How do I get the classic printer dialog box back?

Question

I have tried to change the registry to get the old printer dialog box back but it didn't work. I need the old one back to do the type of projects I do. I have watched several youtube videos but no luck.

Answer 1

Hi Peggy,

Are you referring to adding PreferLegacyPrintDialog in the registry? If so, it appears this method for restoring the legacy print dialog only works with a few applications. I tested several apps, and it still works in modern Notepad, but it no longer seems to work in browsers.

If you want to open the legacy print dialog in browsers, you can press Ctrl + Shift + P. Aside from the method above, there doesn’t seem to be another way to restore it, unfortunately.

Answer 2

Restoring the classic printer dialog box is not documented or supported in the provided material.

The context only covers how applications invoke the Windows print common dialog programmatically (for example, via PrintDlg and PrintDlgEx) and how those APIs behave, not how to globally switch Windows 11 or Office back to the older UI. There is no supported registry change or system setting in this context that reverts Windows 11 to the classic print dialog.

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References:

• Print Dialog Box
• How To: Retrieve a Printer Device Context
• Displaying a Print Dialog Box