Firefox's Print Selection feature has always left much to be desired...

What I get is blank pages before the selection but not after. You get blank pages for the entire document? That's especially unhelpful.

I am aware of two workarounds. Each isolates the selection by itself so you can print it normally, i.e., without choosing Print Selection.

Nuke Anything Enhanced

After installing this add-on, when you have a selection and right-click it, you can choose "Remove everything else" to isolate the text for printing. Note that you need to reload the page to see the rest of the content again.

Bookmarklet

Before learning about the above, I wrote a small script to isolate the selection for printing. I wouldn't use it if you are filling in a form, making a purchase, etc., since the script duplicates part of the page and this may break the form. On the other hand, at least there is some level of undo without reloading the page.

If you want to try it, here are the steps:

(1) Select and copy the following line of script (it's all one long line):

javascript:var sel=window.getSelection(); if(!sel.isCollapsed){var rng=sel.getRangeAt(0); if(!rng.collapsed){var docfrag=rng.cloneContents(); if(!document.getElementById("divHideMe")){var rng2=document.createRange(); rng2.selectNodeContents(document.body); var myContainer=document.createElement("DIV"); rng2.surroundContents(myContainer); myContainer.setAttribute("id","divHideMe"); rng2.detach();} myContainer.style.display="none"; if(document.getElementById("printFrag")){var myFrag=document.getElementById("printFrag"); while(myFrag.firstChild) {myFrag.removeChild(myFrag.firstChild);} myFrag.style.display="block";}else{var myFrag=document.createElement("DIV"); myFrag.setAttribute("id","printFrag"); document.body.appendChild(myFrag);} myFrag.appendChild(docfrag); rng.detach(); var myP=document.createElement("P"); myFrag.appendChild(myP); myP.setAttribute("id","killBtn"); var myBtn=document.createElement("INPUT"); myP.appendChild(myBtn); myBtn.setAttribute("type","button"); myBtn.setAttribute("value","Return to Page"); myBtn.setAttribute("onclick","document.getElementById('divHideMe').style.display='block'; document.getElementById('printFrag').style.display='none';"); myStyle=document.createElement("STYLE"); myFrag.appendChild(myStyle); myStyle.setAttribute("type","text/css"); myStyle.setAttribute("media","print"); myStyle.innerHTML="#killBtn{display:none}";}} void 0;

(2) Right-click the Bookmarks Toolbar and choose New Bookmark. (If you do not ordinarily display the Bookmarks Toolbar, you can add it to the menu instead. Whatever will be convenient.)

(3) Click in Location and paste the script.

(4) Click in Name and name it whatever you like (I call it Crop4Print) and then click Add.

Now after selecting text, click the bookmarklet button to hide the rest of the page.

Note: prior to Firefox 11, the extra pages were omitted. Perhaps you were running Firefox 10 on your XP system?

Examples of threads from the time of Firefox 11:

• How can I print a selection in Firefox 11 without it wasting paper and printing blank space in place of the non-selected material?

• how to get print selection to work