Browsers apply an entirely separate set of rendering rules when printing or generating a PDF, distinct from how the page displays on screen, and a design that looks perfect in a browser window can print with a completely different, often broken layout if no one ever specifically accounted for how it should render under those separate print rules. Most sites never think about this until a customer specifically mentions trying to print something and finding it unusable, since print output simply isn’t part of the everyday browsing experience anyone actively checks.
Open the print preview and compare it to the screen
Read-only. Open your browser’s print preview for the affected page and compare it against the normal on-screen view, noting specifically what’s missing, misplaced, or cut off.
If the printed version looks nearly identical to the on-screen one, including navigation and sidebars that shouldn’t normally print, that’s a strong sign no dedicated print styling exists at all yet.
Trying this on more than one page type, such as a regular page and a product page, is also worth doing, since print styling can exist for one template and not another.
Print & PDF output rendering fix
A page prints or exports to PDF with broken layout, missing content, or wrong formatting. We correct the print-specific rendering issue.
- Full backup taken before we start
- If we can’t fix it, you get your money back
- We never ask for your own password
This or something else?
| A page prints or exports to PDF with broken layout or missing content | This fix covers it |
| The page displays incorrectly on screen too, not just when printed | A different, general display-fault diagnosis |
| You want a PDF generation plugin’s own output specifically fixed | This fix covers it; we check whether the plugin or the underlying styles are responsible |
| The concern is email rendering, not printing or PDF export | Email rendering test across clients, a different service |
| You want print styling added where none has ever existed, not a fix | This fix covers it either way, whether repairing or adding print styling |
What you are seeing
- Content cut off, missing, or overlapping when printed or exported to PDF
- Navigation, sidebars, or buttons appearing in the printed output where they shouldn’t
- Text or images sized incorrectly compared to the on-screen version
- The issue affecting specific page types, such as invoices or product pages
- A PDF generation plugin producing output that doesn’t match the intended design
Common causes
- No dedicated print stylesheet ever created, leaving the browser’s own default behaviour
- A print stylesheet that’s outdated relative to the current on-screen design
- A PDF generation plugin not correctly interpreting the page’s existing CSS
- Fixed-width or absolutely-positioned elements not adapting to print’s different context
- Images or backgrounds set not to print, whether deliberately or by browser default
What we do
- Compare the current print or PDF output against the intended on-screen design
- Identify what’s missing, misplaced, or incorrectly sized specifically in that context
- Create or correct dedicated print styling for the affected page types
- Test output across the printing or PDF method your site actually uses
- Confirm navigation and non-essential elements are correctly excluded from print
- Verify the corrected output across the specific page types you rely on
What is included
- Print or PDF rendering corrected for the specified page types
- Non-essential elements, such as navigation, correctly excluded from printed output
- Testing across the specific printing or export method your site uses
- The pre-fix backup, kept for 30 days
Not included
- Designing a completely new printed layout beyond correcting what exists
- Fixing a PDF plugin’s own underlying bugs beyond a safe, minimal correction
- Ongoing maintenance as your on-screen design continues to change
- Print styling for page types not specifically included in this fix’s scope
Questions about this fix
Does every website need dedicated print styling?
Not every site needs it, but any page customers might reasonably want to print — invoices, directions, printable guides — benefits noticeably from it.
Will this fix affect how the page looks in a browser?
No — print styling only applies specifically to printed or PDF output, leaving the normal on-screen browsing experience completely unaffected.
Does this work with a PDF generation plugin I already use?
Yes, we check whether the plugin itself or the underlying page styles are actually responsible, and fix whichever is the genuine cause.
Why do images sometimes not print at all?
Some browsers exclude background images from printing by default for ink-saving reasons, which is a setting that can be deliberately overridden in a proper print stylesheet.
Will this need updating every time I redesign the site?
Print styling can drift out of sync with on-screen design changes over time, so it's worth revisiting after a significant redesign rather than assuming it stays accurate indefinitely.
Related fixes
If this is the second time this year
A bad update breaking the site is a symptom of updates not being tested first. Care plans run every update on a staging clone before it reaches your live site, which is the actual fix for this happening again.
Your access, your rules
Create a separate admin account for us and delete it when we are done. For anything else, we get in touch and agree a method — never a form field on this site, never by reply to an email.
We back up first, always
Before anything is touched we take a full backup and keep it for 30 days. If a fix goes wrong, we put the site back exactly as it was.
If it is not what you bought
If the problem turns out smaller than what you ordered, we refund the difference. If it is bigger, we stop and send a quote before doing any extra work.
If we cannot fix it
You get back what we received. Diagnosis is on us — you only pay when the problem is actually solved. The payment processor takes its fee before the money reaches us, so we never hold it and it is not ours to return. That is true here as everywhere else.
If it comes back
Reply within seven days of delivery and we put it back on the bench at no cost. The fix is not finished until it holds.
What we are responsible for
If something goes wrong with a fix, our responsibility is limited to what you paid for it. We take a full backup first so mistakes can be undone, and we tell you before doing anything outside what you bought.