Thunderbird 137.0 Printing ends with white paper

After the latest update to Thunderbird 137 the printing function for pdf documents no longer works correctly. This is true for the hardware printer and for pdf printing as well. While I have found as solution to change the pdf-viewer in Thunderbird to an other software, the pdf-printer in Thunderbird is still not working. I have no add-ons installed.

PDF printing seems to be working (for me) on Plasma.

Please provide system information as described (below), posted as preformatted text (see links below for instructions).

Regards.


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I have Manjaro in the current version on two different devices, once with xcfe, once with Plasma. For me, both systems show the same issue.

System:
  Kernel: 6.12.20-2-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.12-x86_64
    root=UUID=2980b369-962f-40e4-97c8-aaee25322d7b rw quiet splash
    resume=UUID=97132b9e-091e-4d2d-93aa-90fb2155f878 udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.3.3 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.12.0
    wm: kwin_x11 vt: 2 dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: LENOVO product: 90B6009WMZ v: Lenovo H50-50
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: SHARKBAY v: 31900058 STD serial: <superuser required>
    part-nu: LENOVO_PN_90B6009WMZ uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: LENOVO
    v: IEKT31AUS date: 03/09/2015
Battery:
  Message: No system battery data found. Is one present?
Memory:
  System RAM: total: 16 GiB available: 15.57 GiB used: 2.17 GiB (13.9%)
  Message: For most reliable report, use superuser + dmidecode.
  Array-1: capacity: 16 GiB slots: 2 modules: 2 EC: None
    max-module-size: 8 GiB note: est.
  Device-1: ChannelA-DIMM0 type: DDR3 detail: synchronous size: 8 GiB
    speed: 1600 MT/s volts: N/A width (bits): data: 64 total: 64
    manufacturer: Samsung part-no: M378B1G73QH0-CK0 serial: <filter>
  Device-2: ChannelB-DIMM0 type: DDR3 detail: synchronous size: 8 GiB
    speed: 1600 MT/s volts: N/A width (bits): data: 64 total: 64
    manufacturer: Samsung part-no: M378B1G73QH0-CK0 serial: <filter>
PCI Slots:
  Permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i5-4460 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Haswell gen: core 4
    level: v3 note: check built: 2013-15 process: Intel 22nm family: 6
    model-id: 0x3C (60) stepping: 3 microcode: 0x28
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 4 cores: 4 smt: <unsupported> cache:
    L1: 256 KiB desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB desc: 4x256 KiB
    L3: 6 MiB desc: 1x6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 800/3400 scaling: driver: intel_cpufreq
    governor: schedutil cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 bogomips: 25549
  Flags: abm acpi aes aperfmperf apic arat arch_perfmon avx avx2 bmi1 bmi2
    bts clflush cmov constant_tsc cpuid cpuid_fault cx16 cx8 de ds_cpl dtes64
    dtherm dts epb ept ept_ad erms est f16c flexpriority flush_l1d fma fpu
    fsgsbase fxsr ht ibpb ibrs ida invpcid lahf_lm lm mca mce md_clear mmx
    monitor movbe msr mtrr nonstop_tsc nopl nx pae pat pbe pcid pclmulqdq
    pdcm pdpe1gb pebs pge pln pni popcnt pse pse36 pti pts rdrand rdtscp
    rep_good sdbg sep smep ss ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 stibp syscall
    tm tm2 tpr_shadow tsc tsc_adjust tsc_deadline_timer vme vmx vnmi vpid
    x2apic xsave xsaveopt xtopology xtpr
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: Split huge pages
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT
    disabled
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; IBRS_FW;
    STIBP: disabled; RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not
    affected
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GM107 [GeForce GTX 745] vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: nvidia v: 570.133.07 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm
    non-free: 550/565.xx+ status: current (as of 2025-01; EOL~2026-12-xx)
    arch: Maxwell code: GMxxx process: TSMC 28nm built: 2014-2019 pcie: gen: 2
    speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: none off: HDMI-A-1 empty: VGA-1
    bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1382 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6
    compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: nvidia gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch
    display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 81 s-size: 602x343mm (23.70x13.50")
    s-diag: 693mm (27.28") monitors: <missing: xrandr>
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 model: Acer K272HL serial: <filter> built: 2016
    res: 1920x1080 dpi: 82 gamma: 1.2 chroma: red: x: 0.647 y: 0.329 green:
    x: 0.314 y: 0.620 blue: x: 0.153 y: 0.063 white: x: 0.314 y: 0.329
    size: 598x336mm (23.54x13.23") diag: 686mm (27") ratio: 16:9
    modes: 1920x1080, 1920x1200, 1680x1050, 1280x1024, 1440x900, 1280x800,
    1280x720, 1024x768, 800x600, 720x576, 720x480, 640x480
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia gbm:
    drv: nvidia surfaceless: drv: nvidia x11: drv: nvidia inactive: wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 vendor: nvidia v: 570.133.07 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745/PCIe/SSE2
    memory: 1.95 GiB
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.309 layers: 1 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu
    name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745 driver: N/A device-ID: 10de:1382
    surfaces: xcb,xlib
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi
    wl: wayland-info x11: xdpyinfo,xprop
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio vendor: Lenovo
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:8c20
    class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA GM107 High Definition Audio [GeForce 940MX]
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 2
    speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0fbc class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.12.20-2-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.4.1 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: Lenovo driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
    port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
    broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
  Info: services: NetworkManager,systemd-timesyncd
  WAN IP: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Message: No bluetooth data found.
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found.
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data found.
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.83 TiB used: 711.66 GiB (38.0%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 500GB
    size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 4B6Q scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Silicon Power
    model: SPCC Solid State Disk size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 1B0
    scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Western Digital
    model: WD10EZEX-08M2NA0 size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 1A01 scheme: GPT
  Message: No optical or floppy data found.
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 459.52 GiB size: 451.24 GiB (98.20%) used: 26.6 GiB (5.9%)
    fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb2 maj-min: 8:18 label: N/A
    uuid: 2980b369-962f-40e4-97c8-aaee25322d7b
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 288 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sdb1 maj-min: 8:17 label: N/A
    uuid: D7E4-1A9F
  ID-3: /run/media/tapis raw-size: 907.1 GiB size: 907.1 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 685.05 GiB (75.5%) fs: ntfs dev: /dev/sdc1 maj-min: 8:33 label: Lenovo
    uuid: 6CB24CF0B24CC076
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 17.12 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
    priority: -2 dev: /dev/sdb3 maj-min: 8:19 label: swap
    uuid: 97132b9e-091e-4d2d-93aa-90fb2155f878
Unmounted:
  ID-1: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 size: 1000 MiB fs: ntfs label: WINRE_DRV
    uuid: C6A24194A2418A3F
  ID-2: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2 size: 260 MiB fs: vfat label: SYSTEM_DRV
    uuid: 3044-C7EA
  ID-3: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3 size: 128 MiB fs: <superuser required>
    label: N/A uuid: N/A
  ID-4: /dev/sda4 maj-min: 8:4 size: 417.26 GiB fs: ntfs label: Windows8_OS
    uuid: 2C404BEC404BBB7A
  ID-5: /dev/sda5 maj-min: 8:5 size: 582 MiB fs: ntfs label: N/A
    uuid: 4EB8102CB8101555
  ID-6: /dev/sdc2 maj-min: 8:34 size: 24.41 GiB fs: ntfs label: PBR_DRV
    uuid: 50B23AF5B23ADEE2
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 10 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-2: 1-1:2 info: Atmel 4-Port Hub ports: 4 rev: 1.1
    speed: 12 Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 power: 100mA
    chip-ID: 03eb:0902 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-1.2:4 info: Lenovo Black Silk Keyboard type: keyboard,HID
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0
    speed: 1.5 Mb/s (183 KiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 1.0 power: 100mA
    chip-ID: 17ef:602d class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: 1-2:3 info: C AB CLX.PayPen type: <vendor specific> driver: N/A
    interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 1.1
    power: 200mA chip-ID: 0a93:0103 class-ID: ff00 serial: <filter>
  Hub-3: 1-3:5 info: Terminus Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 power: 100mA
    chip-ID: 1a40:0101 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-3.1:6 info: Logitech Premium Optical Wheel Mouse (M-BT58)
    type: mouse driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0
    speed: 1.5 Mb/s (183 KiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 1.0 power: 98mA
    chip-ID: 046d:c03e class-ID: 0301
  Hub-4: 2-0:1 info: full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-5: 2-1:2 info: Intel Integrated Rate Matching Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 8087:8008
    class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 2-1.4:3 info: Genesys Logic SD/MMC card reader
    type: mass storage driver: usb-storage interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 power: 500mA
    chip-ID: 05e3:0722 class-ID: 0806 serial: <filter>
  Hub-6: 3-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 2 rev: 3.0
    speed: 5 Gb/s (596.0 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-1x1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-7: 4-0:1 info: full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-8: 4-1:2 info: Intel Integrated Rate Matching Hub ports: 6 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 8087:8000
    class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 31.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 44 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 42%
Repos:
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1307 libs: 359 tools: pamac pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
  Active pacman repo servers in: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
    1: https://mirror.init7.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
Processes:
  CPU top: 5 of 230
  1: cpu: 27.6% command: thunderbird pid: 1620 mem: 570.5 MiB (3.5%)
  2: cpu: 10.1% command: firefox pid: 1266 mem: 521.6 MiB (3.2%)
  3: cpu: 9.9% command: zsh pid: 1891 mem: 9.76 MiB (0.0%)
  4: cpu: 8.2% command: konsole pid: 1882 mem: 197.8 MiB (1.2%)
  5: cpu: 6.9% command: firefox pid: 1465 mem: 229.2 MiB (1.4%)
  Memory top: 5 of 230
  1: mem: 570.5 MiB (3.5%) command: thunderbird pid: 1620 cpu: 27.6%
  2: mem: 521.6 MiB (3.2%) command: firefox pid: 1266 cpu: 10.1%
  3: mem: 473.6 MiB (2.9%) command: plasmashell pid: 750 cpu: 0.9%
  4: mem: 229.2 MiB (1.4%) command: firefox pid: 1465 cpu: 6.9%
  5: mem: 197.8 MiB (1.2%) command: konsole pid: 1882 cpu: 8.2%
Info:
  Processes: 230 Power: uptime: 14m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 6.2 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
    power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 257 default: graphical
    tool: systemctl
  Compilers: gcc: 14.2.1 Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 default: Bash v: 5.2.37
    running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.37

Does this also hapen when running Thunderbird in safe mode?

Or, I should say…
Troubleshoot Mode, as they seem to be calling it now;

Regards.

Unfortunately no change in Troubleshoot Mode. When choosing Okular to display pdf, everything works correctly.

So, for clarity, are you saying that neither system will print to PDF (using Save as PDF) or to the physical printer?


I should mention that Okular is the default PDF viewer on my local machine. There’s nothing to specifically indicate Okular is used when choosing Save as PDF from the Thunderbird print dialog.

The fact that a PDF file is produced suggests (to me) that there isn’t an issue with PDF printing. I have two destination options when printing from Thunderbird - Save as PDF and Canon Printer.

Can you specify what other options you have that I don’t?


Please verify that cups-pdf is installed;

pacman -Qi cups-pdf

I believe it should be available by default on Manjaro systems, but if it isn’t, you can install it manually:

sudo pacman -S cups-pdf

cups-pdf enables the configuration needed to print to PDF.


It’s possible that CUPS isn’t configured properly;


Another possibility is a problem with your physical printer. Are you able to print to your physical printer from other applications?


Regards.

Thank you for all your help.

The standard settings in both of my two Manjaro-Installations for printing pdf directly (when opening a pdf-attachment in Thunderbird) is as follows:
When I go to Thunderbird → Settings → Searching for “pdf” I find as “Action” for pdf: “Preview in Thunderbird”. Without any change in the settings, when I open a pdf in Thunderbird, it is shown apparently with this Thunderbird preview software (not with Okular). There is a printing dialog, opening as usual, and I used to print pdf by that way. But now the printing process results in white papers (while the printer is “printing”).
My solution:
Within the pdf-Settings (as mentioned above) I can change in Dropdown-Menu “Action” and select Okular, and everything is fine. All pdf from Thunderbird are now shown in Ocular and the printing process is working without a problem.
As for me, I am satisfied with this solution, but I had to find that way to go, because the standard setting in both installations I have was not with Ocular but with Thunderbird preview.
Other people might have the same issue, but the solution is very easy (still you have to make the changes in the settings).