Firefox Printing Problems – How To Fix?

Firefox by Mozilla corporation is one of the best free open source web browsers. It is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android as well. It was released in 2004 by the Mozilla community who desired a standalone browser. Mozilla Firefox is still one of the most popular alternatives to Google Chrome.

While Firefox by Mozilla is a very good browser with support for add-ons and other security features, many users recently have reported several Firefox printing problems that do not let them print directly from Firefox. This can be an annoying error as Firefox is one of the most popular browsers on the internet.

Here I will discuss the possible reasons for which you may be facing the Firefox printing problems, and the potential methods that you may deploy to solve the error.

Why Am I Seeing This Error?

If you too can’t print from Firefox, there are potentially many reasons why this error may be presented. This is a broad class of error, and there are many reasons that Firefox may not print properly from your device.

The most common reason that you may be facing this error is broken or corrupt extensions. Missing configuration files necessary to run the extensions can cause a host of errors, and this error is no exception.

The Firefox print preview error can also be caused by incorrect scaling of the page. Sometimes, the page setup gets disturbed for a variety of reasons, which may prevent the proper scaling and orientation of the printing material with the paper. If you see Firefox printing small-sized letters, you may consider that this may be the reason that you are facing this error.

A font mismatch can also lead to Firefox printing problems on your device. Some printers may be unable to recognize some particular fonts, which can play a huge role in errors involving directly printing from Firefox.

How To Solve Mozilla Firefox Printing Problems?

Now that you have a vague idea about the possible reasons why you may be facing this error, you need to diagnose and solve the Firefox printing problems.

Before applying any of these fixes, first, check if your printer works perfectly. To check that, try printing an offline page from MS word or any other text editor that you use. If the offline page fails to print the page as well, try troubleshooting the printer for potential issues and call the technician if nothing helps. If the offline pages print normally, proceed with this.

FIX 1: Check For Broken Extensions

There is a possibility that some broken extension is causing Firefox printing problems on your browser. If you suspect this, you can diagnose this problem by starting Mozilla Firefox in safe mode.

Safe mode is a feature in Mozilla Firefox, where the add-ons are disabled and the settings are set to default. If you don’t see the error in Mozilla Firefox safe mode, you can confirm that the error is being caused by some broken extension.

To start Safe mode, follow these steps:

1. Click the menu button.
2. Now, click Help.
3. Here, select Restart with Add-ons Disabled…

4. Press the button Restart.

After Firefox starts in safe mode, you can test if the error is repeated here as well. If you don’t see the error, you can safely assume that the printing errors are being caused by a broken extension.

However, if you notice that the error is being repeated in Safe mode as well, the error is being caused by some plug-ins or changes made to Firefox preferences settings that are also ported over to safe mode. I will discuss these in FIX 4.

FIX 2: Check Page Scaling

In most of the text editors in various productivity suites, you will see that the page dimensions are set to that of the A4 page size. This makes managing content within a page easier according to how you may want to see it being printed on a paper.

Web pages are different in the way that all the websites aren’t scaled according to a printing paper. This can lead to many errors in the arrangement of the web page. If not set correctly, we can change the arrangement to some other levels in the print preview screen if you see Firefox printing small-sized content.

Note: The preview will not be a replica of the screen but the best arrangement of the said page before printing.

1. In Mozilla Firefox, visit the page that you want to print.
2. Click on the hamburger menu.
3. Here, click on Print. This will open the Print Preview.
4. In the menu bar present at the top, change the settings that you don’t see fit.
5. Click on the Page Setup…
6. In the Margins & Header/Footer tab, reduce the margin size to what you see fit for the page.
7. Back at the Print Preview page; verify the scale should be set to Shrink To Fit.
8. Set the orientation of the page to Portrait.
9. Click on OK to save the settings and then print the page.

FIX 3: Font Errors Correction

The default font set for Mozilla Firefox is Times New Roman. Some printers especially the older ones have sometimes difficulties processing some fonts on the webpage. You can try changing the default font to a Mozilla recommended Trebuchet MS font if you are facing the Firefox print preview error.

FIX 4: Print Preview Error In Safe Mode Too

In FIX 1, if you see that the issue continues in the Safe Mode as well, the error is probably caused by some preference settings that ported over to the Safe Mode as well. Resetting the Firefox printer settings should solve this error.

Reset Firefox printer Settings

1. Type the configuration settings page by typing about:config in the address bar of the Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In the search bar, type print_printer.
3. Right-click on the print_printer setting and select Reset.
4. Click the Firefox menu again, and then click Exit.

Update: this setting seems to have been removed and other settings have been introduced in its lieu. Look for the settings, and reset the ones you feel associated with the error.

If you did not find the file, or this setting did not work for you, another step can help you.

1. Open your profile folder by using the following steps:
   1. Click the menu button, click Help and select Troubleshooting Information in the subsequent page. The Troubleshooting Information tab will open.
   2. Under the Application Basics section, click on Open Folder next to Profile Folder.
   3. Your profile folder will open.

2. Exit Firefox.
3. In your profile folder, copy the prefs.js file to another folder to make a backup of it.
4. Open the original prefs.js file in a text editor like Notepad or MS Visual Code.
5. Remove all lines in prefs.js that start with print_ and save the file.

If something goes wrong when you open Firefox, close it again and overwrite prefs.js with the backup you made.

Wrapping Up

So there you have it. Now you know how to solve Mozilla Firefox printing problems using one or a combination of the solutions given above. Tell us in the comments which fix worked for you in solving this.