I am using Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa Cinnamon.

I often have to print PDF documents, usually obtained from "screenshots" of web pages.

Usually they are not an exact number of pages. As an example, the last one I printed was about 1 and 1/5 pages long.

The pdf viewer in Linux Mint is Evince. But instead of leaving the blank 4/5ths part of the page white without any ink on it, instead it does the opposite, and prints it as solid black.

This uses up a huge amount of expensive ink. I would guess that the same amount of ink would print say 50 pages of normal text.

1) Is there any way to stop printing blank parts of the page in solid black ink?

2) Is there any other pdf viewer that does not do this when printing pdfs?

Thanks.

What happens if you print to file first and print using lpr?
FWIW, I use Okular and am not experiencing this issue.

Another thought - I frequently view .pdf files via my firefox browser. Maybe you could try viewing/printing from firefox.

Define screenshots? Are you using the print to file option in the print dialog box or actually taking screen shots via the print screen button or some other method? Do the PDFs when viewed in evince show the solid black parts?

Do the Some websites specifically have a print button which in most cases removes all the unnecessary stuff so it isn't printed.

And have you tested with another document viewer (Okular, XPDF) to verify that this is an Evince problem or something larger?

Frankbell - I have tried printing the pdf files with Okular and Xpdf, and they both shrink the file to one page, which makes it unreadable because the text becomes microscopically tiny. I cannot see any means of adjusting this. (And BTW, I would not recommend Xpdf).

MichaelK - they are copies of webpages - the full webpage, not just the visible part - obtained by using the Firefox add-ons Fireshot, Awesome-Screenshot-Plus, or Easy-Screenshot. Of which I use Fireshot the most.

Ferrari - I have no problems reading the pdfs on screen, this thread is about printing them. The pdf files are already pdf files.

What happens if you print the web page(s) using the normal print dialog without using a plugin/add-on?

What happens if you use the print dialog to print to PDF first and then open/print in evince?

My point wasn't about viewing them, it was about printing the pdf files via firefox (which is capable of handling them directly).

Try printing to file (saving as pdf) rather than using this add-on. Does that generate a usable pdf that can be printed successfully?

MichaelK - the point is to print pdf files, not printing directly from webpages. I may have a pdf file from months ago that I want to print.

Ferrari - I am unable to print or view pdfs with Firefox, firefox only offers to view them in Evince.

Michaelk/Ferrari - Following your suggestion I have tried printing a webpage to file. I did not realise it would offer to print them to a pdf file. However I have been unable to find the resulting pdf file anywhere, despite searching through all of Home. So where might it be please?

Thanks.

There should be window that asks for a file name and a save to folder. Go to the print dialog to find out the defaults assuming you did not change them.

I assume that the black parts are not present when viewing from evince. If you can create a PDF from the print dialog and it prints successfully from evince then it is probably the plugin/add-on.

It just shrinks the file to one page, which is useless as the print is then microscopically small and unreadable.

I have just tried michaelk's suggestion, I made a pdf copy of this page using the print dialogue and then viewed and printed it through Evince. It printed normally with the unused part of the page being left white rather than being printed as solid black.

But none of the file viewers, including Evince, display any black after the end of the file.

So I conclude that the problem is due to Evince - if no viewer shows any solid black after the end of the file, then it should not print any solid black.

Well firefox has a built-in PDF viewer which I've used for years, so perhaps just not enabled in your configuration.

Edit > Preferences > Applications, search for pdf and check that the action is set to 'Preview in Firefox'

I'm not surprised by this, hence the suggestions to try other viewers to print from

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I thought the problem might be due to having the wrong printer driver that was, I've just realised, for the HP Deskjet970c rather than for my HP Deskjet930c, but when I disabled this and used the other printer driver that is for the 930c, I still get the same problem.

Looking at a pdf file that has this problem with the Bless Hex Viewer, I see that about a tenth of the file towards the end is made up of this repetitive sequence:

00 50 01 40 05 00 14 00 50 01 40 05 00 14 00 50 01 40 05 ......

In addition the file is unusual in displaying in Evince as more than one page, other similar files get shrunk to one page when displayed by Evince.

Does anyone know what this repetitive hex sequence is supposed to mean in a pdf file?

Thanks.

Update: I've just tried printing this problem pdf with lpr in a terminal, and although it does not print any black it does print the second page in landscape rather than the portrait format of the first page.

It is still doing it. I have two almost identical pdfs. The first one fits on one page and prints without any problem. The second one has a larger graphic in it which makes it slightly longer and Evince displays a thin sliver of a second page, but when printed the second page is 100% solid black ink.