Did you test in safe mode and with a new profile?

Does it appear on specific websites? If yes, provide some URLs and pages to print.

You can try these steps in case of issues with web pages:

You can reload web page(s) and bypass the cache to refresh possibly outdated or corrupted files.

• Hold down the Shift key and left-click the Reload button
• Press "Ctrl + F5" or press "Ctrl + Shift + R" (Windows,Linux)
• Press "Command + Shift + R" (Mac)

Clear the Cache and remove the Cookies from websites that cause problems.

"Clear the Cache":

• Firefox/Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Cached Web Content: "Clear Now"

"Remove the Cookies" from websites that cause problems.

• Firefox/Tools > Options > Privacy > "Use custom settings for history" > Cookies: "Show Cookies"

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (3-bar Menu button/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

• Switch to the DEFAULT theme: 3-bar Menu button/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
• Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes

There are other things that need attention.

Your System Details List shows multiple Flash plugins.

Shockwave Flash 15.0 r0 Shockwave Flash 20.0 r0 You can find the installation path of all plugins on the about:plugins page.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Issues_related_to_plugins#Identifying_installed_plugins

You can check the Flash player installation folder for multiple Flash player plugins and remove older version(s) of the plugin (NPSWF32) and possibly (re)install the latest Flash player.

• (32 bit Windows) C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\
• (64 bit Windows) C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\

@Oxylatium I did not try safe mode or test with a new profile. This is obviously an intermittent problem affecting only a few sites and I have not noticed it recurring on any particular page. I should be more vigilant about keeping a list of sites on which the problems occur, but have not so far. I will try to do so.

@cor-el Thanks for these tips. I did not know about the keystrokes to bypass the cache, and those are helpful to have handy. I have cleaned up the duplicate Flash plugin issue.

I should have mentioned that I did clear the cache on a couple of occasions when the problem occurred, but did not see any improvement. I did not check cookies, only because I was not on sites I regularly visit and did not think cookies would be an issue, but I will add this to the list of things to check next time.

I appreciate the suggestions. The difficulty, of course, is that troubleshooting these issues takes a lot of time and my work day prevents me from looking at many of these items when the problems occur. It is easier to simply switch to Chrome or Edge. My guess is that is how Firefox loses many loyal users: it is easier to switch than fight.

I am not throwing in the orange towel just yet, and will implement some of these suggestions as problems recur. Thank you for interrupting your day to assist. I am very grateful.

My issues with Firefox continue at various pages. The suggestions made above have not cured any of them. Here are some specific examples:

Example 1 - trying to print from this page was miserable in Firefox, but I was able to get much better formatting when printing in Chrome http://m.statesman.com/news/business/health-reform-law-targets-physician-owned-hospital/nRtDq/

Example 2 - in Firefox, this page appeared without any login dialog box but it was visible in Chrome

http://info.ravellaw.com/ravel-law-webinar-designing-the-future-of-legal-practice-and-technology?utm_campaign=IDEO+Webinar&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--14W4rrhhMiP62JjoUlUlGqhUv-cJIqUUIikre8MonqFs1Bw-FHaNto1JeCtkgA3YkO6rKHjGqN5gSKfVQCf9Q6PwRpuCoW5vPN3dn3NS12CDrwz0&_hsmi=26497960&utm_content=26497960&utm_source=hs_email&hsCtaTracking=5ce1acbf-79ad-48f4-b91f-f409d347ba72|bf0c3fcd-744c-4d91-9b19-262782f1fd63

Example 3 - while shopping at Costco, I was unable to apply product filters on this page. Worked fine in Chrome.

http://www.costco.com/cpu-only.html

When I went back days later, I was not able to recreate some of these issues. And that is the point: Firefox, for whatever reason, is slowing me down and killing my workflow. These problems never occur in Chrome and I have never had to leave Chrome to try another browser.

The idea that I need to troubleshoot by clearing my cache, testing safe mode or starting to use a new profile (which, btw, is a total PITA), are all helpful suggestions (and things I have done) but end up begging the question: WHY DO I RUN INTO THESE PROBLEMS WITH FIREFOX BUT NOT CHROME? More and more, Chrome seems to just work and Firefox requires a lot of troubleshooting maintenance. Now that many of my favorite extensions are showing up in Chrome . . .

This is the challenge for the Firefox dev team. Thanks for listening.

Or an issue with your hardware, maybe graphics drivers.

Type about:support in the location bar and paste the section "graphics" here.

Thanks. I appreciate your suggestion. However, I experience these problems on two different machines (laptop and desktop). I've attached the info you requested from the desktop machine.

Thanks again.

Thank you for the examples. Are you using an ad blocker, script blocker, or private browsing?

On #1, I noticed that there is a fixed position footer on the first page of Print Preview overlapping a photo, but the rest of the layout didn't look bad. That said, there is a lot of ad-related content loading into this page. Since I use the NoScript extension, I repeatedly allowed more and more stuff to load and and kept seeing new things appear. It's hard for me to judge what might be happening on your Firefox, which probably has different add-ons from mine.

On #2, the form is hosted by HubSpot, a marketing service. When you do not see the form, could you check the address bar to the left of the URL, to see whether Firefox's tracking protection icon (a small shield) appears there? If so, try making an exception for the site to see whether the HubSpot content loads. More information on tracking protection: What happened to Tracking Protection?.

On #3, I noticed that I had to unblock a script from hlserve.com (from the NoScript drop-down) before the boxes would work. I've used Costco.com in the past without problems, so this might be a change to the site. Anyway, can you think of any reason your Firefox might be blocking that script?

By the way, you'll find many pages that Firefox cannot paginate correctly for printing. In some cases, you can hack around the problem by modifying some style rules, but I agree that's a hassle, and not very practical for the random site you just want to print once.

Some of these problems are known and pending in the bug tracking system, but have been a low priority over the years. Others may be newly discovered as Firefox increasingly builds in support for new style rules for screen display while the pagination code lags behind. Therefore, it is very helpful to get examples of pages that do not print well, with an explanation of where the problem lies, to see whether something new is happening.

Thanks for your help, jscher. I am not using any adblockers and, today, #2 seems to show up properly.

I appreciate your effort to figure out the issues with these pages. Regardless of the reasons, if I can't get them to work with my setup, Firefox is less and less useful. But the real issue is why the pages work effortlessly in Chrome?

I realize this is rhetorical. Your efforts are appreciated.

Firefox has never excelled at printing, but some comments on Example 1. I notice that even with FlashPlayer on, and no ad/scriptblocking the page cleans up well in Firefox's Reader view.

• Firefox Reader View for clutter-free web pages

You could save or print such a view.

Another thought is do you actually need/want hard copies ? Feel like being environmentally friendly, and probably save some print costs. You could save the webpage instead. On a Linux or Mac (or Fx Android) you probably have by default an option to save as a pdf, you could later view or print the pdf. On Windows various Firefox addons are available to allow pages to be saved or printed as a pdf.

• A quick Search

Addons often give some edditing ability.

When I say "print," I usually mean printing to pdf. I use (and love) the Print Edit extension that allows you to remove elements on the page prior to printing.

Thanks for the tip about Reader View.