Firefox

Copy, Save, & Print

Copying, saving, and printing are three fundamental task you will wish to use pretty early on. Here are some quick tips on each :

Copying Text

  1. Select the text.
  2. On the menu, click Edit > Copy.

You can paste the text into other programs.

To copy a link (URL) or an image link from a page

  1. Position the pointer over the link or image.
  2. Right-clickPress Ctrl and click on the link or image to display a pop-up menu.
  3. Choose Copy Link Location or Copy Image Location. If an image is also a link, you can choose either menu item.

You can paste the link into other programs or into Firefox's Location Bar.

Saving a page

  1. On the File menu, Save Page As. The Save As dialog box appears.
  2. Choose a location for the saved page.
  3. Choose a format for the page you want to save:
    • Web Page, Complete: Save the whole web page along with pictures. This choice allows you to view it as originally shown with pictures, but it may not keep the HTML link structure of the original page. Firefox creates a new directory where the page is saved to save pictures and other files necessary to show the whole web page.
    • Web Page, HTML Only: Save the original page without pictures. This choice preserves the original HTML link structure in one file.
    • Text file: Save the original page as a text file. This choice will not preserve the original HTML link structure, but will allow you to see a text version of the web page in any text editor.
  4. Type a file name for the page and click Save.

To save a frame from within a web page

  1. Position the mouse pointer within the frame.
  2. Press Ctrl and click onRight-click the frame to display a pop-up menu.
  3. Click This Frame > Save Frame As on the submenu. The Save As dialog box appears.
  4. Choose a location for the saved page.
  5. Choose a format for the page you want to save.
  6. Type a file name for the page and click Save.

Saving a file onto your hard drive lets you view the page when you aren't connected to the Internet.

To save an image from a page

  1. Position the mouse pointer over the image.
  2. Right-clickPress Ctrl and click on the image to display a pop-up menu.
  3. Click Save Image As. The Save Image dialog box appears.
  4. Choose a location for the saved image.
  5. Type a file name for the image and click Save.

To save a page without displaying it

This technique is useful for retrieving a nonformatted page that isn't intended for viewing.

  1. Position the mouse pointer over a link to the page.
  2. Right-clickPress Ctrl and click on the link to display a pop-up menu.
  3. Click Save Link As. The Save As dialog box appears.
  4. Choose a location for the saved page.
  5. Type a file name for the page and click Save.

Important: Some links automatically download and save files to your hard drive after you click them. The URLs for these links often begin with "ftp" or end with a file-type extension such as "au" or "mpeg." These links might transmit software, sound, or movie files and can launch helper applications that support the files.

Tip: To set an image as your desktop background, right-clickpress Ctrl, click the mouse button on an image and click Set As Desktop Background on the pop-up menu.

Printing a page

  • Click File > Print.

To print selected text

  1. Select the text in the current page.
  2. Click File > Print. The print dialog box appears.
  3. Under Print Range, click Selection.

Settings by the web page's author and the size of the printed page, not the size of the onscreen window, determine placement of content on the printed page. Text is wrapped and graphics are repositioned to accommodate paper size.

Previewing a printed page

To have an early look at how a page will look before it is printed, you can use Print Preview:

  • On the File menu, click Print Preview. Firefox switches into Print Preview mode.

In Print Preview mode, you can do the following with pages you want to print:

  • View a preview of each page: Click the Next , Previous , First , or Last button to move between pages.
  • Change the scale (size) of pages: In the Scale drop-down menu, choose "50%" to make each page half the size of the original page. To automatically resize pages so that they fit the width of the paper, choose "Shrink to Fit". You can also type in your own percentage by choosing "Custom".
  • Change the orientation of the page: Choose Portrait to position the page with the shorter side facing up. Choose Landscape to position the page sideways with the longer side facing up.
  • Change the page setup: Click Page Setup to further customize pages you want to print.
  • Print: Click Print to print the pages.

Note: Some Print Preview functions are different or unavailable on Mac OS and Linux.

Changing the page setup

Note: Some Page Setup functions are different or unavailable on Mac OS and Linux.

To customize how pages are printed in Firefox, you can use Page Setup:

  • Click File > Page Setup. The Page Setup dialog box appears.

In the Page Setup dialog box, you can change the following settings for pages you want to print:

  • Format & Options tab: Choose the orientation, scale, and other options:
    • Orientation:
      • Portrait: Choose Portrait to position the page normally, with the shorter side facing up.
      • Landscape: Choose Landscape to position the page sideways, with the longer side facing up.
    • Scale: Type in a percentage of the original size. For example, type "50" to make each page half the size of the original page.
      • Shrink To Fit Page Width: Select this to automatically resize the page to the width of the paper.
    • Options:
      • Print Background (colors and images): Select this to print background images and colors. If the check box is not selected, only pictures and color in the foreground (in front) are printed.
  • Margins & Header/Footer tab: Click this tab to set up margins, headers, and footers:
    • Margins:
      • Top, Bottom, Left, Right: Type a margin in the given units for the top, bottom, left, and right margins.
    • Headers & Footers: Each drop-down list represents either a header or a footer area. The top row of drop-down lists are for the left, center, and right header areas. The bottom row are for the left, center, and right footer areas. In each drop-down list, choose one of the following options:
      • --blank--: Show nothing in this area.
      • Title: Show the web page title.
      • URL: Show the web page URL (URL's usually start with "http://").
      • Date/Time: Show the date and time when the web page is printed.
      • Page #: Show the page number of each page.
      • Page # of #: Show the page number along with the total number of pages. For example, if you print a five page web page, "3 of 5" would be shown on the third page.
      • Custom: Type your own text. You can include any of the following codes to print specific information:
        • &PT: Page Number with Total (Example: "3 of 5")
        • &P: Page Number
        • &D: Date
        • &U: URL
        • &T: Page Title

Tip: To see a preview of changes made to Page Setup, use Print Preview.