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print settings - edit header and footer

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hi,

i'm using FF (version 98 at the moment) to print local files. It is key to me to edit header and footer for each print! the only solution i found so far to edit them at all, is to go to about:config and for example search for print.print_headerleft. Besides that is not usable at all, it simply doesn't work! The header and footer remain the same. Please tell me how can i change header and footer?

If you delete the, in my opinion much better "page setup", why don't you include all it's funktions in the new print dialog?

another problem is the size of the new print preview! it's much to small! make it resizeable please.

Or just give us back the "page setup". That would be a big advantage over chrome and edge, which suffer the same printing problems.

Thanks

hi, i'm using FF (version 98 at the moment) to print local files. It is key to me to edit header and footer for each print! the only solution i found so far to edit them at all, is to go to about:config and for example search for print.print_headerleft. Besides that is not usable at all, it simply doesn't work! The header and footer remain the same. Please tell me how can i change header and footer? If you delete the, in my opinion much better "page setup", why don't you include all it's funktions in the new print dialog? another problem is the size of the new print preview! it's much to small! make it resizeable please. Or just give us back the "page setup". That would be a big advantage over chrome and edge, which suffer the same printing problems. Thanks

Chosen solution

I have no idea how I missed this! Firefox 97+ have a preference to add the Page Setup dialog back to the File menu (at least for Windows users).

Enable the menu item (one-time)

(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. I'm testing this out immediately.

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

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

To call the dialog

Most people don't display the menu bar, so those of us can use Alt+F to drop the File menu. To directly call the dialog, then tap U.

It looks a bit different but it seems functional. If you notice any problems, we should report new bugs.

Since this dialog is still in there, it certainly would be logical to add it to the print overlay, but...

Read this answer in context 👍 4

All Replies (10)

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I saw the FF 99 update. I installed it, but no change. Header is still not editable. I attached a screenshot of the settings i've changed in about:config. They doesn't appear in the print preview.

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Hi, sorry for the delayed response. There are individual printer settings that override that general setting. Here's my complete explainer from a past thread:

Left, Center, and Right Header and Footer Preferences

Headers and Footers are split into three parts each of which can contain free-form text and placeholders that Firefox replaces with values computed at print time. The placeholders are:

  • Title => &T (placed in Header-Left by default)
  • URL => &U (placed in Header-Right by default)
  • Page number of total (x of y) => &PT (placed in Footer-Left by default)
  • Page number (x) => &P
  • Date/Time => &D (placed in Footer-Right by default)

Here is how you can update your header and footer content for particular printers or all printers:

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

Headers

(2) In the search box in the page, type or paste print_h and pause while the list is filtered -- you'll see something like the the following (the exact number of custom preferences depends on how many different printers you have used):

The following three preferences are the default, but any printer-specific value overrides them, allowing you to customize individual printers:

  • print.print_headerleft
  • print.print_headercenter
  • print.print_headerright

To edit a default setting, double-click in the implicit second column (wide area to the right of the preference names before the pencil button) or click the edit button. After making changes, press Enter to save your change, or click the blue checkmark button.

To modify a setting for a particular printer (for example, print.printer_Mozilla_Save_to_PDF.print_headerleft), you have two choices:

(A) To have Firefox use the default setting, delete the current custom setting using the trash can at the right end of the row for the custom setting.

(B) Edit the custom setting as desired.

Footers

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

As with headers, the following three preferences are the default, but any printer-specific value overrides them, allowing you to customize individual printers:

  • print.print_footerleft
  • print.print_footercenter
  • print.print_footerright

Edits work the same way for footers as they do for headers.

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Hi jscher2000,

thanks for your reply. Better late than never! :-)

I think i can work with your improvised solution.

But is that realy the way you want your users to work with FF? Why you don't add the settings for headers and footers in the printer dialog?

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Well, if it was up to me... they would. I do think they are worried that it's already a little cluttered in the More Settings area, but there should be room for a button for editing headers and footers in my opinion. (I live with a lot of clutter.)

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You're right! A tiny little button that opens a dialog to change header and footer is all we need! Let's cross fingers the "Design Team" is a bit bored and starts reading here ... :-)

Thanks again jscher2000, have a nice week!

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jscher2000, thank you so much for posting these instructions at least 3 times. I had been struggling with the "print using system dialog" on my mac for what felt like several months. That system dialog box used to save my header and footer settings, but suddenly I had to checkmark the boxes every time I printed. Maddening.

Your fix was so easy, and I wish I had searched for it earlier

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Chosen Solution

I have no idea how I missed this! Firefox 97+ have a preference to add the Page Setup dialog back to the File menu (at least for Windows users).

Enable the menu item (one-time)

(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. I'm testing this out immediately.

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

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

To call the dialog

Most people don't display the menu bar, so those of us can use Alt+F to drop the File menu. To directly call the dialog, then tap U.

It looks a bit different but it seems functional. If you notice any problems, we should report new bugs.

Since this dialog is still in there, it certainly would be logical to add it to the print overlay, but...

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Thank you so much jscher2000! that's what i was looking for.

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I am using macOS 10.15.7 and Firefox 104.0.2 (64-bit). At some point recently, Firefox stopped printing the URL in the Header of printout Headers. I have not been able to find anything to restore URLs to Firefox printout Headers.

I have used the information provided in the previous Replies, but URLs are still Not in the Header of the printouts. (Please see my comments later in this Reply.

Can someone please advise me on what I am doing incorrectly in trying to restore URLs to my Firefox printouts? Thank you in advance for your assistance.

I have used print.show_page_setup_menu" to add the "Page Setup" to the "File" drop-down menu. The screen displayed looks like the example given in a previous Reply. But it Does Not display any controls for the Header and Footer, as shown in the example.

I have used "print_h" to display the list of Header configurations. Based on my understanding of these fields, the parameters are set correctly to print the Title and URL in the Header. The following is a copy of what I see:

print_h Show only modified preferences print.print_headercenter print.print_headerleft. &T print.print_headerright. &U print.printer_HP_ENVY_Photo_7800_series_2. print_headercenter print.printer_HP_ENVY_Photo_7800_series_2. print_headerleft. &T print.printer_HP_ENVY_Photo_7800_series_2. print_headerright. &U print.printer_Mozilla_Save_to_PDF.print_headercenter &T print.printer_Mozilla_Save_to_PDF.print_headerleft &U print.printer_Mozilla_Save_to_PDF.print_headerright print_h. true

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fp5849 said

print.printer_HP_ENVY_Photo_7800_series_2. print_headerleft. &T print.printer_HP_ENVY_Photo_7800_series_2. print_headerright. &U print.printer_Mozilla_Save_to_PDF.print_headercenter &T print.printer_Mozilla_Save_to_PDF.print_headerleft &U print.printer_Mozilla_Save_to_PDF.print_headerright print_h. true

Those first two look fine. The next 3 seem a little off -- usually headercenter is empty and that headerright doesn't really make sense.

Does this problem occur on all pages you try to print? It's possible the problem is Firefox pushing the headers and footers into an unprintable area of the page.

I suggest starting a new question: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/new/desktop/form