Firefox now saves files that I only wanted to open

[MP]

Please fix this, or give me the option to just open a document.  I do not want to save each and every document I open.

I do not see the logic in this decision.

[jonesmg_msw]

Please.  This is now such a pain.  I'm so frustrated by this change, I think I'm going to try to find a new browser.  Too bad, Firefox, it's been a fun 20 years.

[anhtr]

Please revert back to the original behavior, or at least give us an option to switch. This has been interfering seriously with my workflow. I will have to switch to another browser if this continue.

[prd2002]

You can switch. To Chrome.

[nosake]

Really?  Wasn't expecting a snarky response to a legit question.

[Rachara]

I agree that this has been a horrible change.  Forcing it on people without giving them an option is a poor decision that was made.  And the feedback was so strong they had to close one thread in particular:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1370409

I regularly have to open PDF's from our company CRM to verify information, and this has completely flooded by downloads folder.  The problem is, sometimes I DO need to download files to edit, and they have similar file names, which makes this even worse.

This change has essentially made the browser un-usable for me, and now that I see the extent of the problem I'll have to move on to another one, this is affecting my work and my solution is to use another browser.   The problem with this, is I generally stick with a browser until they make some stupid change (like this) that forces me to switch, so it's probably going to be a long time before I end up returning to Firefox, if ever.

So long and thanks for all the fish I guess.

[BobBriscoe]

Thank you for working on it.

In the process, pls make sure you fix this further problem that the new download process introduced: If you configure 'Always Ask' then choose 'Open in Firefox', not only does it still clog up the downloads folder, but it also shows the URL as a local file://... so you don't ever see the original URL and therefore cannot share it.

Before someone says you can copy the URL that you originally clicked to get the file in the first place, that is often full of private information you don't want to share (e.g. the URL that a search returns).

Opening only local files also makes all the internal URLs within a downloaded file incorrect. In a PDF, for example, pre-Firefox98 you could right click on one of the thumbnails to copy and share the URL pointing to a particular page within a PDF file. Now, it just points to the particular page in your local file, which is useless for sharing.

So this change has broken the work of many other people who had previously made it possible to share references to all sorts of more specific parts of files on the Internet. Mozilla is not meant to be making sharing more difficult (or impossible).

To revert this change in Firefox 98, I have used about:config and set browser.download.improvements_to_download_panel to false, as in this support article:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1370409
However, that is likely to be removed in future.

So, when you fix this, please can the 'Open in Firefox' option of the 'Always Ask' facility at least behave the same as the direct 'Open in Firefox' facility.

[jscher2000]

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@BobBriscoe wrote:

In the process, pls make sure you fix this further problem that the new download process introduced: If you configure 'Always Ask' then choose 'Open in Firefox', not only does it still clog up the downloads folder, but it also shows the URL as a local file://... so you don't ever see the original URL and therefore cannot share it.

Before someone says you can copy the URL that you originally clicked to get the file in the first place, that is often full of private information you don't want to share (e.g. the URL that a search returns).

Opening only local files also makes all the internal URLs within a downloaded file incorrect. In a PDF, for example, pre-Firefox98 you could right click on one of the thumbnails to copy and share the URL pointing to a particular page within a PDF file. Now, it just points to the particular page in your local file, which is useless for sharing.

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If you set PDFs to "Open in Firefox" rather than "Always ask" Firefox should open them from the web content cache instead of downloading to disk and then opening.

To copy a download link for a file, you can try using the following method:

On the downloads list, right-click the file > Copy Download Link

Does that have too much personal information?

[BobBriscoe]

Yes, "Open in FIrefox" works fine, but that's not the problem being discussed here, which is for those of us who have Firefox configured to "Always Ask" (in my case for PDFs).

Thanks for the tip about "Copy Download Link". That indeed gives the URL as finally resolved, not the one with all the search metadata that the search engine gives out.

However, I'm afraid this still doesn't solve the problem I described when trying to copy the internal URLs within a download (at least not without copy-pasting the ends of the internal URLs onto the copied download link, which is still an unwarranted regression). But thanks for trying.

[In case anyone is wondering why some of us need to use the "Always Ask" setting: The Firefox PDF viewer is OK for some PDFs, but when you're looking at a PDF containing complex vector graphics (e.g. graphs with thousands of plotted points, which is my bread and butter), as you scroll back and forth or zoom in and out, you spend all your time watching the "loading..." wheel for pages you were just looking at a few seconds ago. Whereas my local PDF viewer handles all this like a breeze. Also printing PDFs from the Firefox viewer often produces gobbledygook fonts.

[jscher2000]

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@BobBriscoe wrote:

Yes, "Open in FIrefox" works fine, but that's not the problem being discussed here, which is for those of us who have Firefox configured to "Always Ask" (in my case for PDFs).

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Always Ask has always downloaded to disk. The change is using a user's default download folder instead of the system Temp folder.

There is a labeling problem because "Open in Firefox" on the settings page uses the web cache and "Open in Firefox" in the Downloads dialog refers to what to do with the file after saving it.

The problem is that "Always ask" doesn't support viewing PDFs from the web content cache because it displays at a point in the download flow where Firefox is already committed to saving the file somewhere on disk.

---

Thanks for the tip about "Copy Download Link". That indeed gives the URL as finally resolved, not the one with all the search metadata that the search engine gives out.

However, I'm afraid this still doesn't solve the problem I described when trying to copy the internal URLs within a download (at least not without copy-pasting the ends of the internal URLs onto the copied download link, which is still an unwarranted regression). But thanks for trying.

[In case anyone is wondering why some of us need to use the "Always Ask" setting: The Firefox PDF viewer is OK for some PDFs, but when you're looking at a PDF containing complex vector graphics (e.g. graphs with thousands of plotted points, which is my bread and butter), as you scroll back and forth or zoom in and out, you spend all your time watching the "loading..." wheel for pages you were just looking at a few seconds ago. Whereas my local PDF viewer handles all this like a breeze. Also printing PDFs from the Firefox viewer often produces gobbledygook fonts.

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Yes, I regularly launch PDFs I initially loaded into the built-in viewer in Acrobat, especially for long manuals. This was only one step before when the Download button triggered the Download dialog. Now that button changed to a Save As... button, so there are multiple steps to launch the PDF in Acrobat.

[BobBriscoe]

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...built-in viewer in Acrobat... This was only one step before when the Download button triggered the Download dialog. Now that button changed to a Save As... button, so there are multiple steps to launch the PDF in Acrobat.

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I think you're talking about the download button of Firefox's internal PDF viewer (not of Firefox itself). If so, indeed, that has also been hobbled by this latest change. Pre-Firefox98, the internal viewer's download button respected the "Always Ask" configuration and gave the option of opening in the local PDF viewer.

I guess this is because a new 'download' of a file in cache has to respect http's cache expiry logic, so it uses the same part of the browser code as any download off the Internet. Whereas a new download of a file stored in the local file-system outside the cache chain is just a local file access.

There is a labeling problem because "Open in Firefox" on the settings page uses the web cache and "Open in Firefox" in the Downloads dialog refers to what to do with the file after saving it.

I don't think most users need to understand that opening in Firefox is actually also a download because it uses the cache (a self-cleaning part of the same file-system). Indeed, the local cache is initially stored in memory, and it buffers up saving to stable storage (disk) until it won't harm interactive performance.

[DF]

Temp and Downloads aren't functionally equivalent. Temp is regularly cleaned, Downloads serves a completely different purpose - it's not a temp folder! It's not as simple as redirecting from one folder to an equivalent one, it's redirecting from one folder to a functionally distinct one! That's an insane decision on version 98.

[Maria_Emme]

Thank you so much for this! It worked perfectly. It was driving me insane. I had to keep opening a new browser to get the download link.

[DS-RLG]

This change has caused me so much down time. I have to use Google and I would much prefer to stay with Firefox.  All the files open with the same name(1), name(2), etc. Please Fix this back to the previous version soon! Thank you.

[jscher2000]

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@DS-RLG wrote:

All the files open with the same name(1), name(2), etc.

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That's unfortunate. Firefox should use the name of the file provided by the site and only add the number if another file in the same folder already has that name. If the names are longer/different in Chrome, maybe there is a bug in interpreting the file names provided by the site where you are opening the files. Is this a public site where people could test and see what's going on? If a login is required, maybe that won't be possible.

[DS-RLG]

No it is a private site, but basically I would click on the Open and the file automatically opened in excel, no intermediary steps. I set up Ask each time but Excel is not an option in my list. Plus of course it is an extra step.

[CUPONa]

I am on the same side with you! Opening a file directly without saving it was the only reason I used Mozilla FIrefox! Now I will have to switch to another browser again ... To bad!

[SoCalScott]

I am a long time Firefox user, but I despise this new "feature" so much, I'm on the brink of ditching Firefox in favor of Chrome. Please, please, please, Firefox, either make this so-called "feature" an option that we can select or de-select, or ditch it altogether!

[bvd1171]

Same issue.  I have used Firefox more or less since it was launched, but this change is causing such inconvenience that it will drive me to another browser. 

[SoCalScott]

It's gotten to the point of being ridiculous. Every single time I look at a PDF document online, it downloads. Restaurant menus, bank statements, invoices, and on and on and on. Then I have to go to my Downloads folder and delete the unwanted documents. But, of course, they're still in my Recycle Bin, so I have to go into the Recycle Bin and then delete them again.

I have to believe that deleting this so-called feature isn't brain surgery, and that if Mozilla really wanted to fix it, they would have by now. And yet, despite Admin saying FOUR WEEKS AGO that Mozilla was "working on it," this nonsense continues. Perhaps someone from Chrome has infiltrated Mozilla, and implemented this so-called feature to drive more users to Chrome. There's no other rational explanation as to why it's taking so long to fix this problem.

[jscher2000]

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@SoCalScott wrote:

It's gotten to the point of being ridiculous. Every single time I look at a PDF document online, it downloads. Restaurant menus, bank statements, invoices, and on and on and on. Then I have to go to my Downloads folder and delete the unwanted documents. But, of course, they're still in my Recycle Bin, so I have to go into the Recycle Bin and then delete them again.

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It would be nice if users had a choice about where files download when you choose "Open". I don't know whether that is coming back.

I want to write a brief summary of what Firefox does with the various handling options:

(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)

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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."

[DF]

Temp is not functionally equivalent to Downloads. They serve different purposes and are used in different ways.

[SoCalScott]

Jscher2000's info is interesting, and may be useful to some, but way too much work for the average user. We shouldn't have to go through all of that just to view a PDF menu from a local restaurant without it downloading to our hard drives.

[RadRhett88_]

Yes, I'm also having the same issue. Extremely frustrating

.

[SoCalScott]

Since Mozilla doesn't want to seem to fix this issue, here's a simple fix. I've tried it, and it works.

Put "about:config" [without quotes] in your address bar and hit <enter>.

May have a warning that you have to accept ("I promise to be careful" or something)

paste browser.download.improvements_to_download_panel into the search, and double click the word true beside it to change it to false. Close the window, and that should do the trick. Then you may also need to go to your main Firefox settings, search for download and change it to "always ask where to save files" to always get the popup window.

[nvbeancounter]

Worked like a charm! FF is behaving normally again and saving to users\username\temp

Good job!

[SoCalScott]

I can report that this fix seems to be a fix. 😀 I've had it in place for several days, and though I've looked at many documents online, my "Downloads" folder remains empty. What I can't understand is why Mozilla didn't publish the fix weeks ago, when people started complaining. Bad form, Mozilla. Do better next time.

[jscher2000]

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@SoCalScott wrote:

I can report that this fix seems to be a fix.

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It's not a fix, it's a temporary roll-back preference for use by users who encounter severe issues with the new design. It probably will be removed in a month or two, if the pattern of past temporary roll-back preferences is followed. The problem with publicizing them is people stop discussing desired changes until the developers close the book on the transition, and then it may be too late. So keep giving feedback.

[SoCalScott]

I suspect that most people complaining here (as I did) don't care about anything other than this so-called "feature" going away. The information I supplied allows people to make that happen.

If Mozilla doesn't "get it" at this point, and realize this "feature" isn't being well-received, then they never will.

Speaking for myself, I'm glad I don't have to go into my Downloads folder on a regular basis and delete unwanted files, and then go to my Recycle Bin and delete them again. If you're OK with that...well, you do you.

[jscher2000]

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@SoCalScott wrote:

Speaking for myself, I'm glad I don't have to go into my Downloads folder on a regular basis and delete unwanted files, and then go to my Recycle Bin and delete them again. If you're OK with that...well, you do you.

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I use the workaround I posted earlier: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/firefox-now-saves-files-that-i-only-wanted-to-open/m-p/45...

And by the way, if you run Windows, you can use Shift+Delete in File Explorer to permanently delete files bypassing the Recycle Bin.

[SoCalScott]

<snip> I use the workaround I posted earlier: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/firefox-now-saves-files-that-i-only-wanted-to-open/m-p/45... </snip>

FAR too complicated for the average user. Not everyone has your Mozilla skills.

<snip> And by the way, if you run Windows, you can use Shift+Delete in File Explorer to permanently delete files bypassing the Recycle Bin. </snip>

More needless keystrokes and wasted time. Users should not have to delete junk on their computer because Mozilla botched an update and included this so-called "feature."

[jscher2000]

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@SoCalScott wrote:

FAR too complicated for the average user. Not everyone has your Mozilla skills.

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Well, you told me to do me, so what do you expect? But this doesn't seem that complicated:

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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:

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 But you do you.

[BobBriscoe]

The reconfig you reported was already given as the fourth response in this thread, with a link acknowledging the original source of the info, and including the warning that it could be removed by Mozilla in future.

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I suspect that most people complaining here (as I did) don't care about anything other than this so-called "feature" going away. The information I supplied allows people to make that happen

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Then it's also worth being courteous to the people at Mozilla, because you're reliant on them to fix it. Originally, they were trying to fix a problem where local copies of modifications to PDFs (e.g. forms) were being saved in the temp area, then lost. They have admitted that the solution they released caused further problems so they have provided a way to roll back and they're in the process of fixing it, presumably so we have something like the original behaviour but it also fixes the 'PDF forms problem'.

It's also worth taking care to acknowledge the work of others. Stating a fix without first reading the thread to check for repetition merely gives people more to read - they have to read all the crud to check whether they needed to read what turns out to be repetition. It's also important to link to where you got the info from, so that people can find out the full info that you haven't reported, if they want to.

[SoCalScott]

Actually, I got it from another source -- on a listserv wholly unrelated to Firefox or Mozilla. If you deserve the credit for originally posting the fix (or a link to it), then kudos to you. The bottom line is that it solves the problem.

As to being courteous to Mozilla...they broke Firefox, and they need to fix it. If they can't take a bit of heat from their users when they screw-up, then they need to get tougher. Our, we can all just say "pretty please," and wait for them to get around to it. Or switch browsers.

[criscal]

You are absolutely right, the download is temporary and it is much more efficient to work. Thanks for your contribution, it was a solution, but we need you to allow us to decide, "what we should do with each type of file", as it happened before

[jscher2000]

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@criscal wrote:

You are absolutely right, the download is temporary and it is much more efficient to work. Thanks for your contribution, it was a solution, but we need you to allow us to decide, "what we should do with each type of file", as it happened before

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For two of the changes, there will be new choices soon:

(1) Firefox 98 changed the behavior for unknown content types from "Always ask" to "Save file"

Firefox 101 (releasing this week, starting today) has a new setting to choose which one you prefer. This will be helpful with servers that do not use the proper content-type description and therefore Firefox ignores your assigned action in the Applications list on the Settings page. Look for the new setting below the Applications list.

https://support.mozilla.org/kb/change-firefox-behavior-when-open-file 

(2) Firefox 98 changed the starting download folder from the system Temp or /tmp folder to the folder listed next to "Save files to" on the Settings page.

Firefox 102 (scheduled to release June 28, 2022) will have a preference in about:config to roll this back for those who preferred the Temp folder.

[Ron69]

What a brilliant fix that was.Thank you, worked so well,but emphasis on 'was'.I read that when they released 102 this problem would be sorted permanently.

Instead it stopped the fix.Anyone know why?

[jscher2000]

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@Ron69 wrote:

What a brilliant fix that was.Thank you, worked so well,but emphasis on 'was'. I read that when they released 102 this problem would be sorted permanently.

Instead it stopped the fix.Anyone know why?

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I don't think the "browser.download.improvements_to_download_panel" preference has been removed yet in Firefox 102. It was always intended to be temporary while bugs were worked out, so it will be removed eventually.

If you turn that one back on, there are some new preferences to address various complaints related to the change:

• Downloads list pops open automatically: browser.download.alwaysOpenPanel (set to false to stop the panel opening)
• Firefox saves unknown file types instead of showing the download dialog: there is a control for this on the Settings page below the Applications box, or browser.download.always_ask_before_handling_new_types (set to true to show the dialog)
• Firefox uses the "Save files to" folder for files you choose to "Open with [relevant application]" instead of the Windows Temp or Linux /tmp folder: browser.download.start_downloads_in_tmp_dir (set to true to use the Temp folder)

What else is missing at this point?

[Ron69]

Thank you so much for your reply. You are right the browser.download.improvements_to_download_panel hasn't been removed in 102,but since I installed 102 that wonderful fix has been 'unfixed' I've still got it set to  false but everytime I open an mp4 for example it opens and saves,when it's set to open.

You know much more about this than I do,but why have Moz. done this?

[jscher2000]

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@Ron69 wrote:

... everytime I open an mp4 for example it opens and saves,when it's set to open.

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Firefox needs to save files in order to pass them to other applications. Firefox 102 now has the option to go back to using the Windows Temp (or Linux /tmp) folder for that instead of your "Save files to" folder. This thread is so long, I don't know whether I provided the details in this one yet:

(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