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Firefox 29 no longer prints properly from the built in PDF viewer

  • 22 replies
  • 243 have this problem
  • 62 views
  • Last reply by philipp

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I print several EBAY labels a day. Just upgraded to firefox 29 (not realizing really what had changed - now regretting) and the built in PDF viewer no longer prints properly. It shows the label fine on the screen, but when sending to the printer (I tried two different ones) it just prints out two blanks pages. I tried a number of different printer settings and as i mentioned two different printers. Can't get anything to print now except two blank pages. If I switch the application settings in firefox to use an external 3rd party PDF viewer (e.g. Adobe reader 11, PDF Viewer plus, etc) those work fine. However, the default built in PDF viewer clearly broke in this new version. A very disappointing launch for me as this is critical feature for my use. Yes, I have a work around, but the point (and new bug) is still valid.

I print several EBAY labels a day. Just upgraded to firefox 29 (not realizing really what had changed - now regretting) and the built in PDF viewer no longer prints properly. It shows the label fine on the screen, but when sending to the printer (I tried two different ones) it just prints out two blanks pages. I tried a number of different printer settings and as i mentioned two different printers. Can't get anything to print now except two blank pages. If I switch the application settings in firefox to use an external 3rd party PDF viewer (e.g. Adobe reader 11, PDF Viewer plus, etc) those work fine. However, the default built in PDF viewer clearly broke in this new version. A very disappointing launch for me as this is critical feature for my use. Yes, I have a work around, but the point (and new bug) is still valid.

Chosen solution

firefox 29.0.1 has just been released, which contains a fix for this issue - an update is recommended for everyone affected: Update Firefox to the latest release

Read this answer in context 👍 4

All Replies (20)

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hello, do other websites print normally still? the pdf viewer is still somewhat experimental and under very active development - you could try if the same error is occurring in the current development version, which you can download as an addon from http://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/extensions/firefox/pdf.js.xpi

in case it has the the same printing problems, you could then file a bug report at https://github.com/mozilla/pdf.js/issues (a github account is necessary for it though) - please also provide a sample document where the error is apparent!

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Developer version doesn't fix it. Any pdf from the web will do.

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does a normal website (not a pdf) in firefox print as expected?

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Yes, but of course that doesn't go into that pdf viewer.

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I started having this problem this morning. I can print from a regular webpage but cannot print a PDF that opens in the browser. I am able to save the PDF and print it from my computer's PDF reader, but I open and need to print many PDFs a day and don't want to save them all to my computer's hard drive so that I can print one page.

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@aglass5, this is currently a bug in the integrated firefox pdf viewer that is investigated &getting fixed by our developers. in the meantime you could use a third-party pdf plugin like from adobe that you can enable in the firefox options > applications - scroll down and define the default action for the portable document format (pdf).

View PDF files in Firefox or choose another viewer

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Now - this approach doesn't even work anymore. Yesterday, I was able to point to Adobe reader, or PDF Viewer plus etc and Firefox would spawn that viewer, in place of the internal viewer. Today (with the only thing changing being a windows high priority security update forced download) that approach no longer works. No matter what you select, the internal viewer is always used. very strange. And a major pain now. This is a bone head move guys. Back to I.E. or Chrome it appears....

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You can change the action for Portable Document Format (PDF) from Preview in Firefox to use another application like the Adobe Reader or set to Always Ask in "Firefox > Options/Preferences > Applications".

You can set the pdfjs.disabled pref to true on the about:config page to disable the build-in PDF viewer.

You can check the value of the plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types pref on the about:config page and remove the application/pdf part if present or reset the pref to the default via the right-click context menu if you want to display PDF documents in Firefox with another application (i.e. not the built-in PDF Viewer).

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Tried all these - none worked. It did finally occur to me what else changed. Phillip had me download the developer version (see above thread) to see if it fixed anything (which it didn't) it must be the cause of why all these workarounds stopped as well. How can I revert to the released version of that XPI? where do I get that? At least then I can go back tot he workarounds.

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You should be ale to disable the developer PDF version in Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions.

What is the current value of the plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types pref on the about:config page?

Choosing Adobe Reader in Firefox in Tools > Options > Applications should be sufficient.

Modified by cor-el

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There is no developer pdf tool listed there.

I was able to restore back to the workaround state. I did two things, the second which I believ actually fixed it. I downloaded the "stable" version of the pdf xip form github and also noticed in my firefox plugs that acrobat was disabled (I did not do that). I reenabled and I was once again able to use reader, acrobat, PDF viewer etc as a workaround (though I will say I think acrobat built in is probably the more practical workaround to use, ad the others seem to save files first. ) I then redownloaded the latest developer version of the pdf xpi to see if a) it broke my workarounds again (it didn't) and b) happened to now fix the core internal pdf viewer printing problem (it didn't).

my about config shows the following, but not because I manually set it. I'm sure either selecting the acrobat as my internal viewer, or possibly loading the developer version made this change. video/x-mpeg,video/mpeg,video/quicktime,audio/x-aiff,audio/aiff,video/x-m4v,video/mp4,audio/x-m4a,audio/mp4,audio/mpeg,audio/x-mpeg,video/x-ms-wmv

Regardless, the bug is still present and at least I'm back to the workaround state until they fix it.

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uninstall PDF-Viewer 1.0.* from the addons > extensions panel

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Me too! Very disappointed with mozilla since I have to switch to good old Explorer to get my work done. I do not want a 'work around' or any solution that involves me. This should not happen....Period!

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Why does NOT have a printer on Firefox?? This is not good because I can't print on my Computer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Go to Tools

          Options
          Applications
         (Content Type) )Scroll down to Portable Document Format (PDF) (change Action to use Adobe  Reader as Default or whatever PDF program you prefer.
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Thank you for your Reply and Solution. Although much appreciated, I do not do 'work-arounds'

......Had to come back and change my reply. Solution was easy to do and worked perfectly. But, now I will not know if firefox viewer gets fixed.

Thank You!

New problem or should I start a new thread? Re: Lower part of messages move down as type responses.

Modified by corsnguy

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How do I print something from my computer?

edit: removed your mail address from public display, since the only thing it will attract are spam bots. you will be notified per mail once somebody replies to the thread. (philipp)

Modified by philipp

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Chosen Solution

firefox 29.0.1 has just been released, which contains a fix for this issue - an update is recommended for everyone affected: Update Firefox to the latest release

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ok. I'll let you know if it does not work.

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I can't print from Firefox and I can't print from my computer without Firefox!!

Modified by mgwachler

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