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print using system dialog

  • 12 replies
  • 8 have this problem
  • 33 views
  • Last reply by flips

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how do i set printing using the system dialog as default? i tried using the print.tab_modal.enabled in about:config. but setting it to either true or false does not change the behavior. it is ridiculous i have to click additional buttons to get to the system dialog to print so i can change the printing settings. why are we breaking things that dont need to be fixed?

how do i set printing using the system dialog as default? i tried using the print.tab_modal.enabled in about:config. but setting it to either true or false does not change the behavior. it is ridiculous i have to click additional buttons to get to the system dialog to print so i can change the printing settings. why are we breaking things that dont need to be fixed?

All Replies (12)

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The new print experience introduced in Firefox 84 became final in Firefox 97, and the old code was removed.

There are bugs on file to add a more direct option in a future update, but for now, you need to use the "Print using system dialog..." link.

What settings do you usually change in the system dialog that you can't find on the built-in settings panel?

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staple.

what was wrong with the system window? it worked perfectly fine.

Modified by boshk11

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Combining the preview and setup panel allows you to see the effect of changes before printing. If you never change your setup or feel the need to check the preview, I guess that isn't useful to you.

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@jscher2000 How is the user supposed to benefit from being forced to use Mozilla's print dialog?

It's unhelpful to this user, since the task of printing, which should require zero thought, requires me to reorient myself every I try to do it from Firefox. In addition, I have MacOS set up so that hitting cmd-P a second time, while I'm in the print dialog, saves the print to PDF.

Mac: cmd-p, cmd-p, return. Boom. Saved to PDF.

Mozilla: cmd-p. Oh look a non-standard print dialog. Hm. Is destination correct? If so, click blue button; otherwise use pulldown menu to correct destination. I wonder what else is screwed up here. Oh well. Curse Jefferson and click blue button. Hit return.

Having to tweak an about:config setting was acceptable, but now that that option is gone I'll be leaving Firefox if I can't find a workaround.

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mb40 said

Having to tweak an about:config setting was acceptable, but now that that option is gone I'll be leaving Firefox if I can't find a workaround.

At some point, I expect it to be added. Until then, if Safari or another browser works better for you, that is absolutely your prerogative. And just to be clear, none of this is my decision.

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Greetings, I also find the Firefox print dialogue box to not be helpful, because it does not provide the option to choose which print tray to use. I have multipe print trays on my printer. Firefox points to the same printer configuration, that I use in the system dialogue box where I have the option to choose a print tray. Perhaps, I could create multiple printer configurations of the same printer with different default paper trays, but that does not see right. I am currently using Firefox 98.02 on Ubuntu 20.04. cheers, jeff z

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i have also found that for some reason when printing in landscape mode, the preview still shows in portrait mode. now when i go to the system print dialogue and select staple, it staples the wrong corner! it puts the staple in the upper right hand corner of the landscape instead of the upper left hand corner that it would be in if the preview worked correctly.

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boshk11 said

i have also found that for some reason when printing in landscape mode, the preview still shows in portrait mode. now when i go to the system print dialogue and select staple, it staples the wrong corner! it puts the staple in the upper right hand corner of the landscape instead of the upper left hand corner that it would be in if the preview worked correctly.

The preview should switch orientation when you change between Portrait and Landscape. Starting recently, Firefox observes style rules in pages that can deprive users of choice in printing orientation. There is an obscure way to shut that down. Could you test this:

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

More info on about:config: Configuration Editor for Firefox. The moderators would like us to remind you that changes made through this back door aren't fully supported and aren't guaranteed to continue working in the future.

(2) In the search box in the page, type or paste layout.css.page-size.enabled and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the preference to switch the value from true to false

Any difference in ability to switch orientation?

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the page now changes, but the orientation of the PDF image stays the same.

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Oh, you are printing a PDF from Firefox's built-in PDF viewer? I don't think you can change the page shape of a PDF. You can rotate it for viewing, but Firefox's print feature doesn't seem to recognize that. If you need to print a PDF rotated, you probably need to open it in a PDF-savvy program like Adobe Acrobat/Reader.

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Give the number of occurrences of this question and the number of "I have this problem too" (and yes, I have this problem too, I have to wonder why there was such determination to make it harder to default to the system dialog. On the Mac, the system dialog works absolutely fine, and gives better integration with both my printer I (I don't have to specify which kind of two-sided printing, it just works) and Preview (I can open directly in Preview instead of Save to PDF and then open). The layout of the system dialog is better as well -- the features I need are all on the main page, and the interface is better because "more options" doesn't require scrolling down, but rather categorizes options by type (paper handling, layout, etc.).

In short, the move to the FF-specific print dialog is a solution in search of a problem, and not a good solution at that. Removing the setting to default to the system dialog feels...not quite punitive, but borderline spiteful at least. Can you PLEASE provide a setting to make the system dialog the default.

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So ... If I read all this correctly, I cannot disable this Firefox specific print dialog? This is really a PITA, as I'm using quite a few PDF Services, so from the system dialog, I can choose directly a bunch of useful workflows. The FF dialog just adds a delay and frustration for how I work. (I hardly ever just print from my web browser, I usually process stuff using one of the workflows.) Not having this extra superflous print dialog in Firefox has been one of the great reasons for using Firefox instead of Chromium, Opera or whatever ...

Modified by flips