topic Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view in Discussions

Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

roxpec — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 13:54:07 GMT

Managing PDF downloads and viewing has become a big problem with version 89. I am a programmer who has been working on healthcare applications for a few years and there are scenarios where it is convenient to download and in others where it is convenient to preview the document. These scenarios vary from application to application, but also within the same application. So these types of behaviors should be left to whoever designs the application, not to the browser. Today I have a lot of pissed off customers because it is no longer possible to download a PDF file without previewing.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

PCB — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 14:15:12 GMT

I have a similar issue. Much of my job consists of OPENING files from backend applications via the web. Now I have to download them BEFORE I can view the contents. Not everything needs to be saved but EVERYTHING I do must be viewed. So far I have wasted an hour just trying to find out what I was doing wrong only to find out that some DA at Mozilla thought they knew what was best for EVERYONE!!!! Not a good idea and if not corrected I WILL be switching browsers.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

rtestard — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 16:53:03 GMT

Hello, can you please help clarify if this issue is specific to pdfs with content disposition:attachment headers?

In any case users can right click on links that point to pdf documents and select "Save Link As..." to download the pdf document directly without viewing it.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

rtestard — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 17:04:00 GMT

Any files you download will be immediately saved on your disk. Depending on the current configuration, they’ll be saved in your preferred download folder, or you’ll be asked to select a location for each download.

Previously files were placed in the temp folder - is the issue you're having that the temp folder was preventing specific issues with your set-up?

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

roxpec — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 17:06:49 GMT

My application has a texButton with the following code:

var url = mysite.it/DowloadServerlet?myfile.pdf

window.open (url, '_ self', '');

The DowloadServerlet add this header

response.addHeader ("content-disposition", "attachment");

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

Rm4g3dD0v — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 21:21:05 GMT

in previous versions you could open a pdf file DIRECTLY on a browser tab to view it through the firefox plugin. Now the file just downloads to the system "downloads" folder or whichever folder the user has configured FF to save files at, without giving you the option to view it while it LITTERS your downloads folder with files you don't need saved.
Genius..... NOT!

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

SoryM — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 23:25:39 GMT

I feel the same. I work with a lot of pdf files and most of them I don't need to save in my computer. While it were saved on temp folder, I could deleted all files cleaning this folder. Now I have 2 problems: open all files and after delete them from my Download folder or deleting each them just after open it and close it. Because the download list on browser is limited to 5 files. Or I have to open the complete download list and remove each one from my computer. Personally, I dislike this feature. I take longer with files I don't need to save.
What I need is a way that I can open the file with the program I choose or on browser without saving it on my computer automatically. On new update the programmers could create a way that we can stop this download automatically for those who don't want it.
I made a downgrade on the browser to use it the way it was before the 98 update and faced a new problem: create a new profile and even though I had synchronized all my data with the server before the downgrade, the new profile keeps getting empty. The new feature in 98 update is not good and I lost time fixing it!

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

Rm4g3dD0v — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 00:00:08 GMT

The new feature in 98 update is not good and I lost time fixing it!

Yeah, that's why you should never d/l an update immediatelly. Just wait a few days to 1-2 weeks before getting the latest version. By then you 'll know if the new features have been a mistake and have had workarrounds developed or if they re here to be shamelessly shoved down your throat.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

user1360 — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 01:23:56 GMT

Yep, I spend that last portion of my day deleting files from my Downloads folder. And don't get me started with an issue with zip files.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

cab0oze — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 06:27:53 GMT

Yeah, I don't have time for that, and it's begging to accidentally delete files I wanted to keep. Hopefully I can stop my work PC from updating on monday morning, otherwise I'm going to lose my sh*t

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

roxpec — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 16:10:47 GMT

Firefox updates are another mystery. When firefox struggles to start, it is surely updating itself. I have tried several times to disavow them but there is no way. ERS builds sometimes become regular versions. The 97 update hit a lot of customers. I'd say the updates are out of control.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

Emmanuel_RA — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 16:14:55 GMT

I found a solution in a forum. First, go to about:config look for "browser.download.improvements_to_download_panel" and finally set that flag to false.

It worked for me, hope the same for you

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

roxpec — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 16:20:49 GMT

You cannot assume that in order to perform a download the user has to do "Save link as". do you think all world applications are made as you say? If there is a specific w3c I might as well accept it. But suppose that this management done on the pdf you do it on the images ....

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

Rhino_1111 — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 22:49:39 GMT

THANK YOU!!!! This worked perfectly for me! What a stupid update that was!

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

Tiffin — Sun, 13 Mar 2022 07:09:12 GMT

Many thanks Emmanuel_RA. Now it works as before. The new automatic download feature was very annoying.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

roxpec — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 08:38:28 GMT

This worked for me. We hope that it will be handled appropriately in the future

Forced "Downloading" of PDFs

sifuchar — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 16:19:25 GMT

The main reason we use Firefox at my company is that it would open PDFs in Acrobat using the temporary folder to hold the downloaded file. We use A LOT of PDFs throughout the day that are downloaded through our web-based records system. Chrome-based browsers do not have a good workaround for this, and end up junking up the download folder and requiring the user to go through and manually delete them. Now with version 98 of Firefox, it does the same thing. I have used the about:config to set browser.download.improvements_to_download_panel to false in order to give us a temporary reprieve, but I hope that Mozilla will reconsider this change or at least allow an opt-out in the settings.

I understand that viewing a PDF necessarily downloads it, my problem is that the download used to go to a temporary folder that the OS cleans out periodically.
Firefox built-in PDF viewer does not have full functionality, particularly when the PDF has forms, so we are forced to use Acrobat to open the PDFs.
I know you can change the download location to the temporary folder, but then all the things you WANT to download go there.
Some PDF files do need to be downloaded, so it would not be useful to use an extension or other option which changes just where PDF files are saved without regard to whether the user chose to "open" or "download" them.
I do not understand the need for this change. Why is it important to force the user to download all files to the download folder instead of the way it was done before?

To me, this is like forcing the user to download all webpages and images to the download folder before displaying the HTML page. It's a frustrating and unnecessary waste of time and resources.

Thanks to the dev team for all the improvements, but I hope you reconsider this one. 🙂

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

SoryM — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 12:12:22 GMT

Thanks!! It worked perfectly here. I searched the internet but found nothing. You helped a lot! Your post should be pinned to the top for those who have the same problem.

FireFox 98.0.1 downloads PDF when using Adobe Acrobat DC

John — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 21:15:58 GMT

Starting with FireFox 98.0.1 whenever I click on a link to a PDF file and request to view it using Adobe Acrobat DC the file is not only opened in Adobe, but is also downloaded to the Download folder. This is true whether I have the settings set to ask every time or to automatically use Adobe Acrobat DC. If I select to view it withing FireFox, which I hate to do, the file is not downloaded to the Download folder. To make matters even worse, if the file is viewed multiple times there are multiple copies in the Download folder with numeric suffixes.

Re: FireFox 98.0.1 downloads PDF when using Adobe Acrobat DC

jscher2000 — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 17:19:07 GMT

Yes, Firefox 98 changed how "Open in [application]" and "Use [application]" work. Before Firefox 98, the download was saved in the Windows Temp folder, and now it is saved in the Downloads folder instead. I think this was changed because some people would lose a critical download because they didn't realize that "Open" didn't save the file permanently. But now people who preferred the old behavior have a workflow issue.

As a workaround, you could create a new folder in your Downloads folder named TEMP and set that as your default Download folder. This will catch all the files opened using "Open in" and you can use the "Always ask you where to save files" choice so you can save your normal downloads in a more useful place.

***** EDIT *****

This is the combination of settings I'm thinking of. "Save files to" is the default folder used for Open, but you can override that when saving a file:

Re: FireFox 98.0.1 downloads PDF when using Adobe Acrobat DC

JonJ — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 06:08:30 GMT

It wasn't broken. It did not need fixing. "Open" means just that and "save" means just that.

Because some people "didn't realize" is not a good reason. The folder location (temp) was available via the toolbar downloads history and anyone who opened a file and subsequently decided they wanted to keep it was easily able to do so, saving it to a location of their choice.

Changing the default downloads folder simply means that items which a user actually wants to 'save' still ends up with all the junk that they didn't want to save. There is no advantage.

Re: Forced "Downloading" of PDFs

JonJ — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 06:21:05 GMT

Same issue, same problem. Please revert to 'user choice'.

Re: FireFox 98.0.1 downloads PDF when using Adobe Acrobat DC

John — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 12:47:51 GMT

I filed a bug report on Bugzilla (bug # 1760145) and got replies back referring to older bugs (bug # 1738574) with lots of discussion about why the change was made, one of which was that people didn't realize the file wasn't saved, but mainly a lot of technical discussion about potential problems with loading to the temp folder and how it would be difficult to fix the problem. After reading a lot of the discussion I still agree with JonJ that it did not need fixing, and if it did I don't understand why there can't be an option to do it the old way. As for jscher2000's suggestion to create a TEMP folder in my Downloads I guess I will have to look up how to set my default download folder. It still seems wrong to me for any program to automatically download a file to my computer without my permission.

Re: FireFox 98.0.1 downloads PDF when using Adobe Acrobat DC

JonJ — Sun, 20 Mar 2022 04:05:46 GMT

@jscher2000 wrote:
This is the combination of settings I'm thinking of. "Save files to" is the default folder used for Open, but you can override that when saving a file:

Yes, but that is an extra faff everytime... Takes away the simplicity of the 'open' or 'save' button choice.

It will still be required to manually empty the downloads/temp folder to clear the junk and won't that junk then fill up the 'trash' (recycle bin) with items one didn't want in the first place? Resulting in other recycled stuff being permanently deleted a lot sooner unless one dramatically increases the capacity for the 'trash' bin...?

Re: FireFox 98.0.1 downloads PDF when using Adobe Acrobat DC

Tanagra — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 19:47:15 GMT

I found this solution in another thread. First, go to about:config look for "browser.download.improvements_to_download_panel" and finally set that flag to false.

That works for me but it sure seems drastic. I hope "they" either fix this "bug" or take away the "always ask" option.

Re: FireFox 98.0.1 downloads PDF when using Adobe Acrobat DC

pwberndt — Sat, 26 Mar 2022 00:25:18 GMT

I have the same problems with the decision to eliminate the options, it takes time that I don't have. I also appears that there will be no fix for this problem. I've used Firefox for so long that I'm rusty on Chrome & Edge. Do any of you know if either or both of them allow for the choice to open or save?

I hate to leave Firefox, yet see no alternative.

Paul

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

roxpec — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 07:01:08 GMT

Hi,

Are there any updates on this issue? will a patch be released? or will we have to empty the download folder with all the files unknowingly thinking that the website was not working?

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

gotenpublic — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 10:40:23 GMT

Hi rtestard,

Indeed this change of behaviour seems to impact quite a lot of people who seem to have a different workflow as the Mozilla Devs thought of.

There are indeed plenty of files that you access on the web (note the word "access", not "download") that you just want to "view" and then forget. Examples include French social security website (60 million users), many utility website (70million+ users), banks, etc. where to view an invoice or a statement, you have to access a PDF or other types of files. In the immense majority of cases you do not want to "save" the file, but just view and forget. And no, I do not want to view the PDF in Firefox, I want to open then with Adobe Reader, I have my reasons.

From a user standpoint, you have 2 actions: "View" and "Save": "View" is when you open the file with a 3rd party app (or Firefox itself) with no intention of keeping it. "Save" is when you want to download it and keep it, i.e. in your "Downloads" folder.

Most people won't understand that Firefox used to download the files in the "View" case (yes it has to, to open the file with 3rd party app). Of course it was hidden from them in the "temp internet files" folder. But this behaviour had the benefit of segregating the downloads into "View" and "Save".

And as some other users mention, the very situation you were trying to avoid (loosing the integrity of a file from the temp folder) is now morphing into a risk of deleting files you did not want to from your "Downloads" folder because it is littered with garbage you never intended to "save".

My 2 pence recommendation would be to add an option to set a specific destination folder of the "open" file action. It could be prefilled with Temp Internet Files which has the benefit of being included in the Windows disk cleanup utility (yes I know, this is for Windows users only). This way, the "Downloads" folder can remain for the files that we intentionally save.

Take care and thanks for all the hard work!

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

user1360 — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 15:13:28 GMT

Well, the best fix was supplied by Emmanuel_RA above:

First, go to about:config look for "browser.download.improvements_to_download_panel" and finally set that flag to false.

I guess you could call it a "setting". I've been running this for several weeks, and problem solved.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

gotenpublic — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 15:48:57 GMT

There is no guarantee that this setting will be maintained in the future, unless Mozilla acknowledges the need for a different behaviour.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 23:15:01 GMT

@roxpec wrote:
The DowloadServerlet add this header
response.addHeader ("content-disposition", "attachment");

Yes, Firefox now ignores that header for PDFs. In theory, you can force a save by using a non-standard Content-Type header, for example:

response.addHeader ("content-type", "application/x-download-pdf");

But if the user prefers to have the file open directly in Acrobat, they need to take an extra step: open the download list, right-click the file, then click "Always Open Similar Files". That item isn't always available, so fingers crossed you can find a content-type that works.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 23:19:38 GMT

@Rm4g3dD0v wrote:
in previous versions you could open a pdf file DIRECTLY on a browser tab to view it through the firefox plugin. Now the file just downloads to the system "downloads" folder or whichever folder the user has configured FF to save files at, without giving you the option to view it

The default action for PDFs still should be "Open in Firefox" (formerly known as "Preview in Firefox"), and if you select that on the Settings page (support article), then PDFs should be saved in the web content cache and displayed at their URLs instead of downloaded and displayed from a file: URL.

If that option is not present, you could start a support thread at https://support.mozilla.org/questions/new/desktop/form.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

nothappy — Sat, 02 Apr 2022 01:41:41 GMT

Why don't you put it back the way it was this is a pain for most anyone?

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

roxpec — Sat, 02 Apr 2022 10:10:02 GMT

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion, I did a test and it works in FF v98.0.2 and Chrome. I'm hoping that using a non-standard contet-type comes back at me in the form of another problem. The fact is that this new download feature does not allow the user to choose the file name, I hope my users will get over it.

I suggest you however to investigate the problem, putting the correct content-type my GWT application made logOut as if the window.open rewrote all the content of the page with the pdf.

var url = mysite.it/DowloadServerlet?myfile.pdf
window.open(url, '_ self', '');

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Sat, 02 Apr 2022 19:53:25 GMT

@roxpec wrote:
Hi,
Thanks for the suggestion, I did a test and it works in FF v98.0.2 and Chrome. I'm hoping that using a non-standard contet-type comes back at me in the form of another problem. The fact is that this new download feature does not allow the user to choose the file name, I hope my users will get over it.

There is a potential problem with future uploads to websites that filter the allow uploads based on content-type if Firefox changes from identifying PDF files as application/pdf to a fictitious content-type. This was an old bug and maybe it was fixed by now.

If users want to choose a name for a download, they need to switch from "Save files to" to "Always ask you where to save files". Is that a change from how it worked before?

I suggest you however to investigate the problem, putting the correct content-type my GWT application made logOut as if the window.open rewrote all the content of the page with the pdf.
var url = mysite.it/DowloadServerlet?myfile.pdf
window.open(url, '_ self', '');

The problem is caused by ignoring content-disposition: attachment, combined with your script directing the PDF to open in _self. I assume it was written that way instead of _blank to avoid leaving a blank tab. I wonder whether the blank tab bug was fixed so you can direct the PDF to _blank again?

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

roxpec — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 09:34:14 GMT

@jscher2000 wrote:
@roxpec wrote:
Hi,
Thanks for the suggestion, I did a test and it works in FF v98.0.2 and Chrome. I'm hoping that using a non-standard contet-type comes back at me in the form of another problem. The fact is that this new download feature does not allow the user to choose the file name, I hope my users will get over it.
There is a potential problem with future uploads to websites that filter the allow uploads based on content-type if Firefox changes from identifying PDF files as application/pdf to a fictitious content-type. This was an old bug and maybe it was fixed by now.
If users want to choose a name for a download, they need to switch from "Save files to" to "Always ask you where to save files". Is that a change from how it worked before?

It was changed only by setting this parameter browser.download.improvements_to_download_panel = false the filename is asked otherwise the name suggested in the url is used.

I suggest you however to investigate the problem, putting the correct content-type my GWT application made logOut as if the window.open rewrote all the content of the page with the pdf.
var url = mysite.it/DowloadServerlet?myfile.pdf
window.open(url, '_ self', '');
The problem is caused by ignoring content-disposition: attachment, combined with your script directing the PDF to open in _self. I assume it was written that way instead of _blank to avoid leaving a blank tab. I wonder whether the blank tab bug was fixed so you can direct the PDF to _blank again?

I did a test and now it also works with:

var url = mysite.it/DowloadServerlet?myfile.pdf
window.open(url, '_blank', '');
response.addHeader ("content-disposition", "attachment");
response.addHeader ("content-type", "application/x-download-pdf");

Re: Forced "Downloading" of PDFs

richEq — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 11:43:18 GMT

yes, same here, under linux my home folder was getting stuffed full of pds that I didn't want
please revert to 'user choice'
Thanks though! keep up the good work!!

Re: Forced "Downloading" of PDFs

jscher2000 — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 16:03:00 GMT

My understanding is that the change from saving downloads in the Windows Temp folder for "Open with [relevant application]" to saving them in your default downloads folder addressed problems with data loss for users who could not re-download files they forgot to save after they were removed from the Temp folder.

Firefox 98 did add a new clean-up option: a "Delete" item on the right-click context menu for items on the Downloads list. That deletes the file from disk and leaves a notation on the list that the file is missing/removed (the next time it is updated). You can use that to remove files you do not want to keep. But yes, it's an extra step and you have to remember which were which.

I really have no idea whether Firefox will return to using the system Temp folder. Why aren't other browsers doing it anymore?

----

You already hinted at the workaround I'm using, but in more detail:

(1) Change the default download folder to a "temp" folder I created
(2) Set Firefox to always ask where I want to save a file so I can choose a real folder when I want to keep the file

On the Settings page, it looks like this:

Re: Forced "Downloading" of PDFs

Eric1959 — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 12:10:21 GMT

I too am angry over Firefox doing this with PDF files. I had to clean out 25 PDF files this morning, and now, I don't want to even VIEW a PDF file as FF will download it regardless what settings I have. This is the DUMBEST update they've done in a while!

Seem to think Google and Apple own Firefox now!

STOP forcing us to download ever PDF file we look at!

Eric1959 — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 12:16:54 GMT

I just cleaned dozens of PDF files from my download folder because the ignorant developers thought it would be FUN to forces us to download every PDF file we open. WHY?

When we WANT to just VIEW a PDF file like we used to be able too, it would hold that file in a Temp folder under Acrobat's folder. If we WANTED to download a PDF we have that option. Now, the brain dead developers take that "choice" away from you and force you to download every PDF file you view.

Firefox is getting to be as bad as Explorer, Chrome, and whatever that win10 garbage is and I'm sick of it!

GIVE US THE CHOICE TO SAVE OR ONLY VIEW PDF FILES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: STOP forcing us to download ever PDF file we look at!

AliceWyman — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 14:22:45 GMT

You can set Portable Document Format (PDF) files to "Open in Firefox" in your Firefox settings under Applications. This will display the file but it will not save it to your computer. For more information, see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/view-pdf-files-firefox-or-choose-another-viewer

If you need more help, please ask a question on the Mozilla Support forum for desktop Firefox. You can use this link: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/new/desktop

Re: STOP forcing us to download ever PDF file we look at!

donnie — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 01:06:37 GMT

Actually, since version 98, it has now started saving files even when we use "Open in Firefox" option. This is what other people are complaining about. It used to be the way you explained it, but recently it not like that anymore

Re: STOP forcing us to download ever PDF file we look at!

jscher2000 — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 04:10:30 GMT

@donnie wrote:
Actually, since version 98, it has now started saving files even when we use "Open in Firefox" option. This is what other people are complaining about. It used to be the way you explained it, but recently it not like that anymore

Okay, this is going to sound picky, but there are two different places where you'll find "Open in Firefox" and they work completely differently.

(1) Setting PDFs to "Open in Firefox" on the Settings page

Unless the site does something tricky to work around it, Firefox will open the PDF in a tab in the built-in viewer. The URL in the address bar will be the http or https address of the file online. The file will be stored in the web content cache with web pages and other embedded files.

If you want to open the PDF in an external viewer from the built-in viewer, there are multiple steps because first you need to use the viewer's download/save button to save the file to your computer, and then you can open it: on the Downloads list, right-click > Open in [relevant application].

(2) Setting PDFs to "Always Ask"

Firefox will handle the file as a download. The change comes with "Open in Firefox" or "Open with [relevant application]":

Before Firefox 98: The file was saved in the system Temp folder on Windows and Linux
Starting in Firefox 98: The file is saved in the default downloads folder (the one next to "Save files to:" on the Settings page)

(3) Setting PDFs to "Use [relevant application]"

Firefox will handle the file as a download:

Before Firefox 98: The file was saved in the system Temp folder on Windows and Linux
Starting in Firefox 98: The file is saved in the default downloads folder (the one next to "Save files to:" on the Settings page)

----

Firefox 98 does have a new context menu item to remove downloaded files one by one: right-click > Delete (this is permanent and bypasses the Recycle Bin)

At some point after the deletion, the text on the list will change to indicate that the file was moved or is missing. I'm not aware of any way to do this in bulk.

One Workaround

What I'm doing for now is this pair of settings:

(1) Change the default download folder to a "temp" folder I created
(2) Set Firefox to always ask where I want to save a file so I can choose a real folder when I want to keep the file

On the Settings page, it looks like this:

At some point, I might dump the contents of my TEMP folder, but like the old system, for me it's "out of sight, out of mind."

Re: STOP forcing us to download ever PDF file we look at!

donnie — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 04:28:48 GMT

Thank you! I did not realize there was a difference. My apologies for not understanding the subtlety there. And thank you for explaining the workaround with so much clear detail!

Is embarasing how downloaded pdf auto open on current web site

manuelbroggi — Sun, 01 May 2022 11:11:50 GMT

Last updates like the one of subject are making me think of changing to Opera. Firefox has become slow and resource consummer.

Re: FireFox 98.0.1 downloads PDF when using Adobe Acrobat DC

manuelbroggi — Mon, 02 May 2022 14:22:28 GMT

No! I won’t configure anything.

Is just matter of losing the essence of being the fastest, smarter and lighter browser.

Firefox used to be the best, but now it just use lot of processor and ram memory.

I am very disappointed

Re: Forced "Downloading" of PDFs

sifuchar — Fri, 06 May 2022 17:36:33 GMT

Thank you for trying to help - I am grateful for any assistance or suggestions. I am aware of the work-around you proposed, but it really is a way to trade problems and still requires the user to manually sort and dispose of files. Someone suggested on here that the reason for the change was that some users were forgetting to save PDF documents they later wanted. Perhaps that might warrant a default option to automatically download PDF files, but I cannot wrap my head around the drive to force everyone (even those of use that know how to save a file) to do it. It might make more sense if the Firefox built-in PDF viewer was full featured, but it isn't. I only dabble in programming, but it would seem a simple solution to make this an option in the settings. As evidenced by the number of posts on this thread, I am not alone in the need for this feature.

Again, I appreciate your kind assistance and the work of the devs, but I really hope they will reconsider on this.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

gramcar — Sat, 07 May 2022 15:37:25 GMT

WHY DON'T YOU JUST PUT THE "ALWAYS ASK WHERE TO SAVE FILES" BACK???

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Sat, 07 May 2022 16:29:34 GMT

@gramcar wrote:
WHY DON'T YOU JUST PUT THE "ALWAYS ASK WHERE TO SAVE FILES" BACK???

"Always ask you where to save files" is still there. However, a setting to always pop up the Download dialog (Open or Save or Cancel) is only available for listed content types. Firefox 101 will add a new setting below the list that lets you choose between the Firefox 98+ approach (Save File for unknown content types) and the earlier approach (Show download dialog for unknown content types):

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

gramcar — Sat, 07 May 2022 16:32:01 GMT

I moving to CHROME

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

user1360 — Sat, 07 May 2022 19:44:10 GMT

Just so everyone knows - this is a discussion forum. Nobody at Mozilla looks at it. I can't do anything for you.

Go here https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/idb-p/ideas if you want to contribute an idea.

And gramcar, good luck with Chrome.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

manuelbroggi — Sun, 08 May 2022 01:16:10 GMT

Why do you write in capitals?

Did you read my previous comments? I don’t want to configure anything!

Do I also need to rewrite the code of firefox to make it work like it used to be? Simple, smart, light, low resources consumer?

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

manuelbroggi — Sun, 08 May 2022 01:23:29 GMT

Nooooooo! No chrome, no! Opera may be

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

manuelbroggi — Sun, 08 May 2022 01:30:07 GMT

I don’t need you to do anything for me, thanks

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

Marcus — Sun, 08 May 2022 09:54:11 GMT

About config false no longer works with the later fire fox updates.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Sun, 08 May 2022 17:45:41 GMT

@Marcus wrote:
About config false no longer works with the later fire fox updates.

What version are you running now?

Which parts of the reversion aren't working?

(What should happen in Firefox 98-100 when you toggle the preference to false is: (1) Download dialog pops up for unknown content types instead of saving automatically, and (2) Choosing "Open with [relevant application]" uses the Windows Temp folder rather than your default download folder.)

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

gvds — Mon, 09 May 2022 08:47:12 GMT

This is one of the most annoying changes that Mozilla have made to Firefox. Without warning, I found my Downloads directory filling up with junk I only wanted to read and discard. If I want to save something, I will choose to do so. Don't make that choice for me.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

manuelbroggi — Mon, 09 May 2022 10:12:31 GMT

Even worse is having the pdf auto open on the current site so that to go back to the site the reload of it is needed when going back

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

Marcus — Mon, 09 May 2022 14:12:53 GMT

I had been using version 98, and made the mistake of going to 100. I have my about config set to false but no download prompt, still automatic. I selected all downloads to temp folder, but I should have the prompt with download location option, option to cancel or option to simply open without saving. I was fine with just moving to another browser, but first wanted to let people know that the about config set up, which is hidden from the users anyway, no longer worked. However, I'm also told a future version of fire fox, hopefully between 100.XX and 101 will be bringing back the download prompt right from the settings tab, so I guess I will give Firefox yet another chance when that happens.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

manuelbroggi — Tue, 10 May 2022 02:53:34 GMT

I will go to Opera

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Tue, 10 May 2022 05:58:35 GMT

@Marcus wrote:
I'm also told a future version of fire fox, hopefully between 100.XX and 101 will be bringing back the download prompt right from the settings tab, so I guess I will give Firefox yet another chance when that happens.

Firefox 101 will allow switching from "Save file" as the default action for unknown content types to "Always ask". This is how it looks in the beta:

I just noticed the "Save files to" / "Always ask you where to save files" above that changed from two radio buttons to one checkbox. I wonder why?

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

manuelbroggi — Tue, 10 May 2022 14:26:27 GMT

What about extreme use of ram and processor?

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

rappel — Tue, 10 May 2022 19:53:33 GMT

...so I have an issue that I suspect is related to these changes, but I never fully understood the mechanism by which this was done, so I used it. It's just disappeared with the latest update, so I assume it went with 100, but I don't always update every release so it may be 98.

Here's what I used to be able to do:

Most of my online banking sites allowed me to read with a click on the filename link - either FF viewer or Foxit, which is my prefered external PDF app. - I could choose which in settings Applications/Documents PDF view option.

Some of them provided a separate download link, which if I clicked would do as I set in Applications/Documents PDF save option. - ...or I could right click and download myself.

I assume there was supposed to be a different document type/tag whatever that allowed these two to be separated.

In any event it was really, really useful because I only had to bother with downloading things I wanted to and then I knew where they had gone. All else was handled automagically.

So, my question is, has this all disappeared too because of the changes you are discussing here?

Unfortunately of course while Always ask gets you closer it's not quite enough because you can't default the answer and therefore have to click to select on the dialogue. The auto detect of the type and 2 settings did help here. I know it's not always been like that because for years I have used the always ask, but sometime last year I thought we had an improvement! Now it's gone again :- (

...and for my tenpenn'th, from a user perspective view means just that, look at it and then it's gone when I'm done. If something has to be downloaded to achieve it, then it shouldn't go anywhere near MY filing system it should be stored in a browser/application related area that either gets swept automatically during one or another housekeeping or is noted on the list of weekly/monthly activities I need to do to keep my machine humming along. Why should I have to manage those files at all???

Any user that thinks they have saved the file when they look at it in view needs a different solution to changing browser behaviour.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Tue, 10 May 2022 21:16:41 GMT

@manuelbroggi wrote:
Even worse is having the pdf auto open on the current site so that to go back to the site the reload of it is needed when going back

That will be fixed in Firefox 101, scheduled to release in a few weeks.

More specifically, sites can link to PDFs in 3 ways:

(1) Standard web link -- always opened in the same tab unless you directed it to a new tab -- unchanged in Firefox 98+

(2) Link where the server uses Content-Disposition: attachment to force a download -- previously popped up a Download dialog in every case -- starting in Firefox 98, opens in the same tab -- starting in Firefox 101, opens in a new tab

(3) Link that contains a download="filename.pdf" attribute -- previously popped up a Download dialog in every case -- starting in Firefox 98, opens in the same tab -- starting in Firefox 101, opens in a new tab

In other words, Firefox 101 keeps the behavior of always using the viewer for PDFs, but fixes the problem of replacing the current page for the ones the site intended as downloads.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Tue, 10 May 2022 21:22:56 GMT

@rappel wrote:
Here's what I used to be able to do:
Most of my online banking sites allowed me to read with a click on the filename link - either FF viewer or Foxit, which is my prefered external PDF app. - I could choose which in settings Applications/Documents PDF view option.
Some of them provided a separate download link, which if I clicked would do as I set in Applications/Documents PDF save option. - ...or I could right click and download myself.
I assume there was supposed to be a different document type/tag whatever that allowed these two to be separated.

Yes, if you set "Open in Firefox" on the Settings page, Firefox 98 now disregards the site's attempts to force a download of PDFs and shows them in the viewer in every case. (This addressed a longstanding complaint of Firefox users about unpredictable behavior of PDFs.)

There is a bug in Firefox 98-100 where the PDF replaces the current page, and that will be fixed in Firefox 101, scheduled to release in a few weeks.

Here are the 3 scenarios for files sent with the "Content-Type: application/pdf" for users who keep the default action of "Open in Firefox":

(1) Standard web link -- opens in the same tab unless you directed it to a new tab -- unchanged in Firefox 98+

So Firefox 101 won't turn a download link back into a download link if you have "Open in Firefox" as your action. Either the site needs to conceal that the PDF is a PDF (for example, by setting "Content-Type: application/force-download", as one site I use does) or use some other kind of trickery to bypass Firefox's attempt to handle PDFs consistently.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

Ray — Sat, 14 May 2022 17:17:47 GMT

Every single time Firefox pushes out an update they switch everyone back to use Firefox as default PDF viewer, even though we set the default for what WE WANT!!!

What is going through the mind of Firefox developers, where they think pissing off their users is the best choice????

I work at a small company, where after every update, I'm forced to go around and fix everyone's Firefox preferences!

Now this downloading temporary files to download, or last used directory, is another idiotic move!

Windows gives us temp directories (complete with user's TEMP environment variable) for the specific purpose of TEMPORARILY storing files we don't want to keep!

I finally stumbled onto the about:config pdfjs.disabled boolean to stop Firefox shoving their pdf viewer down our throat, I just wish there was a use temp directory for temp files variable

Hell, I wish every new "feature" came with it off by default, with a prompt with instructions on how to enable it!!

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Sun, 15 May 2022 22:37:31 GMT

@Ray wrote:
Every single time Firefox pushes out an update they switch everyone back to use Firefox as default PDF viewer, even though we set the default for what WE WANT!!!

Hi Ray, I can only judge from what I see on forums, but I don't think that is happening in normal updates. It sounds as though your users' handlers.json files might be getting deleted for some reason, restoring the default download handling settings.

I work at a small company, where after every update, I'm forced to go around and fix everyone's Firefox preferences!

You may want to take a look at using group policy to manage settings:

You can use the Firefox for Enterprise support forum for guidance on using Policy, and you can create new Issues on that Github repository if the policies do not work as documented or you need additional policy options.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

Ray — Mon, 16 May 2022 13:00:13 GMT

Custom content/action settings for other file types remain across updates, the only thing changed is "always ask" for PDF's gets changed to use Firefox.

As for forums,

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/don-t-change-my-behaviour-for-pdf-treatment-to-auto-open-in/m-p/3709

Further, Active Directory is not a viable option.

Most small companies don't have a budget for for that, never mind the dedicated staff needed to manage it.

I was finally able to fix it with the about:config pdfjs.disabled boolean , but it, like every other "feature" should not be enabled by default, unless there is specific, easy access disabling instructions.

PDF files downloading everytime

kb9hgi — Mon, 23 May 2022 04:17:33 GMT

Fire Fox can you please change it back so it don't download every PDF file. I'm sick of this and I do not want to download everyfile I just want to view it. I been using FF for a long time and now it download every PDF file and every thing else. Driving me crazy! about to uninstall and just use MS Edge.

Re: PDF files downloading everytime

Zebro — Mon, 23 May 2022 10:58:33 GMT

I understand you. It's really problem. So many unnecessary files in Download folder now...

Problem with downloading files without losing the webpage you're visiting

Ancelor — Wed, 25 May 2022 10:11:42 GMT

I think that it is necessary to change the settings of downloading files from every sites on mozilla. Now to download a file I have to lose the page I'm seeing. Try to make possible to open a download's previw in another page or in another sheet. Please!!! I want to specify the some time ago it was possible. So I can't find the reason you delete this function. Please help meeeee!!

Re: Problem with downloading files without losing the webpage you're visiting

jscher2000 — Thu, 26 May 2022 00:35:27 GMT

Hi, is this a problem with PDF files?

For users that have PDFs set to "Open in Firefox", Firefox 98-100 started ignoring servers' attempts to force PDFs to be saved -- it opens them in the built-in viewer instead. But unfortunately, this has caused the PDFs to open in the same tab, replacing the current page. In Firefox 101, they'll open in a new tab instead. Firefox 101 is scheduled to release next Tuesday, May 31, 2022.

ask each time where to save...not work

Michelangelor28 — Fri, 27 May 2022 08:53:40 GMT

The function "ask every time where to save" does not work with pdf files.

the browser opens the file in a new tab and simultaneously saves the file to the default folder.

I ask the developers to solve the problem

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

Wux2000 — Sat, 18 Jun 2022 19:01:25 GMT

Same problem. I don't want to view pdf documents in the browser, I have dedicated apps for that. Unfortunately I cannot change the default action. Even worse: When opening a pdf document in the browser it is automatically downloaded to a default place and occupies storage there. Moving it to the dedicated order requires additional clicks - which is imho completely unnecessary.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 17:38:53 GMT

@Wux2000 wrote:
Same problem. I don't want to view pdf documents in the browser, I have dedicated apps for that. Unfortunately I cannot change the default action.

What happens when you try the steps in this article: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/view-pdf-files-firefox-or-choose-another-viewer

Even worse: When opening a pdf document in the browser it is automatically downloaded to a default place and occupies storage there. Moving it to the dedicated order requires additional clicks - which is imho completely unnecessary.

If you select the "Always Ask" option, Firefox 98+ will download the file to your "Save files to:" folder when you choose "Open with [relevant application]". Firefox 102 will bring an option for Windows and Linux users to return to using the system Temp folder for that if you prefer the way it worked before Firefox 98.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

roxpec — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 07:47:50 GMT

I have same news,

with last update 102 all file are save without exstension. 😭

I can't stand it anymore! it is not sustainable that every small update there are such blocking problems.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 01:30:59 GMT

@roxpec wrote:
with last update 102 all file are save without exstension. 😭
I can't stand it anymore! it is not sustainable that every small update there are such blocking problems.

That is strange.

Is this related to the issue of the PDFs that are served with Content-Disposition: attachment that Firefox started opening in a new tab -- saving from the new tab loses the .pdf file extension?

Or is this for other kinds of downloads?

A user on the Mozilla Support forum reported that downloads of .exe files from one site are renamed with a .bin extension. We haven't figured out what is causing that, but it sounds like there must have been some change related to file extensions between Firefox 101 and 102.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

roxpec — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 17:01:17 GMT

Hi jscher2000,

Thanks for answering me.

I found the problem. It seems that Firefox102 adds the file extension according to the value of the contained ContentType response header . I did some tests (pdf download), in particular by setting ContentType:

application/x-download-pdf: the saved file without extension
application/oct-Stream: the file is opened in new tab with .pdf extesnsion
application/zip: The file is saved with the .zip extension

So I went back to the starting point, the solution you had always suggested(ContentType = application/x-download-pdf) in this discussion is no longer valid.

I don't think that only my application needs to view a draft of a report in PDF and make the dowlown of the final report in PDF. So as already mentioned if there are specifications to follow there is no problem the importance that these specifications are valid over time and above all those who develop the application have the faculty to choose the desired behavior. For example, the PDF displayed in the previous image has the uninhabited printing and also the "Saveas" but PDF.JS allows you to print anyway. In fact PDF.JS is another component to improve.

Thank you

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 19:40:09 GMT

Sorry about that, I didn't expect to make it worse.

When I test, Firefox treats it as a PDF based on the filename in the Content-Disposition header:

https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/servepdf.php?f=bugzilla-home.pdf&ct=application/x-download-pdf

So fooling the PDF detector in this way seems to have stopped working in Firefox 102 and I agree there is no more point to that workaround if you are setting a *.pdf file name -- and obviously omitting the file name causes other problems.

Regarding printing: It's true that PDF.js doesn't honor copy and print restrictions. If you are using an embedded viewer and you need to control the available features, you can load the PDF.js library (or possibly another JavaScript library that renders PDFs) on your site and control exactly what buttons are shown on the toolbar. https://github.com/mozilla/pdf.js/wiki/Setup-PDF.js-in-a-website

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

roxpec — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 15:53:46 GMT

I report my last test.
By setting the headers as follows:
Content-disposition : attachment; filename="myFile.pdf"
ContentType: x-download-pdf
the PDF viewer opens in a new tab and at the same time the download is made

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

roxpec — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 16:29:22 GMT

The pdf problem seems to be related to a bug reported 14 years ago and fixed on FireFox 98

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=453455

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

EPM33 — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 15:47:07 GMT

I agree. I want to open a .pdf to view it, or download it with an option to where it is put, NOT download it if I just want to look at it or print it. Like it was before these last two versions. Otherwise, I need to find the unwanted file and delete it. No time for that. Firefox assumes that I want the file without giving me the choice. I'm using Windows 10, always updated. This is very annoying.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 16:37:44 GMT

@EPM33 wrote:
I want to open a .pdf to view it, or download it with an option to where it is put, NOT download it if I just want to look at it or print it. Like it was before these last two versions. Otherwise, I need to find the unwanted file and delete it. No time for that.

As you noticed, Firefox 98 changed from saving downloads in the Windows Temp folder (or Linux /tmp folder) for "Open with [relevant application]" to saving them in your designated downloads folder (the one next to "Save Files to" on the Settings page). It's not possible to pass a file to an application without saving it somewhere.

This change addressed problems with data loss for users who could not re-download files they forgot to save after they were removed from the Temp folder. However, now users who preferred those files to be "out of sight, out of mind" are faced with the task of cleaning them up manually.

In Firefox 102, the developers added a hidden option to use the Windows Temp (or Linux /tmp) folder for those downloads, similar to Firefox 97 and earlier. This is hidden away, so here's how to find it:

(A) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

More info on about:config: Configuration Editor for Firefox. Please keep in mind that changes made through this back door aren't fully supported and aren't guaranteed to continue working in the future.

(B) In the search box in the page, type or paste browser.download.start_downloads_in_tmp_dir and pause while the list is filtered

(C) Double-click the preference to switch the value from false to true (or click the toggle button toward the right end of the row)

If you notice any problems with it, please speak up. I don't think many people are using it yet, so feedback is needed.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

roxpec — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 13:09:11 GMT

"This change addressed problems with data loss for users who could not re-download files they forgot to save after they were removed from the Temp folder. However, now users who preferred those files to be "out of sight, out of mind" are faced with the task of cleaning them up manually."

Surely it is an acceptable behavior for some users. But I think a user who forgets that he has downloaded a file (or loses a file) does first to re-download it than to find it inside a folder full of files.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

sifuchar — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 14:21:44 GMT

Let me save you some time and frustration, gramcar. My company wanted to use Chrome for best compatibility with (poorly coded) websites. This new Firefox behavior with force-downloading PDF files has long been the default for Chrome (and to my knowledge, ALL chromium-based browsers) and there is no option to change it, no viable work-around, and no extension or helper app that adds back the ability to open in Acrobat. I have so far been unable to find a browser (besides previous version of Firefox) that allows this functionality. It's quite maddening, and there seems to be no logical reason for it.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 15:21:10 GMT

@sifuchar wrote:
This new Firefox behavior with force-downloading PDF files has long been the default for Chrome (and to my knowledge, ALL chromium-based browsers) and there is no option to change it, no viable work-around, and no extension or helper app that adds back the ability to open in Acrobat. I have so far been unable to find a browser (besides previous version of Firefox) that allows this functionality.

Hi, I think your main concern has been the use/cluttering of the "Save files to" folder in Firefox 98+, for files that used to open from a temp folder. In Firefox 102, the developers added a hidden option to use the Windows Temp (or Linux /tmp) folder for those downloads, similar to Firefox 97 and earlier. This is hidden away, so here's how to find it:

(A) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

(B) In the search box in the page, type or paste browser.download.start_downloads_in_tmp_dir and pause while the list is filtered

(C) Double-click the preference to switch the value from false to true (or click the toggle button toward the right end of the row)

If you notice any problems with it, please speak up. I don't think many people are using it yet, so feedback is needed.

The general approach to setting the default action for PDFs to Acrobat remains unchanged: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/view-pdf-files-firefox-or-choose-another-viewer

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 15:23:26 GMT

@EPM33 wrote:
I want to open a .pdf to view it, or download it with an option to where it is put, NOT download it if I just want to look at it or print it. Like it was before these last two versions. Otherwise, I need to find the unwanted file and delete it.

You might have received a notification of another reply, but I'll duplicate the info here just in case.

Firefox 98 changed from saving downloads in the Windows Temp folder (or Linux /tmp folder) for "Open with [relevant application]" to saving them in your designated downloads folder (the one next to "Save Files to" on the Settings page). It's not possible to pass a file to an application without saving it somewhere.

(A) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

(B) In the search box in the page, type or paste browser.download.start_downloads_in_tmp_dir and pause while the list is filtered

(C) Double-click the preference to switch the value from false to true (or click the toggle button toward the right end of the row)

If you notice any problems with it, please speak up. I don't think many people are using it yet, so feedback is needed.

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

miromarszal — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 09:48:34 GMT

Yes! That's the true solution! I hope they won't axe the setting in the future...

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

miromarszal — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 13:06:06 GMT

For me this answer did the job: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/firefox-98-pdf-dowload-and-view/m-p/10876/highlight/true#M4872

Re: Firefox 98 - PDF Dowload and view

jscher2000 — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 18:25:31 GMT

Late Update

Firefox 118 introduced a new user preference to prevent Firefox from auto-opening PDFs that are sent with "Content-Disposition: attachment" when the user has the default "Open in Firefox" action for PDFs. This doesn't help from the server side, unfortunately.

If it's something an individual (or company, by group policy) wants to implement, the preference is "browser.download.force_save_internally_handled_attachments". Note that "browser.download.open_pdf_attachments_inline" needs to have its default value of false.