Firefox takes too long to print large document
I am running 64-bit Firefox version 59.0.3 on Windows 10 build 1709.
I have a document that contains an html table with 8 columns and more than 5,000 rows. When I print from Firefox to "Ghostscript PDF" printer to produce postscript output file I found it takes about 30 minutes. It takes about the same time when I print to "Microsoft Print to PDF" printer to generate PDF output. The
For comparison, when I print the same html document using Microsoft Edge it takes less than 2 minutes to either printer.
With latest Google Chrome (version 66), it takes about 2 minutes to print to Ghostscript PDF printer, but 12 minutes to print to Microsoft Print to PDF printer.
I also 32-bit version of Firefox and the results are very similar.
The generated postscript or PDF file has 260 pages, printed in landscape orientation.
Why is Firefox printing performance so much slower than Edge or Chrome for large documents?
Thank you.
All Replies (4)
First of all try to reset Firefox printer setting . Most of the Firefox printing issues can be solved by doing resetting Firefox printer setting. To do that follow the following steps: 1. In the address bar, type about:config and press Enter 2. The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear. Click I accept the risk! to continue to the about:config page. 3. Right-click on the print_printer setting and select Reset. 4. Click the Firefox menu , then click Exit.
After restarting Firefox again start printing the document you had problem with before. Thanks.
Thank you for the response.
I have tried that, as well as other suggestions documented in the following support article: <https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-printing-problems-firefox>
None of them improve the printing time.
Thank you.
I created a test html file containing a large table without any formatting attribute or style. When I printed this file from Firefox-64 in Landscape orientation it produces 207 pages. It took 12 minutes to print to either "Microsoft Print to PDF" printer or "Ghostscript PDF" printer on my system.
During printing Firefox-64 displayed the message "preparing the page for printing" for a long time before asking user to supply a filename.
With Microsoft Edge it took just 1 minute to print to either printer.
Thank you.
====
Begin html test file
====
<title>Test Firefox Printing Large Table</title>
| Header 1 | Header 2 | Header 3 | Header 4 | Header 5 | Header 6 | Header 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Col 1 Cell | Col 2 Cell | Col 3 Cell | Col 4 Cell | Col 5 Cell | Col 6 Cell | Col 7 Cell |
| Col 1 Cell | Col 2 Cell | Col 3 Cell | Col 4 Cell | Col 5 Cell | Col 6 Cell | Col 7 Cell |
====
End html test file
====
Sorry I messed up the html test file portion.
====
Begin html test file
====
<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>Test Firefox Printing Large Table</title> </head>
<body> <table> <thead> <tr> <th>Header 1</th> <th>Header 2</th> <th>Header 3</th> <th>Header 4</th> <th>Header 5</th> <th>Header 6</th> <th>Header 7</th> </tr> </thead>
<tbody> <tr> <td>Col 1 Cell</td> <td>Col 2 Cell</td> <td>Col 3 Cell</td> <td>Col 4 Cell</td> <td>Col 5 Cell</td> <td>Col 6 Cell</td> <td>Col 7 Cell</td> </tr>
<!-- Copy the row for a total of 6,000 rows. --!>
<tr> <td>Col 1 Cell</td> <td>Col 2 Cell</td> <td>Col 3 Cell</td> <td>Col 4 Cell</td> <td>Col 5 Cell</td> <td>Col 6 Cell</td> <td>Col 7 Cell</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </body> </html>
====
End html test file
====
Thank you.