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paul921
Strollin' around
Status: New idea

Many users do not like the new print user interface, so they have been staying with the old print user interface by setting print.tab_modal.enabled to false.  Everything was fine until Firefox 97 removed this option.  Many users have complained about this on support.mozilla.org.

I normally print to PDF and do not want a preview.  I usually do a "postview" to check the resulting PDF.  The new print user interface would just slow things down without providing me with any benefit.  The old print preview should be available for those users who need it.  I have reverted to Firefox 96.0.3.

Please bring back the whole of the old print user interface, i.e. what was provided by setting print.tab_modal.enabled to false.

44 Comments
ThirdEyePete
New member

I need the system dialogue because it allows me to select 'Fast' in its preferences, which is easily good enough, and saves ink, for most web pages I want to print. I often have several tabs of them, and having to click 'Print using system dialogue' for each one is annoying, especially as the system dialogue always opens at the other side of the screen from your print dialogue, necessitating eye as well as mouse movement.

Please would you give us a Settings option 'Always use system dialogue for printing'? Surely that would be easy for you to implement.

Like others, if you don't do something about it soon, I shall look for an alternative browser, and cease my monthly contribution payments to Mozilla.

Fingers crossed...

paul921
Strollin' around

Firefox 101 includes some of what I wanted with bug 1712104 "Add a preference 'print.prefer_system_dialog' to allow printing directly via the system print dialog".

It doesn't have page setup and it doesn't have the old print preview, but it does allow you to bypass the new print preview and go straight to the system print dialog.

I decided to keep Firefox 96.0.3 and installed Firefox 101.0.1 in a different place.

I downloaded a new copy of Firefox 96.0.3, copied the entire contents of my existing profile (overwriting the new one), updated this copy of Firefox to the latest release, then set print.prefer_system_dialog to true in about:config. It seems to work!

I've set DisableAppUpdate in policies.json for both versions.

paul921
Strollin' around

An update to my previous comment:

Firefox 101 does have page setup if you set print.show_page_setup_menu to true in about:config.

rsbrux
Making moves

Why was any effort invested in changing this? I found the old "Print Preview" var more useful than the new print dialog.  Out of frustration with the new print dialog.  I am using the system print dialog, but this deprives me of *any* kind of preview.  Please reinstate the print UI from earlier versions of Firefox!

chugiakbob
New member

Yes...please give the user the option of which print dialog to use...

pissedoff
New member

Bring back PRINT PREVIEW

WL
New member

Was resisting updating from 96.x but saw that some of the security fixes since that version seem important so updated to 104.0.2.  Disappointed that the print function, specifically print preview, has not been restored to its former glorious usefulness.  Saw a post from a Mozilla person a few months ago explaining that there was no going back, the work-around that functioned for a while no longer would.  Seems lame to me that updates wipe out a work-around and as far as I have seen the print preview function was not a security issue ! 

The "old" print preview let you set the headers & footers, margins, etc., and had a very useful "simplify page" checkbox that would eliminate non-text, for an image-free print, as well as html or other code that spuriously appears, along with fixing overlap of images onto printed text that don't overlap it on the web page...  and other such printing issues.

Could Mozilla resuscitate the old print preview function ???

Ronbet
New member

Please bring back the older File menu. Missing print preview, page setup and more. If we cannot get these features back, will have to move to IE!

Firefox is forever "fixing" things where no issue exists. Obviously, some programmers at Firefox have way too much time on their hands with nothing else to do.

Why does Firefox NEVER ask users what they want, and do they want the changes that programmers make??

 

aede
Strollin' around

Yeah.. why is Mozilla copying Chromes UX? The download behavior, this.. just why?

Sure, it is the leading browser.. but is this really isn't a good reason.

e0
Making moves

Dear firefox

I always need to print the full internet path, so I need to move the headers to the left, make the font smaller etc.

It would be nice if they would wrap.

It would be very nice if it would work on pdf files too.

I hate the current print function, sorry

Br

Greg

DDaniel
Strollin' around

I am so annoyed that Mozilla took this option away from users. I am a public interest attorney. I send information to clients and the ability to edit the headers and footers allowed me to choose what info the would help client to know. Does the need to know what date I printed this information? Do they need the URL so they can find the information on their own? Do they need to know the organization providing the information if it is not on the materials I have printed? It doesn't matter now, b/c I can't change the darn settings.

Mozilla is my favorite browser, but if it is to my clients' detriment to continue using it, I will have to. 😞

TomJones66
New member

PLEASE FIREFOX CREATORS.  This is important!

Agentvirtuel
Contributor

Hello

print.tab_modal.enabled, no longer exist
print.prefer_system_dialog, was added to print using the system dialog and not the new print preview

Firefox https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/101.0/releasenotes
Firefox for Enterprise 101 - Release notes
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-enterprise-101-release-notes


In Firefox 101, a new preference, print.prefer_system_dialog, was added to print using the system dialog and not the new print preview. This will be available as a policy in Firefox 102.

https://forums.mozfr.org/viewtopic.php?p=929107

For information purposes https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/bring-back-the-old-page-setup-print-and-print-preview/idc-p/823... print.show_page_setup_menu
In addition take a look https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/firefox-print-setup-settings-for-header-amp-footer/idc-p/50534/... and by way of example other choice

IL-say
New member

Fellow browser users and FF programmers,

First, I agree with the 99 % majority here. The preview window clearly has no reason for not extending to full screen height (untill on big screens the chosen paper size is shown in 100 % WYSIWYG 1:1 scale).

Secondly, during the first two seconds of noticing the print preview had been changed, I had a flicker of hope that FF finally had come to its senses and restored the old but never surpassed Netscape print preview. For those of us who prints various layouts on different paper sizes from time to time, it was useful that Netscape could show if text and/or (large) images was still readable when scaled to fit small(er) paper sizes (e g changing from A4 to a A5 folder print) shown in 100 % WYSIWYG 1:1 scale. Not being able to view both print content and paper size in 100 % WYSIWYG 1:1 scale on screen, has been a lesser and poorer experience all these years with FF. Admittedly, I've never had a screen big enough to see a whole portrait A4, but the part I could (with e g a critically sized image) I could choose to see in 1:1 scale with Netscape. Why not bring this feature back to us instead, since you seem to have nothing better to do than to bring us greif!?

Thirdly, I agree, following Chrome will lead FF over a cliff!