Editing the drop down printer list in FF & TB?

Polly the Parrott

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Mar 29, 2014, 5:03:39 PM3/29/14

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(Cross posted)

When printing a mail document in TB (or a page in FF) the printer
shown in the first instance is one that is no longer connected to the
computer, and has been removed from "Devices and Printers".

I have to manually select the "default printer".

Anyway to edit this drop down list at all, so as to get rid of the non
existent printer?

Windows Pro 8.1, T B24.4.0; FF28.0

Thanks for reading!

Ralph Fox

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Mar 29, 2014, 7:06:16 PM3/29/14

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On Sun, 30 Mar 2014 08:03:39 +1100, Polly the Parrott wrote:

> When printing a mail document in TB (or a page in FF) the printer
> shown in the first instance is one that is no longer connected to the
> computer, and has been removed from "Devices and Printers".
>
> I have to manually select the "default printer".

My Firefox defaults to the last printer used. So if I remove
a printer from "Devices and Printers", I will only once need
to manually select another printer.

> Anyway to edit this drop down list at all, so as to get rid of the non
> existent printer?

You will need to delete the printer from about:config.
There are multiple settings for each printer. Right-click
each of those settings in turn and choose "Reset".

My Firefox's about:config has these printer settings:

print.print_printer (set to name of printer)
print.printer_****.print_*** (about 25 settings per printer)
print_printer (set to name of printer)
printer_****.print_*** (about 43 settings per printer)

--
Kind regards
Ralph

Good Guy

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Mar 29, 2014, 9:21:28 PM3/29/14

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I would say that you have to redefine the default printer from Windows
Control Panel, Devices & Printers, Right click on your new printer, Set
as default printer.

Now go to TB or FF and print a test page using the new printer so that
they both remember this new printer.

There is no need to uninstall any printer drivers (as suggested in
previous post) because windows has always installed many printer drivers
by default. you can't start uninstalling all of them.

--
Good Guy
Website: http://mytaxsite.co.uk
Website: http://html-css.co.uk
Email: http://mytaxsite.co.uk/contact-us

David E. Ross

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Mar 30, 2014, 2:16:15 AM3/30/14

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1. In the address area (URI space) on the SeaMonkey navigation tool
bar, enter about:config and press Enter.

2. In the search area for about:config, enter print_printer and press
Enter.

3. Ignoring any line in which print_printer is only part of the
preference variable name, select the line with print_printer.

4. Right-click and select Reset.

It is also very important to tell Windows what is your default printer
(as indicated in the other replies) so that a non-existent printer does
not reappear in SeaMonkey's list.

--
David E. Ross

The Crimea is Putin's Sudetenland.
The Ukraine will be Putin's Czechoslovakia.
See <http://www.rossde.com/editorials/edtl_PutinUkraine.html>.

David E. Ross

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Mar 30, 2014, 11:15:33 AM3/30/14

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On 3/29/2014 11:16 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
> On 3/29/2014 2:03 PM, Polly the Parrott wrote:
>> (Cross posted)
>>
>> When printing a mail document in TB (or a page in FF) the printer
>> shown in the first instance is one that is no longer connected to the
>> computer, and has been removed from "Devices and Printers".
>>
>> I have to manually select the "default printer".
>>
>> Anyway to edit this drop down list at all, so as to get rid of the non
>> existent printer?
>>
>> Windows Pro 8.1, T B24.4.0; FF28.0
>>
>> Thanks for reading!
>>
>
> 1. In the address area (URI space) on the SeaMonkey navigation tool
> bar, enter about:config and press Enter.
>
> 2. In the search area for about:config, enter print_printer and press
> Enter.
>
> 3. Ignoring any line in which print_printer is only part of the
> preference variable name, select the line with print_printer.
>
> 4. Right-click and select Reset.
>
> It is also very important to tell Windows what is your default printer
> (as indicated in the other replies) so that a non-existent printer does
> not reappear in SeaMonkey's list.
>

Oops! I thought I was still in the mozilla.support.seamonkey newsgroup.

Instead of #1 above, do the following for Thunderbird:

1a. On the Thunderbird menu bar, select [Tools > Options].

1b. On the Options window, select the Advanced button and then the
General tab.

1c. On the General pane, select the Config Editor button.

2-4. Do as indicated in my original reply.

Mortman

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Mar 30, 2014, 4:09:04 PM3/30/14

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Done.
Also deleted old printer from control panel. However, I see that the old
printer still appears in the drop-down menu when I hit Ctl-R.

David E. Ross

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Mar 31, 2014, 11:00:00 AM3/31/14

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Again open Config Editor. Do a search on the name of the old printer.
If a preference variable has the value that is only that printer's name,
reset the variable. If a preference variable has the value containing
several printer names, modify the value to delete the old printer but
keep the other names.

--

David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

On occasion, I filter and ignore all newsgroup messages
posted through GoogleGroups via Google's G2/1.0 user agent
because of spam, flames, and trolling from that source.