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Print ignores default for print to pdf

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I have a laser printer set as default on a Windows 10 laptop. In Mozilla, when I select print, that laser printer has the green default check, but Mozilla defaults to Microsoft Print to PDF instead. How can I get Mozilla to accept the default printer without deleting Print to PDF which I do sometimes use but don't want as default? Image attached--it auto-checks PDF but you can see the laser listed above it is the default.

I have a laser printer set as default on a Windows 10 laptop. In Mozilla, when I select print, that laser printer has the green default check, but Mozilla defaults to Microsoft Print to PDF instead. How can I get Mozilla to accept the default printer without deleting Print to PDF which I do sometimes use but don't want as default? Image attached--it auto-checks PDF but you can see the laser listed above it is the default.
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

The way this is currently expected to work is that Firefox will default to the last printer you printed to in Firefox (it will not default to the operating system default). So if you print to the laser printer in Firefox then the next time you open the print dialog in Firefox that laser printer should be selected. It sounds like this isn't working for you?

Can you open the page `about:config`, accept the warning, and type 'print_printer'. There should be exactly one preference listed, containing the name of the printer Firefox will choose as the default. What value does that have?

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All Replies (10)

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Chosen Solution

The way this is currently expected to work is that Firefox will default to the last printer you printed to in Firefox (it will not default to the operating system default). So if you print to the laser printer in Firefox then the next time you open the print dialog in Firefox that laser printer should be selected. It sounds like this isn't working for you?

Can you open the page `about:config`, accept the warning, and type 'print_printer'. There should be exactly one preference listed, containing the name of the printer Firefox will choose as the default. What value does that have?

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Jonathan Watt said

Can you open the page `about:config`, accept the warning, and type 'print_printer'. There should be exactly one preference listed, containing the name of the printer Firefox will choose as the default. What value does that have?

It says Microsoft print to pdf.

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I copied the exact name of the laser printer into that field and saved it. Hoping that'll hold once I close the browser...

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Yep, that held. Brilliant. Thanks so much!

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Glad to hear you've managed to work around your immediate issue. It sounds like Firefox is failing to save the last used printer to that pref automatically though, which is concerning. If you don't mind creating an account on bugzilla.mozilla.org and opening a report there to answer some diagnostic questions that would be very helpful. (If you do, just make sure you have the word "print" in the title and I'll find it.)

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Hello, I have a similar but slightly different problem with the Firefox print function.

When I go to print and I want to print to a PDF, Firefox no longer uses my default PDF printer (Foxit reader), but instead uses “Microsoft print to pdf” as my only option (see screenshot), as it used to do.

I have the Firefox applications for PDFs set to Foxit Reader 10.1 for both application and download.

The “Microsoft print to pdf” causes Firefox to continually hang up the program and I have to close it each time. Per the above, I opened the page `about:config`, and typed 'print_printer' and deleted the preference listed there (my laser printer).

But how do I add “Foxit reader” in here?

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This sounds like quite a different problem that will have a different solution. Could you open a separate question for this, then add a comment here with the link so that I can find your question and try to help you there?

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Hi,

referring to first answer in this theme:

Jonathan Watt said

The way this is currently expected to work is that Firefox will default to the last printer you printed to in Firefox (it will not default to the operating system default). So if you print to the laser printer in Firefox then the next time you open the print dialog in Firefox that laser printer should be selected. It sounds like this isn't working for you?

Unfortunately Firefox does NOT work this expected way. You can print several times with your (manually selected) default printer, but at next try Firefox will preselect "Microsoft print to PDF" again.

There seems to be an issue with new Firefox 84 in new Windows 10 20H2.

By the way, recommended repair with edit of 'print_printer' value helped. But this should not be the final solution for this common problem.

Modified by rghro

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I have the same problem, but on a mac. Any help please.