diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 52e5c59f5e..1735b96da3 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ S3method(geom2trace,GeomText)
 S3method(geom2trace,GeomTile)
 S3method(geom2trace,default)
 S3method(print,figure)
-S3method(print,plotly)
+S3method(print,plotly_hash)
 S3method(to_basic,GeomAbline)
 S3method(to_basic,GeomArea)
 S3method(to_basic,GeomBoxplot)
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ export(get_figure)
 export(gg2list)
 export(ggplotly)
 export(knit_print.figure)
-export(knit_print.plotly)
+export(knit_print.plotly_hash)
 export(last_plot)
 export(layout)
 export(offline)
diff --git a/R/print.R b/R/print.R
index aace37719a..c21a2743c2 100644
--- a/R/print.R
+++ b/R/print.R
@@ -5,9 +5,9 @@
 #' @export
 #' @importFrom htmlwidgets createWidget
 #' @importFrom htmlwidgets sizingPolicy
-print.plotly <- function(x, ...) {
-  if (!inherits(x, "htmlwidget")) x <- as.widget(x)
-  get("print.htmlwidget", envir = asNamespace("htmlwidgets"))(x, ...)
+print.plotly_hash <- function(x, ...) {
+  x <- as.widget(x)
+  print(x, ...)
 }
 
 #' Print a plotly object in a knitr doc
@@ -16,9 +16,9 @@ print.plotly <- function(x, ...) {
 #' @param options knitr options.
 #' @param ... additional arguments
 #' @export
-knit_print.plotly <- function(x, options, ...) {
-  if (!inherits(x, "htmlwidget")) x <- as.widget(x)
-  get("knit_print.htmlwidget", envir = asNamespace("htmlwidgets"))(x, options = options, ...)
+knit_print.plotly_hash <- function(x, options, ...) {
+  x <- as.widget(x)
+  knitr::knit_print(x, options, ...)
 }
 
 #' Convert a plotly object to an htmlwidget object
diff --git a/R/utils.R b/R/utils.R
index 82c8ad4737..53bd291594 100644
--- a/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/utils.R
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ hash_plot <- function(df, p) {
   assign(hash, p, envir = plotlyEnv)
   attr(df, "plotly_hash") <- hash
   # add plotly class mainly for printing method
-  class(df) <- unique(c("plotly", class(df)))
+  class(df) <- unique(c("plotly_hash", class(df)))
   # return a data frame to be compatible with things like dplyr
   df
 }
diff --git a/man/knit_print.plotly.Rd b/man/knit_print.plotly_hash.Rd
similarity index 74%
rename from man/knit_print.plotly.Rd
rename to man/knit_print.plotly_hash.Rd
index 4d500af9c3..733c731c20 100644
--- a/man/knit_print.plotly.Rd
+++ b/man/knit_print.plotly_hash.Rd
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 % Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
 % Please edit documentation in R/print.R
-\name{knit_print.plotly}
-\alias{knit_print.plotly}
+\name{knit_print.plotly_hash}
+\alias{knit_print.plotly_hash}
 \title{Print a plotly object in a knitr doc}
 \usage{
-knit_print.plotly(x, options, ...)
+knit_print.plotly_hash(x, options, ...)
 }
 \arguments{
 \item{x}{a plotly object}
diff --git a/man/print.plotly.Rd b/man/print.plotly_hash.Rd
similarity index 73%
rename from man/print.plotly.Rd
rename to man/print.plotly_hash.Rd
index 8cde8d2188..b595b37c34 100644
--- a/man/print.plotly.Rd
+++ b/man/print.plotly_hash.Rd
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 % Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
 % Please edit documentation in R/print.R
-\name{print.plotly}
-\alias{print.plotly}
+\name{print.plotly_hash}
+\alias{print.plotly_hash}
 \title{Print a plotly object}
 \usage{
-\method{print}{plotly}(x, ...)
+\method{print}{plotly_hash}(x, ...)
 }
 \arguments{
 \item{x}{a plotly object}