How to Create Printable WordPress Posts

Despite the digitization process taking place on a global scale, many people still prefer to read on paper. This is also one of the reasons why many internet users print some posts they find interesting on the internet. For example, if you have a cooking blog, users may find it useful to print out a recipe you share. They may be inclined to do the same with a variety of step-by-step guides, help articles, and other well-written pieces of content so they can keep it in physical form. Then, Whatever type of blog you have, there will undoubtedly be those who want to print some of the articles you publish. – so you might want to consider creating printable WordPress posts on your blog.

Now most WordPress and most WordPress themes will allow your visitors to print the entire page as it is – including logos, sidebar content and other parts of the site design. But that’s not what users want, not to mention that it can cause unnecessary use of all printer ink.

To prevent this from happening, you should offer your users a printer friendly option. This time we will show you how to create printable WordPress posts using two different plugins.

Here are the things we will cover:

When to Add a Printer Friendly Option to Your WordPress Posts?

While some WordPress themes come with a separate CSS style sheet that users can use to print your posts, most themes only allow you to print them in their original state. In these situations, a printer-friendly option can definitely come in handy, as it helps users avoid printing unnecessary graphics, text, colors, and navigation elements that may be found in your website’s sidebars. These website items simply put unnecessary strain on printer devices and can often appear too much to look at in print form.

To check how your WordPress theme deals with printing, go to any page of your website and press CTRL+P. If your browser is showing the same print preview as how your page is displayed in your browser, you may want to add a printer-friendly option to your WordPress site.

Without further ado, we offer you two different plugins to add a printable option to your WordPress posts. The first of the two plugins includes detailed options and lets you add modern-looking buttons for print, eBook, and PDF formats (each format has its own options). The second plugin, on the other hand, comes with a more modest number of print options, allowing you to use a standard print format and choose between two print icons. Therefore, it is a lightweight and fast solution for most needs.

How to Add a Print Option in WordPress Using the Print My Blog Plugin

Print My Blog It is a useful WordPress plugin that will help make printing your blog easy and impressive for your visitors.

First of all, you have to install the plugin and activate it in your WordPress dashboard. At that time, to go Print My Blog >> Settings.

The first two options that appear let you specify whether you want print buttons to be shown on pages and/or posts.

After selecting these options, click on the named link. Customize Buttons. This will reveal a new set of options that allow you to customize different print formats: Print, PDF and eBook.

Also, a Show Options button is located below each format. Clicking this button opens a drop-down menu with additional options for each of these formats.

This Contents section lets you choose which title content elements to print (Site Title, Description Line, Site URL, etc.) and also for post content elements (e.g. title ID, author, date published, featured image, and so on).

This Page layout presents the section choose whether you want each post to start on a new page, set the number of text columns on each page, set the font and image sizeand more.

Last but not least, clicking Troubleshooting Options button reveals one last hidden episode. Here you will see the option that allows you to set the post rendering wait time, i.e. the number of milliseconds to wait between render posts. This is particularly useful as it can prevent images from loading properly. Additionally, you can choose to include (or exclude) inline Javascript and ungenerated shortcodes to avoid additional page rendering issues.

When you’re done, make sure to press the button. save settings button for changes to take effect.

After saving your settings, the plugin will ask you to go ahead and preview the changes in your most recent post. You will be able to see the print buttons you have enabled in the settings.

How to Add Print Option in WordPress Using WP-Print Plugin

Another way to add a print option to your WordPress blog is to use a WP-Print plugin.

After installing and activating the plugin, navigate to: Settings >> Print. Here you will access the settings of the plugin.

This Print Styles section lets you specify the name of the printed text links for both pages and posts, choose the appearance of your print icon, and choose the print text link style.

You can also specify the specific types of content you want to print, including comments, links, images, thumbnails, and videos. You will also be able to add a disclaimer/copyright text (by default it will display your website name).

Finally, be sure to save your changes when you’re done configuring all the settings.

after you’re done, For the plugin to add the print button to your WordPress posts, you need to add a line of code to your WordPress theme files.. The place to add your code varies from theme to theme. you can access Appearance >> Theme Editorand then page.php, archive.php, single.php, content.php etc. add files.

First, you should find the following line in your theme template:

<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

Next, you have to enter this code just below:

<?php if(function_exists('wp_print')) { print_link(); } ?>

And you are ready. All you have to do is go ahead and preview the appearance of your print button in one of your posts.

Solution

Whatever type of WordPress website or blog you have, We recommend indulging your audience and giving them the option to print your articles in a printer-friendly format.. This subtle yet thoughtful move can prove extremely convenient for your readers and may even encourage them to protect your articles, whether they choose a physical print, an eBook format, or a downloadable PDF version.

Whether you choose the plug-in with more basic printing options or the plug-in that offers a wider range of features, one of these will surely help you. Before choosing the one that suits your preferences, be sure to take a look at what each of these plugins has to offer.