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Thunderbird stopped printing headers

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

Mike109
Mike109
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Printing an email page used to include the URL address at the upper right of the page & the subject at the upper left corner. But not anymore.

I tried another profile & it printed the URL as usual. Then I went to Print > Options > Print headers and footers and unchecked the box and of course no headers or footers printed.

Then I re-checked the box & the footers printed but not the URL header. And the subject name now printed at the top center of the page.

This uncheck / recheck seems to have affected all the email in the profile. It made a permanent change to all.

There used to be page setup options to choose which headers & footers you wanted printed but I cannot find that now. Where is that located?

Printing an email page used to include the URL address at the upper right of the page & the subject at the upper left corner. But not anymore. I tried another profile & it printed the URL as usual. Then I went to Print > Options > Print headers and footers and unchecked the box and of course no headers or footers printed. Then I re-checked the box & the footers printed but not the URL header. And the subject name now printed at the top center of the page. This uncheck / recheck seems to have affected all the email in the profile. It made a permanent change to all. There used to be page setup options to choose which headers & footers you wanted printed but I cannot find that now. Where is that located?

Chosen solution

re : Print > Options > Print headers and footers and unchecked the box and of course no headers or footers printed.

Yes that is the overall control to switch on/off printing of headers.

I found what headers displayed depended upon what 'printer'/Destination option had been selected.

So I checked the preferences for the various 'printer' options.

  • Menu app icon > Preferences > General
  • Scroll to bottom - click on 'Config Editor'
  • in top search type: print.print

There are the set of defaults, plus you may also see lines specific to the printer you use. Please note that depending upon which printer you use, the setting in Config Editor relate to specific printer. You will see _footercenter, _footerright, _footerleft and same format for the headers eg: _headercenter.

This means you can set the various 'print.printer_printer name' settings - perhaps they may differ depending upon which 'printer destination you select' after clicking on 'Print'.

I found 'print.print_footer_center' - no mention of actual printer name seems to be default settings for Windows printer choices like 'OneNote' or 'Microsoft Print to PDF'

I've a printer called 'Epson_Stylus_CX6400_(M)' so here are some options you can use as default when selecting to print with that printer.

examples: This sets footer central page numbering to saying: 1 of 1 print.print_footercenter Value = &PT print.printer_Epson_Stylus_CX6400_(M).print_footercenter - Value = &PT

This sets footer central page numbering to saying just the number: 1 print.print_footercenter Value = &P print.printer_Epson_Stylus_CX6400_(M).print_footercenter - Value = &P

This sets the date in the footer on the right print.print_footerright Value = &D print.printer_Epson_Stylus_CX6400_(M).print_footerright - Value = &D

This sets the Title which is the 'Subject' in header centrally. print.print_headercenter Value = &T print.printer_Epson_Stylus_CX6400_(M).print_headercenter - Value = &T

This sets the url (which is the location of email stored in Thunderbird) in header to the right. Note: if nothing else is set in header then it will display more of the url using up whatever space is available to the left - so right justified. print.print_headerright Value = &URL print.printer_Epson_Stylus_CX6400_(M).print_headerright - Value = &URL

You can also choose to enter a specific word. Examples: print.print_headercenter Value = CONFIDENTIAL print.printer_Epson_Stylus_CX6400_(M).print_headercenter - Value = CONFIDENTIAL


If you do want to not display anything in the headers by default - then click on the pencil edit icon for that line and remove content. The pencil icon changes to a tick which you click to save changes.

Hope this helps you to understand how you can control the headers other than the basic show or not show.

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All Replies (3)

Toad-Hall
Toad-Hall
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

re : Print > Options > Print headers and footers and unchecked the box and of course no headers or footers printed.

Yes that is the overall control to switch on/off printing of headers.

I found what headers displayed depended upon what 'printer'/Destination option had been selected.

So I checked the preferences for the various 'printer' options.

  • Menu app icon > Preferences > General
  • Scroll to bottom - click on 'Config Editor'
  • in top search type: print.print

There are the set of defaults, plus you may also see lines specific to the printer you use. Please note that depending upon which printer you use, the setting in Config Editor relate to specific printer. You will see _footercenter, _footerright, _footerleft and same format for the headers eg: _headercenter.

This means you can set the various 'print.printer_printer name' settings - perhaps they may differ depending upon which 'printer destination you select' after clicking on 'Print'.

I found 'print.print_footer_center' - no mention of actual printer name seems to be default settings for Windows printer choices like 'OneNote' or 'Microsoft Print to PDF'

I've a printer called 'Epson_Stylus_CX6400_(M)' so here are some options you can use as default when selecting to print with that printer.

examples: This sets footer central page numbering to saying: 1 of 1 print.print_footercenter Value = &PT print.printer_Epson_Stylus_CX6400_(M).print_footercenter - Value = &PT

This sets footer central page numbering to saying just the number: 1 print.print_footercenter Value = &P print.printer_Epson_Stylus_CX6400_(M).print_footercenter - Value = &P

This sets the date in the footer on the right print.print_footerright Value = &D print.printer_Epson_Stylus_CX6400_(M).print_footerright - Value = &D

This sets the Title which is the 'Subject' in header centrally. print.print_headercenter Value = &T print.printer_Epson_Stylus_CX6400_(M).print_headercenter - Value = &T

This sets the url (which is the location of email stored in Thunderbird) in header to the right. Note: if nothing else is set in header then it will display more of the url using up whatever space is available to the left - so right justified. print.print_headerright Value = &URL print.printer_Epson_Stylus_CX6400_(M).print_headerright - Value = &URL

You can also choose to enter a specific word. Examples: print.print_headercenter Value = CONFIDENTIAL print.printer_Epson_Stylus_CX6400_(M).print_headercenter - Value = CONFIDENTIAL


If you do want to not display anything in the headers by default - then click on the pencil edit icon for that line and remove content. The pencil icon changes to a tick which you click to save changes.

Hope this helps you to understand how you can control the headers other than the basic show or not show.

Modified by Toad-Hall

Mike109
Mike109 Question owner
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Thanks for the information.

But why the heck did the powers that be make it so difficult? First they get rid of the Print Preview option on the drop down menu & now they get rid of the page setup. I just don't understand it.

Thanks again.

Toad-Hall
Toad-Hall
  • Top 10 Contributor
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It's a nuisance to put it politely. Basically, I believe Thunderbird have been forced to use the Mozilla Firefox coding as certain functionalities are provided by Mozilla.