Whatever Happened to the Print Button on Online Articles?

Ten or fifteen years ago, printing an article from the internet was effortless. Most websites placed a clear Print option at the top or bottom of the page. With a single click, you could generate a clean, readable hard copy.

Today, that feature has largely disappeared. A genuinely useful tool—especially for researchers, students, and readers who prefer physical documents—has quietly faded away.

Why the Print Option Disappeared from Websites

The most likely explanation is the rise of mobile devices. Articles are now shared, saved, and read on smartphones and tablets rather than printed. From a publisher’s perspective, print-friendly pages no longer seem essential.

However, this shift overlooks a key audience. Anyone conducting research, studying long-form content, or archiving information still benefits greatly from printed copies. Scrolling through ad-heavy pages is no substitute for a clean, distraction-free document.

A Simple Solution: Print-Friendly Browser Extension

Thankfully, there is an easy workaround. I recently discovered an excellent browser extension called Print Friendly & PDF.

This extension removes ads, improves formatting, and converts online articles into printer-friendly pages or downloadable PDFs. In many ways, it works better than the old print buttons ever did.

I have used it several times, and the results have been consistently impressive. Articles become easier to read, easier to store, and far more suitable for printing.

👉 Add the extension here:
Print Friendly & PDF Chrome Extension

🌐 Offered by:
PrintFriendly.com

Using Print Friendly with the Brave Browser

Although I do not use Google Chrome, I use the Brave Browser, which fully supports Chrome extensions. Installation was quick, and the extension worked seamlessly.

Brave is a modern, privacy-focused browser that blocks trackers by default, improves browsing speed, and gives users greater control over their data.

Brave also offers an optional rewards system. Users can opt into privacy-respecting ads and earn Brave Attention Tokens (BAT), helping support publishers directly without sacrificing privacy.

👉 Get Brave now:
https://brave.com

Final Thoughts

While the disappearance of the print button is frustrating, tools like Print Friendly make it easy to reclaim a cleaner, more practical way to read online content.

If you regularly research, study, or archive articles, this simple browser extension is well worth installing.