Firefox > print > final window: I need a tutor -- or maybe not!

[BudVitoff]

Admin: If I'm in the wrong work area, please redirect it for me. Thanks.

Running Firefox under Sierra. I think the printing system used here is extremely versatile and sophisticated, but also confusing, which generally goes along with the other two adjectives.

Right off the top, they use the term Settings. What settings are they referring to? Everything in the current print control window or, if not everything, which ones? No, don't answer this now. ***

I have attached a display of the window involved, and I'm primarily concerned about the Presets parameter, displayed separately. It's divided into three sections.

1) Settings.

Default is good. It implies that somewhere there is a list of common specs that will get used automatically, unless it's overridden by something like Last Used Settings. The big question is where is this list, and how do I edit it if experience demands a change? Again. ***

Last Used Settings. Kudos to the programmer who has a feel for what the user needs. This choice applies to the situation where, in spite of the defaults, the user has a need to temporarily use different settings for a series of print jobs. Presumably, this will keep these settings alive until he's done with the series, and re-checks the Default Settings option for the next user -- or something like that.​

2) Colors.

This seems to be pretty obvious. At some point during the composition of this post, I ran across the ability to view the the effect on the subordinate components as the color selection changed, but do you think I can find it now? Of course not. Once more. ***
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3) Presets.

Save Current Settings as Preset... Now we're getting somewhere! Apparently, whatever is included in your current conglomeration called Settings can be filed for re-use later. Not only that, but you can give it a meaningful name that will help you find it again. (This is something that newbies will ignore and suffer from later. Y'gotta have some experience to appreciate this.)​

***

Show Presets ... They saved the best for last. I think that this is the answer to most of the questions I had here, but if you can expand on any of it, please do so. Now you may understand why it has taken me so long to compose this post. Select this and you will get the meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything (i.e., 42).

This selection gives you a list of practically every parameter involved with printing under Firefox, including Default Settings, Last Used Settings, and a bunch of others. Clicking any item in that list gives you the contents of all the underlying support parameters for that item. This is where you control everything.

Changing preset values is unsophisticated, yet rather foolproof in its simplicity. Say that you have a preset that calls for two-sided printing and you want to turn it off. In the Presets box, select the name of the preset you want to change. You will see that the two-sided option is checked. Remove the checkmark, then select the Save Current Settings ... option. It will suggest a preset name similar to the original but if you change the name back to the original, it will warn you that "A preset with this name already exists" but it will allow you to do the save, unless it is for the Default Settings preset. I did Google "change default printing settings mac" and found solutions dated as recently as November 2013, but hit a dead end when the "Set Printer Options" button was nowhere to be found. I NEED HELP HERE!

One more thing: When you show the presets, the lower-left corner has an option to Reset Presets Menu to "Default Settings" After Printing". This sounded like it related to my Last Used Settings paragraph above, but my experimenting with this didn't seem to prove anything.
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I'll stop here. Please help me with the Default Settings problems and any other misunderstandings I have shown.

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[Cory Cooper]

Good morning.

I would estimate that less than 1% of Mac users actually use the Presets in the printer dialog box. They are there so that you can setup different groups of settings that can be recalled when printing different types of jobs. If you create a preset, then you don't have to go through all of the available options manually each time you print. As a side note, these presets/settings are actually part of the OS X printing system and not Firefox, as various parts of them are available for all printers.

Unfortunately, exploring all of the color matching/theory and print settings can be a huge undertaking and is far beyond the scope of support here. But, we can definitely try to answer any specific questions you may have.

That said, when you enter the Show Presets... area, another box opens that show you the settings you have changed that are found if you click on Firefox in the middle of the printer dialog box you posted above....things like Layout, Color Matching, Paper Feed, etc. and allows you to save it as a preset.

Hope that helps a bit and let us know if you have additional questions.

C