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Anyone else not liking the new way firefox is printing

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I just tried to print a list for the browser on Firefox and the new print options are useless. I use to be able to simplify, change background and have more options. This looks like the printing options on Microsoft Edge. I started using Firefox to get away from that. I mean if your going to mimic edge then why not use that browser instead??? Stop changing things. You update every 5 minutes and then it crashes, is to slow or just doesn't work. Slow the hell down and remember people like Firefox because it isn't like the big companies out there. It's a good browser. Leave it alone.

I just tried to print a list for the browser on Firefox and the new print options are useless. I use to be able to simplify, change background and have more options. This looks like the printing options on Microsoft Edge. I started using Firefox to get away from that. I mean if your going to mimic edge then why not use that browser instead??? Stop changing things. You update every 5 minutes and then it crashes, is to slow or just doesn't work. Slow the hell down and remember people like Firefox because it isn't like the big companies out there. It's a good browser. Leave it alone.

All Replies (4)

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Hi Izzy, there are more options if you expand the More settings section, but Simplify Page is missing from the new print experience. I'll have suggestions for that in a moment, but first, here's what you find under More settings:

In Firefox 85-86, More settings is always closed when you call up Print. In Firefox 87, it will open with the same layout as your last print (i.e., if you prefer it open, it will stay open).

Simplify Page

Hopefully Simplify Page will be restored in a future update. For now, if you use that often, you could either:

(A) Experiment with using Reader View to simplify pages for printing (B) Revert Firefox's print experience to the classic design

Here are the details:

Reader View

Simplify Page is built on Reader View (Firefox Reader View for clutter-free web pages), but they aren't identical. To trigger Reader View on pages where Firefox knows how to simplify, click the document icon in the toolbar. Then you can adjust the line spacing and text size using the Reader View toolbar. The two screenshots show these features:


Switching between the New and Classic print experiences

There is a preference you can switch in Firefox 85-86; it's not known how long this preference will be available in the future.

(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 between true (new experience) and false (classic)

(4) If there is another preference named app.normandy.startupRolloutPrefs.print.tab_modal.enabled and it's set to true, you can double-click that one to switch it to false as well. If you do not have that one, no need to create it.

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I had previously tried all the suggestions listed above (and thanks for same) in order to try to replicate my previous (and much preferred) printing experience. Alas, I ended up concluding what the original post also indicated, namely,

"I just tried to print a list for the browser on Firefox and the new print options are useless. I used to be able to simplify, change background and have more options...[Consider slowing down what feels like continual changes]...It's a good browser..."

I would love to have the previous Printing Options back again as none of the revised settings (as noted above) can accomplish what the previous version did. To conclude with a continuation of Izzy's observation: Consider that some users enjoy many of the features which are currently offered, and while attempts to improve are sometimes appreciated, there are often occasions when disappointment and frustration accompany them. Hmmm...kind of like the changes that some of those "big companies" do every 10 minutes??? :) Not to diminish the spirit of improvement, but I guess undertaking more of a balancing act when considering implementing any kind of change. Thanks very much.

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P.S. I somehow missed the following in the original response to this post, as follows:

"Simplify Page. Hopefully Simplify Page will be restored in a future update. For now, if you use that often, you could either:

(A) Experiment with using Reader View to simplify pages for printing (B) Revert Firefox's print experience to the classic design Here are the details: (A) Reader View - Simplify Page is built on Reader View (Firefox Reader View for clutter-free web pages), but they aren't identical. To trigger Reader View on pages where Firefox knows how to simplify, click the document icon in the toolbar. Then you can adjust the line spacing and text size using the Reader View toolbar..."

I actually started out this session with Firefox Help looking for information about changes that have taken place to Firefox's Reader View - and changes that are, once again, not-for-the-better (at least in my humble opinion). The purpose of "Reader View" is to achieve clutter-free web pages - which is what it used to provide. In some new iteration, however, many photos (often duplicates of the same one) are retained in the Reader View. The consequence? I have to "copy" blocks of text; paste them in a document; dodge the photo(s); then return to the text for another copy/paste cycle; etc. Spin, Repeat, etc. This is SO tedious, especially when the previous Reader View retained, at most, only one photo at the beginning, followed by nothing else but text. This allowed for fast and easy printing or saving. Is there any way the previous version of Reader View can be resurrected, preferably with NO photos?? Thanks!

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txmorrison said

I actually started out this session with Firefox Help looking for information about changes that have taken place to Firefox's Reader View - and changes that are, once again, not-for-the-better (at least in my humble opinion). The purpose of "Reader View" is to achieve clutter-free web pages - which is what it used to provide. In some new iteration, however, many photos (often duplicates of the same one) are retained in the Reader View. The consequence? I have to "copy" blocks of text; paste them in a document; dodge the photo(s); then return to the text for another copy/paste cycle; etc. Spin, Repeat, etc. This is SO tedious, especially when the previous Reader View retained, at most, only one photo at the beginning, followed by nothing else but text. This allowed for fast and easy printing or saving. Is there any way the previous version of Reader View can be resurrected, preferably with NO photos?? Thanks!

Would you consider starting a new thread for this topic? I'm not aware of the details of when photos are included/excluded in Reader View, it seems to vary based on the page layout. However, there might be a way to knock them out if you don't want to see them, through a user-directed intervention (add-on, bookmarklet, etc.).

Here's the link to start a new question:

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/new/desktop/form