Member Avatar for carpetpaul

Hoping you can help / I'm a bit new to computers,

Whenever I have a web page that I want to print, I go up to file, then to print, and select ok (in the same way I would in 'Word' to print one of my own documents). When the page prints out, it almost always misses on the right hand side, although the page did show the complete page. Am I missing something ?

It's a shame that there isn't a default setting to always make sure that web pages fit onto the printed page

Any help you can provide would be most appreciated. Thankyou !

Paul.

  • 6 Contributors
  • 5 Replies
  • 1K Views
  • 2 Years Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by mismajor99

Dani AI

Generated

A few extra, reliable troubleshooting steps that were not yet covered in the thread (and that hold up years later).

Browsers can often scale a page for printing instead of clipping it. Look in Print Preview / Page Setup for a scale or “Shrink to fit / Fit to printable area” option and try toggling it or setting a custom percent (some versions of IE/Firefox expose this in Page Setup). These controls are exactly what browsers use to force wide pages into the printable width. (ato.gov.au)

Check the printer driver and paper size next. Many printers have a mechanical non‑printable margin and will clip anything pushed into that zone; a Letter vs A4 mismatch or a custom page size can also force clipping. Open Printer Properties/Preferences, confirm the paper size and margins, and consult the printer documentation for the minimum printable area or a borderless option. ()

Workarounds and author fixes. A practical quick fix is to “Print to PDF” (browser Save as PDF) then print the PDF with your viewer’s “Fit”/“Shrink oversized pages” controls. For web authors, add a print stylesheet (use @media print) or use the browser DevTools print-emulation to hide sidebars and force a single-column layout before printing. Also note printing backgrounds uses more ink — disable if you do not need them. (manuals.plus)

Acknowledgement: the thread already contains helpful user tips from , , , , and ; the points above add browser/driver-level checks and author-side fixes that are often the real cause when the right edge is missing.

Recommended Answers

All 5 Replies

Member Avatar for Slade

Paul,
This is because the pages you are trying to print are too big for an a4 sheet. Some web pages have printer friendly pages so you can print out the content, but not always. In which case I just select what I want to print then go to print and only print the selection, or just going right click>print.

Hope this helps,

Slade

Member Avatar for Danny

Hey Paul,

There actually are some things you can try before you print. Firstly, make sure you have your browser text size (In IE: View > Text Size > Medium) set low.

You can then go into Print Preview (In IE: File > Print Preview) and see how it looks. If it looks OK, then go ahead and print it.

If not, maybe trying setting the orientation of the page to "Landscape". This is the horizontal way. Usually that does the trick.

Member Avatar for Catweazle

Another option to try is to resize your browser window to a narrower width, reload the page, and then try printing it. But Danny's suggestion of printing it in 'Landscape' orientation is the easiest method, and the one I use myself.

Also, a lot of Web Pages will have a 'Printer Friendly' button or a 'Print this Page' button on them somewhere. If you see one, use it!

Member Avatar for steosaur(oWn)

i just highlight the entire page, and copy and paste it into WORD, then print from there

WORD is able to resize what you copy so its fits on a printable page

Member Avatar for mismajor99

All above said comments will help as well for IE. Another option, although not the most practical if you really love using IE, try Firefox web browser. It automatically fits pages to printer and you should never have this problem. Just my 2 cents.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.