Printing a web page is a huge headache. These 5 tricks will simplify the process

Have you ever tried to print out a web page? It doesn't usually work. Often, the printed pages are badly formatted, the text is cut off at the margins, or the images and graphics obscure some of the words. Why? In a nutshell, they’re designed to be viewed, not printed. Plus, many pages are crowded with ads, images, and other items. Still, there are ways to print a web page so that it's properly formatted and uncluttered.

For our purposes, I’m going to focus on printing from desktop browsers in Windows and macOS. Yes, you can print from a mobile device, but that adds even more complexity to the process. If you want to control your web page printouts, your best bet is to print them from a computer. Now, here are five tricks I've used that help get the job done.

1. Use Reader View in Firefox, Edge, or Safari

Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari all offer reader view, which displays a web page in a clean, easy-to-read format. However, that only carries over in printouts from Firefox, Edge, and Safari—not Chrome. The only downside here is that the images typically won’t appear, though the text will be nicely formatted and readable.

In Firefox, open the page and click the Toggle reader view button at the end of the address field (or press F9). To print the page, click the Print icon on the toolbar if it’s there or press Ctrl+P. The page opens in print preview mode; if all looks good, send the page to your printer.

In Edge, open to the page, click the More actions button at the end of the address bar, and select Immersive reader. Right-click on the page and select Print from the pop-up menu or press Ctrl+P. Preview the page and then send it to your printer.

In Safari, open the page, click View > Show Reader. In Reader view, click File > Print and select the printer you wish to use. Click Print to send the web page to your printer.

2. Save the Web Page as a PDF

Another option is to save the web page as a PDF and print it in Adobe Reader or another PDF viewer. This will work in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari. Open the page you want to print in any of the four browsers. Run the Print command and then change the current printer setting to Save as PDF (Chrome, Edge), Save to PDF (Firefox), or Export as PDF (Safari). Click Save and then choose where you want to save the file.

You can then open the PDF in Adobe Reader, or a similar program, and print it. The PDF will retain both the text and images and should look cleaner than the HTML-based version.

3. Copy and Paste the Page's Content

Another trick is to copy and paste the page's content into a text editor, such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or Notepad. To do this, press Ctrl+A in Windows or Command+A in macOS to select the entire web page, then just run the Copy command.

Open the other program and paste the web page content. Copying and pasting it into a program like Word or Docs offers some distinct advantages. You can change the layout, margins, line breaks, page breaks, images, and other formatting to clean up the page. If all you need is the text, you can paste it into Notepad or use the Ctrl+Shift+V (Windows) or Option+Shift+Command+V (macOS) to remove any leftover formatting.

4. Play With the Print Settings

Sometimes adjusting print settings can coax a stubborn web page into printing more cleanly. The settings may vary by browser, but for Firefox, I've had success using the Simplified setting. Open the Print menu and change the format from Original to Simplified. This mode reformats the text and images into a more compact, cleaner layout, much better suited for printing.

If you're finding that the text on the page is getting cut off at the margins, you can tweak a few different settings in any desktop browser. At the print settings pane, change the layout from Portrait to Landscape to see if that helps. You can also click Margins and adjust them to the smallest numbers allowed, or select the Scale setting and reduce it from 100% to 90% or 80%.

Maybe certain background images and other content are obscuring the text. Perhaps the name of the web page and the page numbers are interfering with the text. In both cases, uncheck the boxes for Headers and footers and Background graphics.

5. Try an Extension

Different extensions for your browser can make a web page more print-friendly:

• PrintFriendly: Available for all four major browsers, PrintFriendly will reformat your current web page into one better suited for printing. You do need to set up an account to use this free extension, but doing so gives you access to a variety of features. Just open the web page, click the PrintFriendly icon on the toolbar, and choose PrintFriendly Page. From the PrintFriendly window, you can print, save a PDF, tweak the formatting, and customize certain settings. The resulting page strips out most images but presents the text in a clean and uncluttered format.

• Reader View: Though it’s similar to your browser’s built-in reader mode, Reader View kicks in a few extra perks. Available for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, this one lets you adjust the font type, margins, text size, line height, and color scheme. You’re even able to show or hide images. When ready, you can print or save the page.