Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Printing too small.

more options

I can no longer print from firefox. The final print always comes out 1/5 +- size and is unreadable. It doesnt matter what king of a document it is and if I go to chrome or edge it prints fine. This began occurring I believe after the last version.

I can no longer print from firefox. The final print always comes out 1/5 +- size and is unreadable. It doesnt matter what king of a document it is and if I go to chrome or edge it prints fine. This began occurring I believe after the last version.

Chosen solution

lk3w99 said

Yes, it prints 1/5 the size in the upper left corner of a typical letter size sheet. The preview shows the letter size sheet correctly and the printout over the entire sheet. I'll check and see if there is something on the resolution I can find.

Try clearing all the accumulated (unnecessary) resolution settings:

(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 print_resolution and pause while the list is filtered

(3) If any row has a value other than 0 (zero), click the trash can at the right end to clear that data.

On the next print, Firefox should use whatever Windows says is the proper resolution instead of what it had stored before.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (6)

more options

It has happened over half a dozen differnt sites and documents. Nothing can be 'screen shot' since the preview looks fine it just prints way small. Thought it was the printer until I tried it on Chrome. Something went bad after the last version was installed. Do you know how I can get back to previous versions?

more options

One reason for the preview to look normal BUT the actual printout to be small is if Firefox is getting the page size or print resolution wrong. This typically causes Firefox not to use the whole sheet and to compress the printout to one corner of the page. Are you seeing that?

more options

Yes, it prints 1/5 the size in the upper left corner of a typical letter size sheet. The preview shows the letter size sheet correctly and the printout over the entire sheet. I'll check and see if there is something on the resolution I can find.

more options

Chosen Solution

lk3w99 said

Yes, it prints 1/5 the size in the upper left corner of a typical letter size sheet. The preview shows the letter size sheet correctly and the printout over the entire sheet. I'll check and see if there is something on the resolution I can find.

Try clearing all the accumulated (unnecessary) resolution settings:

(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 print_resolution and pause while the list is filtered

(3) If any row has a value other than 0 (zero), click the trash can at the right end to clear that data.

On the next print, Firefox should use whatever Windows says is the proper resolution instead of what it had stored before.

more options

"Try clearing all the accumulated (unnecessary) resolution settings:

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

'that did it. Thanks much (hope it sticks). Am curious on why it happened, more gremlins I suppose us lay folks must chalk it to.

more options

The print_resolution stopped getting updated the match your printer, so an old setting can become obsolete if you update your printer settings. A fix is under consideration for a future version (such as zeroing out the preferences or removing them).