In FireFox how can I print to my default printer with a single click?
This came in this morning, from our buddy Peter. I knew there was a way to do it as I had modified mine to do just that. But would be damned if I could remember how.
Karl, Hope things are going well with you and baby. Here’s a question maybe you can post on the site to get some answers. I do a fair amount of printing from Firefox. I can’t find any way to have the print button just print the current page to the default printer (like IE does). It’s really a waste of time to have to wait for the print dialog box to open every time and then click OK. Is there a setting or extension that offers the ability to quickly print a page? Peter
I used our AtA resources and hit up the bat phone… Um yeah it was actually My Dopod but using it I sent an email out to the gang. Paul from Bauer-Power.Net was the first one with the reply. He definitely gets points for clear concise answer quickly – Thats the way we do it over here. I hope this helps you out Peter!
- In the address bar type about:config then enter
- Right click in the white space and select New > Boolean
- Create a new string called print.always_print_silent and set it to True
So simple yet oh so functional! That will shave precious seconds off your Fire-Foxing web-printing shinanigans. What else do you guys use about:config to spruce up your Fox?
Hmm looks like we still can use some help on this one:
Thanks! That works well. The only difficulty with that one is that then it never displays the print dialog box. I guess what I was really looking for is something that works exactly like IE (didn’t think I’d ever say that), where the print button is silent, but you could still change the settings by using File > Print. I’ll play around with that a bit. Maybe it’s possible to change only the button function or make a new button that works like IE. Thanks for the help. Peter
Any of you out in Admin land have some ideas? Hit us up in the comments show off your stuff!
_ThePerplexedAdmiN_
December 2, 2007 - 6:25 am
First of all, I love the picture. I have never in my life wanted to be a cat so badly.
Second, this has me stumped too. I know you can toggle that new boolean string from true to false to put it back to the way it was. I also know that would get tedious though. Other than that, you’ve got me.
I tried searching for plugins, but couldn’t find one that fits the bill.
- El Di Pablo
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December 2, 2007 - 1:16 pm
El Di Pablo – I have come to the conclusion that it can’t be done.
After talking to Karl and getting a better handle on the terminology, I was able to do some better searches and found many instances of people asking to do this and the conclusion is always that it can’t be done.
I also looked into doing it with javascript, but that can’t be done either.
Oh well, it’s not worth switching to IE for, but it is a pain to have to click through the print dialog box every time.
Thanks to everyone who helped with this.
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December 2, 2007 - 1:48 pm
Where there is a will there is a way. A german fellow said he can create an extension to do what you want. lets see if that pans out.
if not how hard is it to create an extension? what language do they use?
I was never much of a cat person but that picture gives me a whole new respect for the kitty ;)
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December 2, 2007 - 8:48 am
Where there is a will there is a way. A german fellow said he can create an extension to do what you want. lets see if that pans out.
if not how hard is it to create an extension? what language do they use?
I was never much of a cat person but that picture gives me a whole new respect for the kitty ;)
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December 2, 2007 - 3:33 pm
I love this pic also. Do we know its origins?
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December 2, 2007 - 10:33 am
I love this pic also. Do we know its origins?
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December 2, 2007 - 5:09 pm
Karl,
sorry for the delay, you may have already found it, but if the user is
willing to edit the user.js file, you can do what you describe below.
Add the following 2 lines to user.js:
user_pref(“print.always_print_silent”,true);
user_pref(“print.show_print_progress”,false);
The file is located in: c:\Documents and
Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\SOME
RANDOM #.default\user.js
In fact it may not exist, in which case you can create it w/ any text
editor, containing only the 2 lines above. Once created, restart
Firefox, and you should be good to go.
I got that info from this page: http://jadoba.net/PLUG/kiosks/howto/
Section 4.7.4, step 3.
Jay From http://www.Mosio.com
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December 2, 2007 - 12:09 pm
Karl,
sorry for the delay, you may have already found it, but if the user is
willing to edit the user.js file, you can do what you describe below.
Add the following 2 lines to user.js:
user_pref(“print.always_print_silent”,true);
user_pref(“print.show_print_progress”,false);
The file is located in: c:Documents and
SettingsUSERNAMEApplication DataMozillaFirefoxProfilesSOME
RANDOM #.defaultuser.js
In fact it may not exist, in which case you can create it w/ any text
editor, containing only the 2 lines above. Once created, restart
Firefox, and you should be good to go.
I got that info from this page: Section “>http://jadoba.net/PLUG/kiosks/howto/
Section “>Section “>http://jadoba.net/PLUG/kiosks/howto/
Section 4.7.4, step 3.
Jay From http://www.Mosio.com “>http://www.Mosio.com
Click to Reply to This Comment.
December 2, 2007 - 12:09 pm
Karl,
sorry for the delay, you may have already found it, but if the user is
willing to edit the user.js file, you can do what you describe below.
Add the following 2 lines to user.js:
user_pref(“print.always_print_silent”,true);
user_pref(“print.show_print_progress”,false);
The file is located in: c:Documents and
SettingsUSERNAMEApplication DataMozillaFirefoxProfilesSOME
RANDOM #.defaultuser.js
In fact it may not exist, in which case you can create it w/ any text
editor, containing only the 2 lines above. Once created, restart
Firefox, and you should be good to go.
I got that info from this page: Section “>http://jadoba.net/PLUG/kiosks/howto/
Section “>Section “>http://jadoba.net/PLUG/kiosks/howto/
Section 4.7.4, step 3.
Jay From http://www.Mosio.com “>http://www.Mosio.com
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December 2, 2007 - 7:54 pm
I made the changes to my user.js file and it appears to have the same effect as “print.always_print_silent”. It does suppress the print dialog box, but it also suppresses it from File > Print.
Everything I read suggests that the print button, Ctrl-P and File > Print are all the same function and Firefox has no built in method for altering any of them.
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December 2, 2007 - 8:22 pm
Does Opera have this functionality? I’m not an Opera user myself, but it too is a viable alternate to IE that this user might like.
-EDP
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December 2, 2007 - 2:54 pm
I made the changes to my user.js file and it appears to have the same effect as “print.always_print_silent”. It does suppress the print dialog box, but it also suppresses it from File > Print.
Everything I read suggests that the print button, Ctrl-P and File > Print are all the same function and Firefox has no built in method for altering any of them.
Click to Reply to This Comment.