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Printing format is Letter on a printer and A4 on the other one, instead of A4 for both as Windows configuration

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When I choose a printer A (in my case Toshiba or Brother printer), and print with Firefox, the default printing format is letter. If I choose a printer B (in my case HP printer), the default format is A4. I have the same issue for 2 pdf printers as pdfcreator (letter default format) and NuancePDF (A4 default format)

NB : Each of those printers are defined as A4 on windows drivers.

Some other strange thing. If I choose first the printer B (for which de default format is A4), and then I choose just after the printer A, the default format is now A4 for this printer.

This works fine with Chrome and IE and Firefox 44

When I choose a printer A (in my case Toshiba or Brother printer), and print with Firefox, the default printing format is letter. If I choose a printer B (in my case HP printer), the default format is A4. I have the same issue for 2 pdf printers as pdfcreator (letter default format) and NuancePDF (A4 default format) NB : Each of those printers are defined as A4 on windows drivers. Some other strange thing. If I choose first the printer B (for which de default format is A4), and then I choose just after the printer A, the default format is now A4 for this printer. This works fine with Chrome and IE and Firefox 44

All Replies (2)

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FF44 is too old to support or give help on. Also did you install each of those printer software/driver prior or after the new FF61?

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Hi dreboul, Firefox's Page Setup dialog doesn't let you directly set the paper size. However, you could try it this way:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste paper and pause while the list is filtered

Firefox should show these preferences for each of your printers:

  • print.printer_name.print_paper_data
  • print.printer_name.print_paper_height
  • print.printer_name.print_paper_name
  • print.printer_name.print_paper_sizeunit
  • print.printer_name.print_paper_width

For example, when I have my go-to PDF printer driver set for letter, I have:

  • print.printer_name.print_paper_data => 1
  • print.printer_name.print_paper_height => -1.00
  • print.printer_name.print_paper_name => blank
  • print.printer_name.print_paper_sizeunit => 0
  • print.printer_name.print_paper_width => -1.00

If I use the Properties button in the Print dialog to change the paper from Letter to A4 and print, Firefox records new values for two of the preferences:

  • print.printer_name.print_paper_data => 9
  • print.printer_name.print_paper_height => -1.00
  • print.printer_name.print_paper_name => blank
  • print.printer_name.print_paper_sizeunit => 1
  • print.printer_name.print_paper_width => -1.00

So for this "printer," a print_paper_data value of 9 is A4. (The print_paper_sizeunit refers to imperial (0) or metric (1).)

The catch is that different printers may have different paper_data values for different types of paper. I can't predict which one you need for a Toshiba, Brother, or HP printer. Hopefully you can figure that out through trial and error, or searching for solutions here or on other sites.

(3) To edit a value, double-click the preference to call up a small dialog, make the change there, then click OK. Firefox may or may not override this the next time you print. Hopefully not.