84 and 85 as follows:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box in the page, type or paste tab_mo and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the print.tab_modal.enabled preference to switch the value from true (new experience) to false (classic)

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jscher2000 Thanks for you clear and timely responses.

I am having similar difficulties - with a wrinkle. The web page in question has a menu bar with drop down pick lists. Selecting print (w/o toggling reader view) activates a drop down which obscures text.

Your first solution (toggle reader view before selecting print) resolves the menu bar problem. However, pages are rendered in a very large font and page breaks are not reserved. Thus, screen prints are split across pages. Not good.

Your second solution ( roll back print changes via ablout:config) does the trick. Its a life saver. Printing must work for me.

Thanks for your help

Link to the referenced site https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/virtualbox-guest-addons.html Using Kubuntu 18.04 lts & firefox 84.0.2

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Thank you so much ! I had not seen this discreet subtlety ... How do I display the print settings menu in continuously expanded mode to have easy access to zoom settings each time you print? Cordially.

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I see how switching to Reader View before Print Preview simplifies the page for printing, but Reader View retains numerous pictures which won't print well on my monochrome printer. They'll use a lot of toner or ink and make the number of pages of the printout much larger - in some cases, doubling the output. A true "simplify print" function should include the option to print only the text of a web page, eliminating a lot of this unnecessary waste.

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PHF59 said

Thank you so much ! I had not seen this discreet subtlety ... How do I display the print settings menu in continuously expanded mode to have easy access to zoom settings each time you print?

I'm not aware of a setting for that, but this is new for all of us, so perhaps someone knows a way.

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shauntoole said

I see how switching to Reader View before Print Preview simplifies the page for printing, but Reader View retains numerous pictures which won't print well on my monochrome printer. They'll use a lot of toner or ink and make the number of pages of the printout much larger - in some cases, doubling the output. A true "simplify print" function should include the option to print only the text of a web page, eliminating a lot of this unnecessary waste.

Firefox's Reader View / Simplify Pages function behaves differently depending on the layout of the pages. Sometimes you get images, sometimes not. It wasn't designed to create text only prints. Maybe try the Print Edit WE extension for cleaning up page for printing?

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/print-edit-we/

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Don't fix something that ain't broke. Please put back the Print Preview. It had all the needed options to print by scale, page margins etc.. Don't fix something that ain't broke

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FClark said

Don't fix something that ain't broke. Please put back the Print Preview. It had all the needed options to print by scale, page margins etc.. Don't fix something that ain't broke

That decision was made long ago. Support forum volunteers can help you with making Firefox work for you now that it has changed, or revert the feature using a setting. You have many choices to submit other kinds of feedback, depending on your desired style of interaction. For example:

Meanwhile, to access scale and margins on the new print overlay, expand "More settings":

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I have to agree with others that Reader View does not do the same thing that Simplify Page did. I can go to a Washington Post news page and want to save it as a clean pdf and Reader View does some simplify but much larger text, which can maybe be fixed with scaling, but why when the old way worked, and it doesn't strip out graphics down to a sort of Rich Text but just text style that was very useful. I'll use the trick of turning print.tab_modal off (thanks) but since this got buried in obscure settings I'm concerned the next thing is that kind of simplify will disappear altogether. I have no idea why this was changed when it was fine.

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Tcan said

... Reader View does some simplify but much larger text, which can maybe be fixed with scaling ...

You can use the Reader View toolbar to adjust line spacing and text size:

I'll use the trick of turning print.tab_modal off (thanks) but since this got buried in obscure settings I'm concerned the next thing is that kind of simplify will disappear altogether.

That works for now. And there is a request on file to add Simplify Page back in a future version.

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I hate the fact that Print Preview is missing when printing. I don't like the new feature. Please bring the former method back!

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The removal of the "Simplify" printing option is extremely inefficient and a huge disappointment. It was one of the major advantages your browser had over your competition. I've read through all the comments and the "fixes" other support posts claim do the same thing--sorry they are not the same. Aren't tech companies filled with greenies that want to conserve paper to save the trees? The removal of the ORIGINAL Print Preview and Simplify option makes no sense. Seriously, put it back the way it was!

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x079765bus said

I hate the fact that Print Preview is missing when printing.

There should be a preview in the left side of the overlay. If yours doesn't appear, you could start a new question with more information about your Firefox. https://support.mozilla.org/questions/new/desktop/form

cjeewek said

The removal of the "Simplify" printing option is extremely inefficient and a huge disappointment.

As noted earlier in this thread, there is a request on file already to add Simplify Page to the new print experience. For now, you can revert your Firefox to using the classic print experience using the steps listed earlier in this thread.

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dplant said

Today, when I go to print out a web page, the format of the Print Preview window has changed and the"Simplify Page" option is missing. I use this feature all the time. Without it many pages are impossible to print. How can I restore this feature?


I agree with @dplant. I am using Firefox 85 on LinuxMint 20 Mate system, and a few weeks ago (after the update) I noticed the change of the print preview and had a nasty surprise by the new function (it is like Chrome), especially I use the "Simplify page" option a lot, I like And I want to print or save the page ad-free, this saves a lot of pages. I only want the article that is of interest to me. This is one of the features among others that I like about Firefox.

The reader's view is not the same, it has the function of reading clearly, which is also great.

The usage report does not report how many times the "simplified page" is used? Should be.

It might be better to put an option in Preferences to allow one or the other type of preview. Why put a "hidden" daily use setting in about: config?

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I am currently using print.tab_modal.enabled = false and print.use_simplifypage=true. I also use the print preview extension. Reader View is NOT a substitute for Simplify Page.

I am very dependent on Simplify Page functionality: - To save on ink and paper. - To prevent strain when reading. I can't read everything on a screen.

One of the most important browser features for me is print capabilities and why I choose Firefox. I am hopeful Firefox will retain Simplify Page functionality in future releases.

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Earlier here, a post mentioned the add-on Print Edit We. Thanks. I've tried it, but with one problem. How do I get it to print the next or second page? Thanks.

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