Always ask when opening a PDF file

[MikeH]

I have my setting in Firefox to "Always Ask" when opening a PDF file.  When the dialog box appears I choose either open in Firefox or open with Adobe Acrobat Reader.  This works perfect except that a PDF file is also downloaded to my Downloads folder.  Why when I just want to "View" a PDF file, a downloaded copy of the PDF also gets put into the Downloads file?  If I wanted this to happen, I would have choose to Save file rather than view it.

[jscher2000]

Currently, the only way to view a PDF in Firefox without downloading it to a regular folder somewhere is the keep the default handling of "Open in Firefox" instead of "Always ask". External applications need the file saved somewhere, unless they can work directly with its URL. That said, maybe the following will improve the situation for you slightly if you are on Windows or Linux.

Firefox 98 made the change 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). In Firefox 102, the developers added a hidden option to roll that back. Here's how to set 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)

Success?

[Michtrixie]

Thank you! This has been so annoying that Firefox saves everything in the Download folder instead of the temp folder as it did before. So far, your solution has worked great!

[Aasher]

I found and used your solution for opening pdf in Firefox instead of downloading.  It works perfectly.  But now I can't get it to stop asking what to do with the file even though I have checked to always open in Firefox.  Can you help?

[jscher2000]

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@Aasher wrote:

I found and used your solution for opening pdf in Firefox instead of downloading.  It works perfectly.  But now I can't get it to stop asking what to do with the file even though I have checked to always open in Firefox.  Can you help?

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Did you select "Open in Firefox" for "Portable Document Format (PDF) (application/pdf)" on the Settings page (see: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/view-pdf-files-firefox-or-choose-another-viewer)?

There are some reason that Firefox might not automatically open a PDF in a tab. For example, some servers might try to bypass viewing in the browser by identifying the PDF using a Content-Type other than application/pdf. As an example, instead of application/pdf it will be application/x-force-download. Sometimes Firefox will sniff out that it IS a PDF, but not always. So if the problem only affects certain sites, I would guess that this is the issue.

Since this discussion was by people who did NOT want Firefox to open PDFs automatically, or did not want Firefox to save in their regular downloads folder, you may want to start a new discussion about exactly what you want to avoid confusion.

[pjsage]

Thank you, this worked for me.  Now Firefox owes me a couple of hours of my life back.  I download files several times a day and I couldn't figure out what was going on, and had to spend time deleting every file, then spend the time figuring out how to make this stop.  I do appreciate Firefox, but I'm sure I'm not the only person who thinks this new system is ridiculous and just one more way technology is getting more complicated. 

[kdf_333]

A LOT of people do not like this update.  I should not have to to do a work around. The temp folder is there for a reason.

[kdf_333]

[jscher2000]

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@kdf_333 wrote:

A LOT of people do not like this update.  I should not have to to do a work around. The temp folder is there for a reason.

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I'm not aware of any intention to change the default back. It would be great if this could be a choice directly on the Settings page in the Downloads section, but I don't know whether any of the product people would support that.

[kdf_333]

sigh. Firefox does not normally make changes that so many folks dislike.  especially one that is kinda a security risk like automatic downloads??