[HN Gopher] Save web pages as PDF in Firefox for Android
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Save web pages as PDF in Firefox for Android
Author : inxode
Score : 210 points
Date : 2022-12-26 15:50 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (support.mozilla.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (support.mozilla.org)
| tmpburning wrote:
| Next thing you'll know is that they will bring back RSS ....
| 0cf8612b2e1e wrote:
| Don't go crazy now. Why should Firefox cater to the power user
| with a feature that likely requires zero maintenance.
|
| Any day now, I expect them to drop the pretty JSON rendering as
| well.
| schmorptron wrote:
| Just tried it, it works pretty well but some elements are
| rendered in a weird way. It also seems to not save the mobile
| version of sites you might see on your screen but adjusts the
| render size to a more paper-like aspect ratio and size. Still,
| cool feature!
| inxode wrote:
| I still miss the `print` feature. At least Something is better
| than nothing.
| akovaski wrote:
| Awesome! This isn't a feature I have a frequent need to use, but
| it was always disappointing to try to save a page in Firefox for
| Android and being unable to do so. Now there's one less reason to
| open Chrome.
| marcjuul wrote:
| Nice feature but what is the use case for saving to PDF? If you
| want to save a web page for later offline reading then epub would
| be both much easier to implement and more useful given that it
| retains ability to reflow to fit different screen sizes. Are
| there good reasons to prefer a non-reflowable format?
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| I _suspect_ that PDF is simply a more popular format.
| rsaxvc wrote:
| A workaround for printing on
| Android(https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/10217)
| SanchoPanda wrote:
| PDF will capture what you see, epub will almost certainly not.
| leeoniya wrote:
| OT: i really _want_ to use Firefox on Android, except the
| scrolling performance really sucks and always has, with every
| device, every FF version, and every Android version. it is so
| goddamn janky compared to Chrome and Opera (and i assume other
| Blink-based browsers). i 'm on Android 13 and a top-spec Zenfone
| 9, so it should be a complete non-issue; it's pretty crazy how
| bad it still is after all this time :(
|
| unfortunately it's not a minor UX annoyance that you can get used
| to or simply ignore; it permeates and taints every interaction.
|
| does anyone else have this experience?
|
| EDIT: opened about:support and everything looks fine (webrender,
| hw accel, hw compositor). interestingly, scrolling the long
| about:support page is largely jank-free.
|
| EDIT2: went into settings and disabled address-bar hiding on
| scroll, which seems to have helped quite a bit for web content.
| hooverd wrote:
| Pixel 5. Buttery smooth.
| [deleted]
| nsonha wrote:
| I've been use Firefox for Android on 12 (and 11 before that)
| just fine, maybe an Android 13 thing? I can't remember the last
| time I used Chrome, I used Kiwi & Yandex at some points in the
| past and didn't notice any significant difference). If you are
| talking about smoothness, it's possible that I missed it, not
| caring much, but I've definitely never noticed it being so bad
| it becomes an usability issue.
| leeoniya wrote:
| > If you are talking about smoothness
|
| yes. in 2022 on a top-spec phone and latest OS, scrolling of
| a static google results page or hacker news thread should not
| stutter. doesn't seem like an unreasonable ask, imo.
| recursive wrote:
| I've been using Android Firefox for years. I've rarely seen
| a scrolling issues. And those were decidedly not on static
| pages. Mostly the kind choked with ads.
| cozzyd wrote:
| I've never noticed anything either (and, what ads? That's
| what uBO is for :) ). And this is on mid tier moto
| phones.
|
| Maybe someone would have to point it out for me to
| notice....
| guilamu wrote:
| I always used ff on android and never had any scrolling issue.
| I can't even understand how could that be. I'm using a Samsung
| s10e with a very bad exynos cpu.
| mashlol wrote:
| I remember trying to switch to Firefox on Android several years
| ago and encountering exactly the same issue as you - scrolling
| was just super janky and unusable.
|
| I've recently tried the switch again (a few weeks ago) and did
| not encounter the same scrolling issues anymore. Could be any
| number of things that have changed, though, such as a new
| phone, Firefox updates, OS updates (Pixel 5, Android 13,
| Firefox 108.1.0).
| uallo wrote:
| I'm on a Google Pixel from 2016 and have absolutely no idea
| what you are talking about. Firefox runs perfectly and I do not
| see any janky scrolling or otherwise bad performance at all.
| Scrolling in Chrome does not feel different either.
| TrianguloY wrote:
| Great! It only took them (checks revisions) 2 years to migrate
| the feature from the old fennec version.
|
| Seriously though, I'm happy they are making progress and
| restoring the missing functionality, even if it takes them time.
| I still miss the dedicated "view-source" button (the feature is
| ready, but you need to remember the url and then write it) and
| the swipe to see history/bookmarks directly, but the version is
| now stable and most of the bugs from the early days are now
| fixed.
|
| The home screen and the new tab functionality is still a mess
| though.
| [deleted]
| saint_yossarian wrote:
| I still miss the tab queue, and the ability to send an URL to
| another Firefox device from another app, without having to open
| it in Firefox Android first.
| fbdab103 wrote:
| But can I (again) open said PDF inside Firefox? Last I checked,
| the ability to open local files had been removed -which was
| maddening.
| cpeterso wrote:
| Reading PDF files (using PDF.js) is being tested in Firefox
| Nightly for Android.
|
| https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1754499
| Aardwolf wrote:
| Can it already support any plugin I want on Android, like it used
| to be possible before 2020?
| vorticalbox wrote:
| Not yet no.
| lol768 wrote:
| If you go through the rigmarole of setting up an AMO account,
| installing a pre-release version and then creating a curated
| list of add-ons and then changing a browser setting, sure!
|
| Didn't you know that users are too dumb to be able to select
| add-ons to install themselves? This way, users are protected
| from themselves!
| Aardwolf wrote:
| No, I thought Firefox was for users who know what they want.
| We already have <default browser> for others.
|
| Also, having to create an account to use addons is not really
| acceptable to me.
| cykros wrote:
| This works in Nightly and has for years; it's a little bit
| klunky but absolutely necessary for using, say, Bypass-Paywalls
| or Ublock Origin.
| darkwater wrote:
| I use uBlock Origin in my normal Firefox for Android with no
| issues at all
| occz wrote:
| It works on beta as well.
| shmapf wrote:
| I've looked for a way to print to a printer on Firefox mobile but
| have never found one and always have to switch to Chrome just to
| print.
|
| Does anyone know if it's possible yet?
| werdnapk wrote:
| I have a Samsung printer and have installed the "Samsung Print
| Service Plugin" on my phone. From Firefox, I can then share the
| page with that plugin and it prints.
| m-p-3 wrote:
| You can "share" to your print provider (I use Mopria on mine)
| and it will display a preview of the output.
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| Cool feature, although I note with some irony that once I have
| the PDF downloaded, I still have to then use Google's Drive PDF
| reader or some other tool to open it.
|
| Maybe work on a full stack PDF renderer like the desktop version
| has, Mozilla?
| nazgulsenpai wrote:
| They already have a pdf reader they could add with ease
| https://github.com/mozilla/pdf.js
| altairprime wrote:
| See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34139810
| joecool1029 wrote:
| I don't know what their priorities are but this is the
| extension I use on firefox mobile so that it can do what
| safari has been able to do since like ios 3 (open pdf's in
| the browser). You have to add it to a custom addon
| collection, which I think you can only enable in beta or
| nightly: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
| US/android/addon/android-pdf-j...
| jraph wrote:
| > I don't know what their priorities are
|
| When I used Android, I was never bothered that PDFs opened
| in the PDF viewer. I was pretty much fine with it. The PDF
| viewer (not from Google, an open source app) worked pretty
| much like iBook with a library function, so it was
| convenient like this actually. It does not look like
| something to be fixed with high priority. Looks more like a
| nice to have to me. Why does it matter that they are shown
| in the browser?
| joecool1029 wrote:
| Put simply: PDF content is common enough on the web that
| it should be viewable as a webpage without having to jump
| out of the browser app. It breaks the user experience and
| for searches that may return many pdf results, the minor
| hassle becomes a major impairment (having to jump between
| two apps now). It is the case for all desktop browsers
| for many years now and ios that they open in browser
| first, so why should it be any different for Android?
|
| I see the utility in you having an external app to view
| your pdf's (especially longform books in pdf would be
| best opened in a dedicated ebook reader app), but there
| is no consistent user experience on Android, each vendor
| has their own bundled apps, and some may not even bundle
| their own app.
| izacus wrote:
| What do you mean "have to"? Why not use one of the plenty ope
| source PDF viewers for Android?
| sdwolfz wrote:
| Currently, most of the PDF viewers from f-droid report they
| have a security vulnerability and the f-droid app recommends
| uninstalling them. For example:
|
| https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.foobnix.pro.pdf.reader/
|
| No explanation on what the vulnerability is.
| camel-cdr wrote:
| No idea why people are complaining about the pdf readers in
| f-droid.
|
| The MuPDF android versions are great, and KOReader is the
| best ebook and pdf reader I've ever used.
|
| Maybe other people have other use cases, but the above work
| really well, and don't have known security vulnerabilities
| (since another commend complained about that).
| eptcyka wrote:
| The ones on f-droid are each horrible in its own specific way
| - some don't support scrolling, some don't support pinch-to-
| zoom, some have UX from 2012, some don't allow you to save
| the file (how am I supposed to save a bank statement then?).
| orra wrote:
| I quite like MuPDF. For ages its UI was small but dated; it
| looks less dated now. That said, I don't remember there
| being a save button...
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| Because for a dead simple read-only PDF viewer, I trust
| Google's security team over random Play Store app to properly
| sandbox the PDF and not let it do shady shit to my phone upon
| opening.
|
| I'd trust Firefox _more_ if they provided one, but in their
| absence, Google has the talent and the resources to do it
| properly.
| johnchristopher wrote:
| Doesn't it mean the PDF file gets uploaded to Google drive
| then ?
| homero wrote:
| No there's a local viewer
| joshuaissac wrote:
| It does not. It is just a name. The file stays on the
| device and is not uploaded to Google Drive.
| camel-cdr wrote:
| I'd expect googles pdf viewer to be comparable to others
| using well established libraries, such as poppler and
| mupdf.
| rchaud wrote:
| Samsung phones open PDFs in their Notes app. Besides that,
| I think most people just install Adobe Reader because it's
| what they know.
| padenot wrote:
| This is in the works. It's the same codebase as the desktop
| version, which is written in js.
|
| I've tested it on low end Android phones from 2017, it works
| well, when compared to the native offering, and also on modern
| high end phones, it also works well of course.
|
| What's missing is mobile specific UX, such as pinch-to-zoom,
| and UX/UI refinements, so it's nice to use.
|
| It has form support, annotations and other goodies like the
| desktop version as well, which I find very useful.
|
| about:config in Firefox for Android Nightly,pdfjs.disabled to
| false to give it a go.
| uallo wrote:
| > This is in the works.
|
| Nice! Will it be exposed system-wide so that I can open PDFs
| from within any other app in Firefox?
| antman wrote:
| My workflow has been share->print->pdf for many years. Then view
| through eboox reader synced over google drive across devices. I
| suggest kiwi browser that has kept chrome plugins.
|
| Mozilla has managed to slip to irrelevancy with a series of Nokia
| like decisions. Have no idea why pdf export on Android is any
| kind of news in 2023 but I hope it is interpreted as a return to
| some sort of right direction.
| [deleted]
| tmpburning wrote:
| Yeah, and the "new" Firefox mobile engine (Fenix) that is now
| probably 2 years old never unblocked extensions officially...
| unless you go the painful collection route.
| [deleted]
| jannes wrote:
| A few years ago I noticed that a few things would get
| rasterized when going through the print->pdf process and they
| would stay vectorized (i.e. higher quality) when using the
| browser's native PDF export feature.
| cykros wrote:
| For those who couldn't be asked to learn how to "Print to File" I
| assume?
|
| In fairness, save as PDF is more intuitive, but let's not pretend
| this is anything other than a UI change for functionality that's
| always been there. A good one, sure, but nothing more.
| wolfi1 wrote:
| how would I print a file on Android?
| hnuser123456 wrote:
| Print TO file, not print a file. Print TO file is to take a
| screenshot of a page or document to avoid any interpretation
| issues later.
|
| To print A file, Android has a generic printer driver and
| there are more featureful proprietary drivers. I printed a
| shipping label from my phone over wifi the other day. Very
| easy to detect and add a printer.
|
| It printed slowly and only printed half the page on the first
| try, but out of the typical printing experience, that's not
| too bad.
| rsaxvc wrote:
| I don't think you can from Firefox directly:
| https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/10217
|
| So, probably save as PDF, then print PDF.
| tommek4077 wrote:
| With a network printer for example.
| yellow_lead wrote:
| I can't even find a print option on firefox android
| rchaud wrote:
| It's in the list of options under thr "Share" button
| [deleted]
| rsync wrote:
| So odd ... the regression of usability in the 'Preview' app in
| recent OSX ...
|
| (EDIT: nevermind ... was mis-remembering ...)
| ulfw wrote:
| No idea what you mean. I'm on Ventura (13.1), just opened
| Preview and under File there's still 'Export as PDF' alive and
| well.
| rsync wrote:
| You're right - I am not sure what I was (mis)remembering ...
|
| However, I note that "export to pdf" is grayed out for a file
| that is already a PDF ... which I don't remember being the
| case ...
| jffry wrote:
| It's also grayed out when looking at a PDF on 12.6.2
| Monterey but maybe it was how you remember it earlier on?
| mynameisvlad wrote:
| Why would you want to export a PDF as a PDF? What could
| that possibly achieve?
|
| Just... use the existing file.
| Kab1r wrote:
| Wait I just used this; didn't realize it was new.
| ArmandTanzarian wrote:
| It was a feature for years and years. I'm fairly certain I used
| "print to pdf" fairly often on my very first android phone way
| back in (2008?)
| notRobot wrote:
| Yes. It was removed for a while. Now it's back.
| jdfedgon wrote:
| Well, took them ages. Not impressed because the feature is not
| complete. As of yet, save as PDF cannot save from within the
| reader view.
|
| I know this is whataboutism but I wish they would have delivered
| on anti-(canvas-)fingerprinting instead of PDF print.
| ArmandTanzarian wrote:
| Seems like people on this site are obsessed with the term
| "whataboutism" (a rhetorical device used to win arguments which
| is not being employed here).
| woofyman wrote:
| Android doesn't have "print to PDF"?
| xnx wrote:
| Would love to have the ability to save webpage (complete) in
| Firefox again. Currently I'm using SingleFile/SingleFileZ add-ons
| (and all the hoops you have to jump through to enable those), but
| they're a lot slower than Chrome mobile which now has the ability
| to save a page as .mhtml
| mdek wrote:
| This is great, though with the usual formatting caveats of pdf
| printing from any browser! Firefox for Android used to have this
| feature up to version 60's somewhere but it was removed. I've
| found it useful on my android to keep an old version of firefox
| for limited use when I need things like pdf generation or various
| "unapproved" addons. Now that most of my extensions work on
| Firefox Nightly (with AMO), and with restored pdf functionality,
| there isn't much reason to keep the old version around. I'm very
| happy lately with firefox, both on desktop and android. I wish it
| would recover some market share from chrome.
| causality0 wrote:
| Neat. Can they un-break everything else now? There's still no way
| to change the User-Agent.
| tmdh wrote:
| I am using Firefox in Android, these are some of the issues i am
| facing:
|
| - Scrolling is slow on multiple sites like raycast.com
|
| - The UI doesn't feel home for me, at least it has dark mode on
| Android 9 (my phone doesnt get updates)
|
| - Tapping new tab doesn't actually create a new tab, instead asks
| for a URL
|
| - Searching for World cup matches in google only shows the goal
| score, I guess it's a google search issue, but in chrome I get
| detailed scorecards
|
| - Tab list view feels janky, why does it automatically switch to
| another tab, even though I am not closing the current tab? (this
| happens sometimes)
|
| I will keep using Firefox because Chrome bad.
| jamienicol wrote:
| > Searching for World cup matches in google only shows the goal
| score, I guess it's a google search issue, but in chrome I get
| detailed scorecards
|
| Go to settings -> add ons and install "Google search fixer"
| nashashmi wrote:
| Firefox is the only Browser trying to bring desktop sanity to
| mobile.
| [deleted]
| ugjka wrote:
| ublock origin and background video fix addons are great
| petodo wrote:
| Kiwi Browser has all of these + Chrome engine not causing
| issues on pages
| ugjka wrote:
| Good to know but i need FF sync
| nsonha wrote:
| > Chrome engine not causing issues on pages
|
| is that a theoretical issue because I've never had any
| problem with page rendering in Firefox, it's been a major
| for a long time.
| inxode wrote:
| Let me add another, Bypass Paywalls
| ugjka wrote:
| Not available on mobile
| inxode wrote:
| You can use it through custom collection which are
| available on Firefox for Android Nightly and Fennec
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| Safari has save as pdf in iOS too, press the share button then
| options at the top.
|
| Chrome on iOS also has save as pdf, have to press share, then
| print, then the share icon again at the top.
| ec109685 wrote:
| Wow, didn't know that. You have to chose from options to save
| as PDF and then the choices will reflect saving as PDF.
|
| I used to use the markup feature as a workaround.
| scarface74 wrote:
| It's not a Safari thing. Anything you print in iOS can be
| saved to PDF.
| [deleted]
| zagrebian wrote:
| I wish there was a good web-based alternative to PDF.
| bioemerl wrote:
| I wish there was a markup language that gave you the full power
| relatively of PDF, with page sizes and all of that.
|
| And a fairly universal converter to turn that markup language
| into a document.
|
| Then we could use our pre-existing template systems that we use
| for all the HTML for PDFs and get rid of all these crazy
| systems that enterprises used to build all the PDF reports
| [deleted]
| cloudking wrote:
| Chrome has this too. Share > Printer > Save as PDF
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(page generated 2022-12-26 23:00 UTC)