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How to Preview and Print a Web Page in Chrome

Tap a step to see it in order.

  1. Open the print dialog with "Ctrl+P"

    On the page you want to print, press this shortcut to open the print preview window.

  2. Choose a printer

    Under "Destination," pick a physical printer or select "Save as PDF."

  3. Adjust pages, layout, and margins

    While watching the preview, adjust portrait or landscape orientation, color or black-and-white, and the scale to fit what you need.

  4. Click "Print"

    Once everything looks right, click the "Print" button to send it to the printer or save it as a PDF.

  5. Why it is worth doing

    Checking the preview first keeps ads and clutter out of your printout, and saving as a PDF lets you archive a web page as a clean, permanent document.

Turning a messy web page into a clean document

Printing a page directly often drags along ads, navigation menus, and other clutter that was never meant to end up on paper. Reviewing the preview first -- and using the PDF option instead of a physical printer -- lets you keep only the article content and store it as a tidy, permanent file.

Background colors and images are opt-in, not automatic

By default, Chrome strips out background colors and images to save ink, which can make a page built with a colored background or design elements look noticeably different once printed. Whether that matters depends on the page's content -- for anything built around visual design, it is worth explicitly turning backgrounds back on before printing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Background images or colors are missing from my printout.

Open "More settings" in the print dialog and check the "Background graphics" option -- this includes the page's background colors and images in the printout.

Can I print just one part of a page instead of the whole thing?

Printing the full page is the default, but for just a section, try selecting the text you want with your mouse first, then choosing "Print" from the right-click menu -- some pages will print only the selected area this way.