Posted on by Nate Chamberlain

Add a print button to SharePoint list items

One of my more popular requests is an easier way to print list items (either to PDF or paper). Using SharePoint Designer, we can add a “Print Item” button to the display forms for all list items. This button appears in the “Actions” section of modal dialogs AND standalone display forms in their own window. See above for an example of a modal dialog implementation.

You can do this rather quickly, but will need to be a site admin with access to SharePoint Designer to make the change.

Note: This only works for classic view lists.

  1. Download the print icon
  2. Add print icon to Site Assets
  3. Add a custom action to list

1. Download the print icon

2. Add print icon to Site Assets

  1. Open your site in SharePoint Designer
  2. Go to Site Assets and import the downloaded print icon (using import/browse OR drag-and-drop)

3. Add a custom action to list

  1. Open your list in SharePoint Designer
  2. Add new custom action for display form ribbon (upper left dropdown)
  3. Name it “Print Item”
  4. Set “Navigate to URL:” to 
    javascript:window.print()
  5. Browse for the button image URL (I used 32×32) and select the print.png image you added to Site Assets
  6. Change “Manage” in Ribbon Location to “Actions” and click OK

    Ribbon.ListForm.Display.Actions.Controls._children

Test away!

Troubleshooting

I don’t see the “Ribbon Location (Tab.Group ID:)” option!

You need to double-check step two of “Add a custom action to list.” You must create the action from this dropdown field and specifically select “Display form ribbon” to get this option.

It’s not showing up!

  1. Make sure you types “Actions” (plural) and not “Action”
  2. Refresh your SharePoint list (Ctrl+F5 for a hard refresh)
  3. Make sure you’re using the classic experience. This does not work in modern. You can accomplish this by forcing the classic experience for all users (recommended for consistency):

If you’d rather let users choose, just be sure to educate them on the ability to switch back and forth.

11 Replies to “Add a print button to SharePoint list items”

  2. I followed the steps and I works well in one list. I tried addign the print button to other lists following the same steps but it does not respond. Is there a reason why it does not work on other lists?

    Reply

  3. Hello,

    thanks for very well explanation , I tried this way but the changes are not saved to list in server

    could you please help on that

    Reply

    1. Which changes are you referring to? If you’ve made changes to the item itself, the Print button won’t save those changes. It’s only meant to print the item when viewing. You’d still need to use the save button to save any modifications. I apologize if I misunderstood the issue.

      Reply

  4. Is there a possibility to print a SharePoint list item with their attachments in one go ?

    Reply

  5. It was not working for IE / Edge browser which was giving me 2 empty pages later data.
    But it was working fine in Chrome and firefox.

    Appreciate your help
    Thanks in Advance

    Reply

  6. Greetings Nate!

    It does not work for IE 10 (I have old browser because my Windows 2012 R2 does not support Edge etc.).
    But it works for IE 11 and later. So Your solution is applicable, thank You very much for sharing!

    Best regards,
    Gennady

    Reply

    1. It worked for me regardless of browser. Can you share any specific errors you get when running through the steps?

      Reply

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