Fix for IE7′s “Shrink to Fit” Printing Problem
CSS Tips and Tricks – Web Tech
The developers of IE7 decided to add a Shrink to Fit “feature” as a default. While a nice enough idea, if a few years too late, for those of us developers that actually create proper Print style sheets, this so called feature is enough to make us go bald quickly.
Here’s a fix, that worked for my IE7, I ran Windows update, then at the Command Prompt entered this all on one line:
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_STF_Scale_Min" /v iexplore.exe /t REG_DWORD /d 100 /f
Source: MSDN’s Support Forums – IE7′s Shrink-to-fit is one size fits all? and the HotFix.
More information from the IEBlog, IE7 Printing: An Experience You Won’t Want To Miss and Make printing work better with the Web.
February 27th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Having found a good dozen entries in various MS forums insisting this was impossible I was starting to grow worried.
Thank you, oh random internet person. You are my hero.
May 5th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Can you please explain this to me in simpler terms. I would appreciate it so much. How do you go to Windows update? You have two sets of quote marks in the stated “fix” – are they included? I am so frustrated and can’t even read some of the things I print because of the “shrink to fit” problem. I am not super knowledgeable about computers and don’t want to screw up my new computer. But I need printing 100% as default. Your advice by email would be really appreciated. Thanks very much.
May 25th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
wow!! this worked great. thanks so much. i can finally read my bank statement again without a magnifying glass!!!
August 19th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
I can only add my very grateful thanks for this fix. You are great!!!
November 10th, 2008 at 2:22 am
Hey, everybody saying it is working fine. But, it is not working for me. When I preview a HTML page, it is still showing “Shrink to fit”. I am using XP with service Pack 2. Do I need of upgrade service pack.
November 13th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Ravi Kumar: I thought it wasn’t working also. Then I closed IE and opened it again and all was fine. You can check it by using print preview. If print preview automatially goes to shrink to fit, it is not working, if print preview goes to 100% then all is well.
Judi: just copy what is there, hit start, then run, then paste into the box and run it.
February 1st, 2009 at 3:08 pm
thank u very much !!!
March 17th, 2009 at 12:08 am
Thanks heaps I’ve just spent ages looking for a fix for this and this is the only one I’ve found that worked, others say its not possible.
March 30th, 2009 at 4:31 am
thanx – this worked fine with me
May 11th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
my thanks as well. Like most I had been searching high and low. Found all sorts of suggestions none of which worked until this.
January 18th, 2010 at 9:44 am
when receiving email it is to big for the screen how do I downsize the email before reaches my Comp screen tried everything nothing works
February 8th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
Smashing! Thank you so much. Worked like a charm.
March 18th, 2010 at 10:59 am
@Ravi Kumar Yes, you must upgrade to Service Pack 3 before you can run this regedit. Furthermore, it is best to always have up-to-date patches installed at all times to avoid viruses and other security issues.
April 27th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
WOW! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
May 4th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
How do you undo this? PLEASE HELP!!
May 6th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
Great post, thanks a bunch!
June 3rd, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Sounds too good to be true and guess what … it is! Didn’t work for me.
August 10th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
This works.Thanks.It defaults my IE’s print preview to 100% instead of “shrink to fit”.Can you please suggest a solution where it defaults to 80% and not 100%? Thanks in advance.
August 11th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Three years later this is still extremely valuable information. Thanks so much.
August 17th, 2010 at 11:49 am
It’s a beaut Clark… A beaut!
Thanks so much! People like you make using Windows much more tolerable!
BIG thanks from Canada!
October 4th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
It is actually doesn’t works. guys you need to check carefully. It shows like it works but it is not. I have created a sample which shows in 3 lines with shrink to fit option and in 4 lines with 100% option. I ran the fix; closed the IE and even restarted. I reopened the IE and viewed the html page in print preview. By default it says the page is in 100%. however, I am getting the paragraph in 3 lines (which means it is still in shrink to fit option). I changed the zoom % from 100 to 90 and again back to 100. Now I am getting my paragraph in 4 lines. This means that, the fix shows like it works but actually it is NOT.
I tried variety of fixes and patches but as of now I am not able to find the solution.
If anyone knows email me to yQkhOzM3eNtCjuXa@balderdash.irishspringrealty.com
(Yes. the above email is correct and valid for 1 year)
Thanks
September 21st, 2011 at 2:59 pm
I just checked the fix, its working fine on IE 7, but last time i updated my windows, it has stopped working after that. Can anyone tell what can be the problem ?
Right now, i am working in an online printing company and i need to print a lot of pages on daily basis, so this will help me a lot if someone solve this problem.