Using Chrome's Element Inspector in Print Preview Mode?

Question

I am working on developing a website and need to work on the print view. Typically when I have layout issues I use Chrome's Element Inspector. However this does not exist in print preview mode.

Is there a Chrome plugin or some other way to change your viewing medium within chrome itself, to view a page as a printer would? I suppose it doesn't have a be a Chrome specific solution, but that is my primary browser so it would be nice to have an in-browser solution.

Right now I'm focused just on the print preview medium, but it would be ideal to be able to change to any of the supported media types (i.e. all/braille/embossed/handheld/print/projection/screen/speech/tty/tv).

Answer 1

Note: This answer covers several versions of Chrome, scroll to see v52, v48, v46, v43 and v42 each with their updated changes.

Chrome v52+:

• Open the Developer Tools (Windows: F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I, Mac: Cmd+Opt+I)
• Click the Customize and control DevTools hamburger menu button and choose More tools > Rendering settings (or Rendering in newer versions).
• Check the Emulate print media checkbox at the Rendering tab and select the Print media type.

Chrome v48+ (Thanks Alex for noticing):

• Open the Developer Tools (CTRLSHIFTI or F12)
• Click the Toggle device mode button in the left top corner (CTRLSHIFTM).
• Make sure the console is shown by clicking Show console in menu at (1) (ESC key toggles the console if Developer Toolbar has focus).
• Check Emulate print media at the rendering tab which can be opened by selecting Rendering in menu at (2).

Chrome v46+:

• Open the Developer Tools (CTRLSHIFTI or F12)
• Click the Toggle device mode button in the left top corner (1).
• Make sure the console is shown by clicking the menu button (2) > Show console (3) or pressing the ESC key to toggle the console (only works when Developer Toolbar has the focus).
• Open the Emulation (4) > Media (5) tabs, check CSS media and select print (3).

Chrome v43+:

• The drawer icon at step 2 has changed.

Chrome v42:

• Open the Developer Tools (CTRLSHIFTI or F12)
• Click the Toggle device mode button in the left top corner (1).
• Make sure the drawer is shown by clicking the Show drawer button (2) or pressing the ESC key to toggle the drawer.
• Under Emulation > Media check CSS media and select print (3).

Answer 2

Changed in Chrome 32 35+

(In Chrome 35+ the "Emulation" tab is present by default. Also, the console is available from any primary tab.)

1. In DevTools, go to settings-> Overrides
2. enable "Show Emulation view in console drawer"
3. Close settings, go to 'Elements' tab
4. Hit Esc to bring up console
5. Choose tab "Emulation", click "Screen"
6. Scroll down to "CSS Media", select "print"

This option is not (yet?) available in the console tab.

Answer 3

Since Chrome 32 you have the CSS media option in the Screen section of the drawer Emulation tab.

Just enable it, select print as the target media type, and - behold - your page is rendered [almost] the way it will be printed.

Use Esc to bring up the drawer if it's not visible.

Answer 4

As of Chrome 48 (and perhaps a few versions earlier), the function seems to have moved yet again:

The first few steps are unchanged:

1. Press F12 to bring up the developer tools

2. Press ESC to open the console

According to the previous answers, the setting could then be found under the "Emulation" tab. As shown in the images below, it has now been moved to the "Rendering" tab, which can be brought up by clicking on the three dots to the left of the "Console" tab.

Answer 5

Please see This article

Then goto the "overrides" tab

Answer 6

As of Chrome 48+, you can access the print preview via the following steps:

1. Open dev tools – Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + I or right click on the page and choose 'Inspect'.

2. Hit Esc to open the additional drawer.

3. If 'Rendering' isn't already being show, click the 3 dot kebab and choose 'rendering'.

4. Check the 'Emulate print media' checkbox.

From there Chrome will show you a print version of your page and you can inspect element and troubleshoot like you would the browser version.

Answer 7

If you are debugging your CSS using Print As PDF in Google Chrome and your CSS element background colors are not showing, then make sure the 'Background graphics' checkbox is ticked. I spent almost 30 minutes debugging my CSS and wondering what is causing my CSS background being ignored.

Answer 8

Under Chrome v51 on a Mac, I found the rendering settings by clicking in the upper right corner, choosing More tools > Rendering settings and checking the Emulate media button in the options offered at the bottom of the window.

Thank you to all the other posters that led me to this, and credit to those that provided the answer without the images.

Answer 9

With shortcuts available, the quickest way is to

1. Open the Developer Tools

   • Windows: F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I
   • Mac: Cmd+Opt+I

2. Open the Command Menu

   • Windows: Ctrl+Shift+P
   • Mac: Cmd+Shift+P

3. Type print and select Emulate CSS print media type from the context menu

   

Looking at the excellent and currently most-upvoted answer by lmeurs, I think this solution might also remain stable over time.

Answer 10

Chrome v67 (mac):

1. Hold down Cmd+opt+j to open dev tools
2. click the ... on the righthand side, and choose: More Tools >> Rendering
3. When the Rendering window shows up at the bottom of the screen, Emulate CSS Media section and choose: "Screen" from the dropdown.
4. Go to "File >> Print" and you should see the view you want printing.

Images of the above description for Chrome v67 on a mac:

Where to find the Rendering tab: Click the ... on the righthand side, and choose: More Tools >> Rendering

How to get the "screen" view to print: When the Rendering window shows up at the bottom of the screen, Emulate CSS Media section and choose: "Screen" from the dropdown.

Hope it helps.

Answer 11

Chrome v50:

Way 1:

1. Menu > More Tools > Rendering settings (see image)
2. Down: Rendering Tab > Emulate media "print"

Way 2:

1. Open Console [esc]
2. Console Menu > rendering