We're calling on all EU-based Mozillians with iOS or iPadOS devices to help us monitor Apple’s new browser choice screens. Join the effort to hold Big Tech to account!

This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Hierdie gesprek is in die argief. Vra asseblief 'n nuwe vraag as jy hulp nodig het.

Thunderbird Print Preview fails to open

  • 2 antwoorde
  • 4 hierdie probleem
  • 1 view
  • Laaste antwoord deur Ravdave

more options

Mozilla Thunderbird release 52.1.1 on Windows 7. (User Agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/52.1.1)

Print Preview fails to open. when I select the option on any message. A brief pop dialogue appears and rapidly disappears and disappears twice.(One of which I eventually manage to capture a screenshot of.... it's the "Print Preview" pop up message which states "Title: Loading content for print preview" and "Progress: Preparing"). These two occurences have the same dialogue box size but don't know if they have the same content.

Occasionally after the second disappearance of the dialogue box, a bigger pop-up outline appears but disappears too fast to tell anything about it.

The bottom left corner of the main Thunderbird Window then states "Print Previewing message..", but no print preview appears.


Following an earlier comment I tried performing a "reset" of the about:config setting "print_printer". This setting then disappeared and I could no longer print from Thunderbird. Eventually I removed and re-installed the printer from Windows "Devices and Printers", restarted the PC, and found that I could print again, but still had the same problem of print preview not working. I tried Thunderbird in Safe mode, but print preview still does not work.

My printer is a USB connected HP 980cxi.

Mozilla Thunderbird release 52.1.1 on Windows 7. (User Agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/52.1.1) Print Preview fails to open. when I select the option on any message. A brief pop dialogue appears and rapidly disappears and disappears twice.(One of which I eventually manage to capture a screenshot of.... it's the "Print Preview" pop up message which states "Title: Loading content for print preview" and "Progress: Preparing"). These two occurences have the same dialogue box size but don't know if they have the same content. Occasionally after the second disappearance of the dialogue box, a bigger pop-up outline appears but disappears too fast to tell anything about it. The bottom left corner of the main Thunderbird Window then states "Print Previewing message..", but no print preview appears. Following an earlier comment I tried performing a "reset" of the about:config setting "print_printer". This setting then disappeared and I could no longer print from Thunderbird. Eventually I removed and re-installed the printer from Windows "Devices and Printers", restarted the PC, and found that I could print again, but still had the same problem of print preview not working. I tried Thunderbird in Safe mode, but print preview still does not work. My printer is a USB connected HP 980cxi.

All Replies (2)

more options

I've also added potential relevant information from the "Thunderbird Help->Troubleshooting Information" menu option as follows in case this helps. Also in case the information is of any relevance, Print Preview works fine in my Firefox 53.0.3 (32-bit) installation.

Mozilla Thunderbird Troubleshooting Information:-

 Application Basics
   Name: Thunderbird
   Version: 52.1.1
   User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/52.1.1
   Profile Folder: Open Folder
             (Local drive)
   Application Build ID: 20170509142926
   Enabled Plugins: about:plugins
   Build Configuration: about:buildconfig
   Memory Use: about:memory
   Profiles: about:profiles


 Crash Reports
 Extensions
   Lightning, 5.4.1.1, true, {e2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103}
 Important Modified Preferences
   Name: Value
     accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar: 0
     browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported: 1
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false
     dom.apps.reset-permissions: true
     extensions.lastAppVersion: 52.1.1
     font.internaluseonly.changed: false
     font.name.monospace.el: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.tr: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-baltic: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-central-euro: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-cyrillic: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-unicode: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-western: Consolas
     font.name.sans-serif.el: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.tr: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-baltic: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-central-euro: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-cyrillic: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-unicode: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-western: Calibri
     font.name.serif.el: Cambria
     font.name.serif.tr: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-baltic: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-central-euro: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-cyrillic: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-unicode: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-western: Cambria
     font.size.fixed.el: 14
     font.size.fixed.tr: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-baltic: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-central-euro: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-cyrillic: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-unicode: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-western: 14
     font.size.variable.el: 17
     font.size.variable.tr: 17
     font.size.variable.x-baltic: 17
     font.size.variable.x-central-euro: 17
     font.size.variable.x-cyrillic: 17
     font.size.variable.x-unicode: 17
     font.size.variable.x-western: 17
     gfx.direct3d.last_used_feature_level_idx: 0
     mail.openMessageBehavior.version: 1
     mail.winsearch.firstRunDone: true
     mailnews.database.global.datastore.id: d25151b5-0fe2-40d1-98dc-f615a7a79d9
     mailnews.database.global.views.conversation.columns: {"threadCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"1"},"flaggedCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"3"},"attachmentCol":{"visible":false…
     media.gmp.storage.version.observed: 1
     network.cookie.cookieBehavior: 2
     network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
     network.predictor.cleaned-up: true
     places.database.lastMaintenance: 1496354506
     places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 122334
     plugin.importedState: true
     plugins.update.notifyUser: true
     print.print_printer: hp deskjet 980c series
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_bgcolor: false
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_bgimages: false
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_colorspace:
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_command:
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_downloadfonts: false
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_duplex: 0
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_edge_bottom: 0
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_edge_left: 0
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_edge_right: 0
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_edge_top: 0
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_evenpages: true
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_footercenter:
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_footerleft: &PT
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_footerright: &D
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_headercenter:
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_headerleft: &T
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_headerright: &U
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_in_color: true
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_margin_bottom: 0.5
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_margin_left: 0.5
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_margin_right: 0.5
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_margin_top: 0.5
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_oddpages: true
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_orientation: 0
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_page_delay: 50
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_paper_data: 9
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_paper_height: 11.00
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_paper_name:
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_paper_size_type: 0
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_paper_size_unit: 1
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_paper_width: 8.50
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_plex_name:
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_resolution: 0
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_resolution_name:
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_reversed: false
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_scaling: 1.00
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_shrink_to_fit: true
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_to_file: false
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_unwriteable_margin_left: 0
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0
     print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0
     security.sandbox.content.tempDirSuffix: {2aa7aac6-acdb-40f4-9613-54d39483b3ea}
 Graphics
     GPU #1
     Description: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650
     Vendor ID: 0x10de
     Device ID: 0x0fc6
     RAM: 1024
     Drivers: nvd3dumx,nvwgf2umx,nvwgf2umx nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
     Driver Version: 9.18.13.1106
     Driver Date: 1-18-2013
     Features
     Direct2D: false
     DirectWrite: true (6.2.9200.22084)
     WebGL Renderer: Google Inc. -- ANGLE (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Direct3D9Ex vs_3_0 ps_3_0) -- OpenGL ES 2.0 (ANGLE 2.1.0.2a250c8a0e15)
     AzureCanvasBackend: skia
     AzureCanvasAccelerated: 0
     AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo
     AzureContentBackend: skia
 JavaScript
 Incremental GC: 1
 Accessibility
   Activated: 0
   Prevent Accessibility: 0
 Library Versions
     Expected minimum version
     Version in use
     NSPR
     4.13.1
     4.13.1
     NSS
     3.28.4
     3.28.4
     NSS Util
     3.28.4
     3.28.4
     NSS SSL
     3.28.4
     3.28.4
     NSS S/MIME
     3.28.4
     3.28.4
more options

Hi all, I have obtained a resolution that seems to work, (although I haven't rebooted PC yet to see if fix continues to work after PC Restart)

Following information from this post:- https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1353625

It appears that a way to resolve this is quoted by Tobias Becker as follows:-

1. Open about:config 2. Look at setting print.printer to find <name> of selected printer, example value is "HP LaserJet 5L". 3. Replace spaces by underscore for further reference, so example <name> becomes "HP_LaserJet_5L". 4. Change value of print.printer_<name>.print_paper_height to "-1" 5. Change value of print.printer_<name>.print_paper_width to "-1" 6. Close about:config

Either immediately or latest after restart of Thunderbird, issue is gone.

When later looking at the changed settings, values are displayed as "-1,00".

Former values while the issue existed were "11,00" and "8,50", obviously the dimensions of the "US letter" format measured in inches (25,4 mm). As being located in Germany, such a format was most likely never configured for the printer.

Worked for three profiles in total, all rather old ones that gathered a lot of print* settings over time and that show also that the structure of the settings changed at least once in the past, e.g. there is print.printer_<name>.* and printer_<name>.* with the first appearing to be the active one.

I would appreciate if this could fixed in a future update such that this issues disappears without manual edit in about:config.


That ends the quote from Tobias Becker. I am from the UK, but I too had later noticed that Thunderbird was using "Letter" from print size whilst my Printer in "Devices and Printers" was set to "A4". So from his above post, I applied the following change to my about:config which was already using underscores in the printer name in my case:-

print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_paper_height: -1 print.printer_hp_deskjet_980c.print_paper_width: -1

(Note I entered the modified value of "-1" with no spaces.)