How to block "print dialog" pop-ups of web archives in DT?

DEVONthink Feedback
1

When it comes to archiving web pages from online journals to DEVONthink (in the “web archive” format) I usually select (if available) the print view of the selected page to get rid of all the ads and distracting stuff. But when I open this just imported web archive in DEVONthink afterwards, the “print dialog” pops up every time automatically and I have to close it every time manually, which is somehow annoying.

Isn’t there an option available to block all these “print dialog” pop-ups for web archives in DEVONthink Pro, or, if not: wouldn’t this be a great usability booster?

Unchecking JavaScript in the “Web” section of the preferences unfortunately doesn’t help, since the print dialog seems not to be triggered (at least not always) by JavaScript…

2

Is there a sample URL you could post?

3

This “printer friendly” page for example will let the “printer dialog” pop-up occur:

sueddeutsche.de/politik/2.22 … -1.2841954

4

OK – yes, I can confirm that. It’s the HTML on that page that is invoking the print dialog. I don’t believe there’s anything that DEVONthink can do about it, short of you doing surgery on the HTML in your archive. --> I’m corrected; see below

But if you’re already on the print-friendly page, then why not just use the print dialog’s PDF > Save PDF to DEVONthink command? Is there any benefit to having a .webarchive of a printer-friendly document page? The URL of the source page is saved in DEVONthink when the PDF is saved there, so you can always return to the source page whenever needed.

5

There are many reasons why I would prefer a web archive to a PDF file in certain circumstances, but I just realized it actually works with deactivating JavaScript in the DEVONthink Pro preferences. The application only has to be quit and restarted for the changes to take effect.

In the web page URL posted above the following script at the bottom of the source code triggers the print pop-up:

    <script language="javascript">
      window.onload = function () {
        window.print();
      };
    </script>

When it has been deleted from the source, the pop-up wouldn’t occur. And also, when JavaScript has been deactivated and DEVONthink Pro has been quit and restarted after the deactivation, the print dialog will not pop up.

Thanks everyone, this is solved for me now. :slight_smile:

6

Clever.