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Is there a way to print (even to PDF) a Discussion/Thread? Not just the page, but the complete thread? Someone mentioned having a thread email to yourself, but I can't even find a way to do that.
If the discussion is several pages long, I don't want to copy and paste repeatedly.
Thank you.
I can print the first page of a thread, or individual pages of a thread by clicking on the print icon and getting this:
and you can either print the page, save it or preview it. I would have to do this with each page of the discussion I think. Its the only way I can see to print or save the full discussions. Someone else may know of a better way to do this. I did a search on the forum, but didn't see anything else. It wouldn't be too bad for a discussion with only a few pages but could get tedious if you are wanting to do this for one of the longer discussions. I don't think this is a function of the printer I have, but I guess that is possible.
linda --
(And Lavern's Mom) If you "Save as a PDF" that will save the entire discussion, no matter how long it is. Then you can print out from there, if you like. If not, you'll have a record of the whole thread for reference as a PDF file.
Bee,
If I choose Save as PDF (like in my example above) it will only save the page that I am looking at, not the whole discussion. If I do a "Save as" from the broswer File menu, saving as a PDF isn't an option. I just tried it on a fairly long discussion to test it again and it only saves the page that I am looking at. I tried it from the 1st page and then the last page. And it doesn't matter which browser I'm using (Firefox or Safari). What am I doing wrong? Because I do save the discussions and have printed some to have as a reference.
Yes, laverne\'s mom, that's what I am experiencing as well. Sometimes I am viewing a discussion that is 5+ pages. It is tedious to cut and paste multiple pages. I was hoping I was missing something, somewhere. Like a "View as printer-friendly"
I guess there's just no time-saving way to do it. Darn! 😢
Unless, we are missing something??
Bee -- if you have a special way of doing it, please share, because I don't get the same result as what you say. thanks.
Moms & Linda --
If, when you first select print, you make sure it says "All" instead of 1 - 1, you'll get all of the pages. Moms, in your example, see the pages -- you have to change it from 1 to however many pages the thread is. For instance, I did a sample test on a five page thread in Safari. Here's the screen shot after I selected print, but just before I clicked on PDF:
Bee,
Sorry, but that is not correct. All comes up as default. And, the number of pages depends on how your particular printer formats it, the font size of your web pages (you can customize that). In your example, ONE page of a particular discussion can "format" to 5 pages for printing or for Save as PDF. It still only contains ONE web page of the discussion.
Find a discussion that is Long - like 5 or more "web pages" long.
Choose to Print it. Save it as PDF or open as PDF (same result). You might get several pages, but if you check the last page of the PDF, you will see that it only goes to the LAST post on the FIRST page (or whatever "web page" you are on). It will NOT show the LAST POST of the entire discussion, i.e. the very last post on "web page" (which you get to by choosing Next at the bottom of the web page until you get to the VERY LAST POST on the VERY LAST WEB PAGE of the discussion).
So you see, it is not as simple as it seems!! 😉 😢
Also, if you look at laverne\'s mom's example, you will see that "All" is chosen, not "1 of 1"
Linda: I get all five pages -- Scroll all the way down.
I'm still having the same issue as Linda, Bee. All is my default for my printer and it only saved the first page of the discussion. I was using a discussion that has 6 pages so I tried doing pages 1 - 6 and what I get is the first page of the discussion. I tried it again with All chosen for pages and the pdf I get is the same. When I scroll down to the last page of what is saved as a pdf this what I have. Page 1 of the discussion (hardly had anything on page 5, but I double checked and it is the last post on page 1) but the last page of the pdf file. Maybe it has something to do with the printer?
Message was edited by: laverne\'s mom
@Bee, I am experiencing what Linda is: the multipage PDF is 5 or 6 pages long, but that is just "Page 1" of the thread. IOW, the HTML "page" is 6 letter sized 8.5x11" pages in the PDF.
For example this thread is 31 "thread pages", but the last page of the PDF (page 6) ends with CSound's post from Nov 10, 2011, which is the last post visible on HTML page 1 of the thread. I should be getting over 150 letter sized pages in the PDF. Even if each thread page were one page on the PDF, I would then expect to get at least 31 PDF pages, not 6.
Bee,
I'm sorry, but that does not look correct.
If you look at the bottom there on your screen shot, you will see the "1" is highlighted. That is the first page of four pages of the post.
I know it says 5 of 5, that is because a print page is different than a web page. Web pages are longer than the usual 11". You are only printing page ONE of the discussion.
The last Post you are printing is by "jcbigears"
BUT, the LAST POST of the entire DISCUSSION is on "web" page number 4:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3190227?start=45&tstart=0
As you can see, the LAST POST of the entire DISCUSSION is by "ZX48" not "jcbigears" and, it is on PAGE 4 of the discussion (not page 5).
Page 5 of 5 is referring to the PRINTED pages, not the DISCUSSION pages.
So you see, you are unable to print an ENTIRE DISCUSSION, too.
** laverne\'s mom -- I do not believe it is your printer. It is something the Discussions does not support.
Asatoran,
I understand and you are correct. If the Discussion is 31 thread pages, it would be extremely tedious to print 31 pdf's and then copy & paste or merge or whatever. It's just too much work.
Maybe that's why they do not supply a "print-friendly" function.
I am thinking that in this newer version that printing the whole discussion at one time might not be possible, and maybe it was before? I know I printed some long discussions when I first came to the forum seeking help, but that was a while ago. I just checked and it looks like I was able to do it then. If it can't be done, maybe this is something that could be brought to the attention of the hosts for a future update? Or if it can be done, maybe this is a secret yet to be discovered.
They did change the forum format not that long ago. I don't know if it was possible before as I don't have any old discussions saved as files. But, I'm willing to accept that you did! 😎
Maybe someone will discover the trick! 😉
Guys, I do not know what is causing your difficulties. I will try to look around later on.
But, I have been making PDF of Discussions threads for years, and they're always correct. In my last example, it was the last page of a 5-page thread, as I noted. I have all 5 pages in the PDF. I do know that I always prefer to use Adobe Reader rather than Preview.
Just a thought: Have you checked your Preview Preferences > General > When Opening Files: Open Groups of files in the Same Window? It's worth checking, perhaps.
I'm sorry, Bee, but I don't think you are getting the entire discussion. The discussion you used as an example should print out to at least a 20 page pdf file. Not a 5 page file. When I print the discussion you used as an example, I too got 5 pages for page one of the thread. Then I get 5 pages for page 2 of the discussion. It's just not the entire discussion which would be about 20 pages. I think if you examine your pdf and compare each post side by side, you will be missing all the posts on page 3-5 of the Discussion. There is a total of 46 POSTS in that discussion. Does your pdf of that discussion have 46 POSTS??
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3190227?start=45&tstart=0
and at the top of the discussion pages it says:
46 Replies Latest reply: Jan 20, 2012 8:54 AM by ZX48
Does the last post in your pdf show the post by ZX48??
You might have done it in the past as laverne\'s mom said earlier, before they changed the format. But you are not getting the entire discussion now.
How to Print [complete] Discussion/Thread
