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How to Force Chrome to Use the Standard OS X Print Window

How to Force Chrome to Use the Standard OS X Print Window

Recent versions of the Google Chrome browser introduced a unified print dialog that offers the same design and functionality between the Windows, OS X, and Chrome OS platforms. This is great if you use Chrome on a number of devices and want to maintain the same look and feel when printing or creating PDFs, but if you’re primarily a Mac user, the Chrome print window clashes with the default OS X print dialog used by just about every other application.
chrome print window
To obtain a more consistent OS X experience, you can force Chrome to use the default OS X print window with a quick trip to Terminal. First, completely quit Chrome, including any open Chrome apps. Then, launch Terminal from the Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities folder (or by searching for it with Spotlight). In Terminal, enter the following command and press Return on your keyboard:

defaults write com.google.Chrome DisablePrintPreview -bool true

You won’t receive any sort of confirmation if the command was entered correctly, so just close Terminal and relaunch Chrome. Now, navigate to the document or website you’d like to print, and press Command-P on your keyboard to launch the print dialog. If everything worked as intended, you’ll now see the standard OS X print window instead of the Chrome print window.
os x print window
If you ever change your mind and want to restore the default Chrome print window, just head back to Terminal and use the following command to reverse the process (remember to completely quit Chrome before using these commands):

defaults write com.google.Chrome DisablePrintPreview -bool false

How to Use Both the Chrome and OS X Print Windows

The steps above completely replace the default Chrome print window with the standard OS X window. But what if you want to use both? After all, the Chrome print window offers some interesting functionality, and is consistent across platforms. Instead of going to Terminal and using the commands above each time you want to switch, Chrome offers a simple shortcut to select the OS X print window on a case-by-case basis.
To use it, first make sure that the default Chrome print window is enabled (the second command above, if you previously disabled it with the first command). Then, use the following shortcuts to select which print window you want to use:

Command-P: Chrome Print Window
Option-Command-P: OS X Print Window

With this method, you get the best of both worlds, assuming you remember the handy Option key when triggering a print request.

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6 thoughts on “How to Force Chrome to Use the Standard OS X Print Window”

Mike says:
I followed the directions to disable Chrome print preview dialog box on Mac with defaults write com.google.Chrome DisablePrintPreview -bool true and now Chrome says it is managed by my organization. So then I used defaults write com.google.Chrome DisablePrintPreview -bool false and it still says it’s managed. How do I get rid of that message?
Charlie says:
Just ignore it. Chrome is not representing well what has actually happened.
Alice Jensen says:
I found this worked on a new iMac with Mojave – which is not ‘seeing’ any printers in Chrome’s own dialog, so the students (this is an elementary school lab), if using Chrome, need to switch to System Dialog. But this fix is only per user. I would like a fix for all users as even some of the older students have difficulty remembering how to get to the system dialog. Any ideas from anyone? Will check with my Unix engineer to see if that’s possible.
MaryAnnK says:
Thank you! This has been driving me crazy.
TomDenver15 says:
I found a workaround … change Chrome “Print…” keyboard shortcut to “Shift-Cmd-P” in System Preferences. Then, when I hit Cmd-P, nothing happens … reminds me to hit “Opt-Cmd-P”!!!! Cumbersome, but it works. Why does Google keep removing the ability to customize this? Do they just want to force us to use the Google dialog?
TomDenver15 says:
Thanks for this tip — however, it no longer works. (Maybe it’s Yosemite?) Even a keyboard shortcut of Cmd-P to “Print Using System Dialog…” in System Preferences even DISABLES Opt-Cmd-P and that menu item altogether! I am visually impaired and Google’s print dialog is terrible. What’s going on, is this a Google conspiracy?
Betty G says:
Amazing!! Your tips on getting Chrome to print using OSX default print just solved my INCREDIBLY frustrating problem of not being able to print AT ALL from Chrome (iMac with El Capitan, previously Yosemite, same problem in Yosemite). Searches on the web related to this disclosed only that many other Chrome users were also finding it impossible to print from any Mac regardless of printer type/manufacturer/age. Can’t tell you how happy and grateful I am!!!!

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Jim Tanous

Apr 15, 2015

676 Articles Published

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