Firefox not printing pdf's correctly after updating to 48
After updating to Firefox 48 when I try to print labels in the Firefox built in pdf viewer they seem to be scaled so only part of the label prints. We use a website that builds labels based on a database. Then creates a pdf of those labels and opens it in the Firefox pdf viewer. Before we could just click print and it would print the correct size. Now it seems to be scaling the label. I check page setup to make sure that I am not scaling there. When I tried to use that to scale it down the pdf size was unaffected. Before the scale on the page setup effected the label size.
All Replies (4)
Usually if there is a problem with Firefox's understanding of the proper paper size of a printer, it affects all printouts directed to the printer, whether from a PDF or from a regular web pages. Do you see that pattern?
If Firefox is not using the whole sheet of paper, this can be caused by Firefox having extracted the wrong paper size settings from Windows when reading the print driver data. Clearing it can involve finding some obscure settings, but here goes:
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste print and pause while the list is filtered
(3) For each setting that specifically mentions the problem printer, right-click and Reset it. The fastest way is to right-click with the mouse and then press the r key on the keyboard with your other hand.
Note: In a couple threads involving Brother printers, the preference printer_printer_name.print_paper_data was set to 256 and when the user edited it to 1 that by itself fixed the paper size problem (set it back to letter size). If you use a Brother printer and see a 256 there, you can edit the value by doubling-clicking it or using right-click>Modify.
Any improvement?
I have not tried clearing the settings. We actually installed a new Epson printer because the old one had cutter issues. It is the same exact model and it was installed after the printing issue started. I looked at the config settings and it is listed as a separate printer. Regular printing seems to be unaffected so I think it is purely the pdf viewer that is causing issues. I might try reinstalling Firefox later today but I have to wait for the shipping to be done. Thanks for the reply.
Modified by BeerPimp
I tried printing from another computer and it did the same exact thing. I am thinking it is the issue with the built in pdf viewer in firefox. When I switch it to using Adobe it fixes it. The company that maintains the web-based label program recommends using Adobe over the built in Firefox pdf viewer.
Yes, the viewer's conversion of the PDF to HTML may well be inaccurate for printing purposes, even if it looks reasonable on the screen. The viewer sometimes warns when it knows there is a problem with its rendering, but it may have problems it doesn't know about. ;-)