Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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

Firefox Will Not let You Save print Settings

more options

Windows 7 64 bit and Firefox does not allow you to apply printer settings,We use black ink only and print fast draft,pages are from different sites.You must select black ink and fast draft for every page every time.

We have no problem with IE 8 it will let you apply settings and they are there for the next page.

Our 4 other computer using Firefox 3 running on vista ,1 on XP work just fine with firefox printer settings are the same every time you open and want to print.

Windows 7 64 bit and Firefox does not allow you to apply printer settings,We use black ink only and print fast draft,pages are from different sites.You must select black ink and fast draft for every page every time. We have no problem with IE 8 it will let you apply settings and they are there for the next page. Our 4 other computer using Firefox 3 running on vista ,1 on XP work just fine with firefox printer settings are the same every time you open and want to print.

All Replies (8)

more options

Try resetting the prefs for that one printer in about:config.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Problems_printing_web_pages#Reset_printer

more options

We did printer reset and it is the same,the print window in firefox does not even have a button to let you APPLY printer settings after you change them.

more options

Did you reset all the prefs for that particular printer?

more options

Yes there was only one print.print_printer

more options

That isn't good, the other printer prefs should reappear in about:config after the first time that printer is used in Firefox. If that isn't happening, your Profile is broken - create a new Profile.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_Firefox_profile_on_Windows

more options

We went in and reset any reference to that printer there was,still same problem when you select print change settings to fast draft ,color to blank ink cartridge only there is no way in the Firefox print window to let you apply those settings to that site or page only have an ok or cancel button,each time you want to print you must manually change it for every page.

This problem is specific to this computer running windows 7 64 bit

I have even downloaded IE9 it lets you apply settings in the print window

more options

On the print dialog, File >Print, is there a "Properties" button next to the printer name? On my HP printer, I had to go there, then up comes HP's dialog, and use HP's software to make that change to "black cartridge only" (or other settings) a permanent change. To switch back to color (or other settings), you must go through the same process, at least on my printer.

In IE8 on my system, it is "Preferences" instead of "Properties".

Modified by Helper7677

more options

Sorry, I can't see any way to diagnose why Firefox isn't saving that setting on the Win7-64 installation and it does on the Vista and XP Firefox installations. My guess would be a problem with the 64 bit drivers / software for that printer or 32 / 64 bit incompatibility issues with that software. See if there are updated drivers available for that printer model.

As far as differences between IE9 and Firefox, they probably aren't using the exact same parts of the printer drivers / software. Plus IE9 may be a 64-bit application (I'm not sure as IE9 is of no use to me on XP and Ubuntu). Plus as Helper7677 mentioned, the manner in which that setting is changed differs between IE and Firefox. The printer software might be using parts of IE /Windows that cross-browser applications can't or don't access.