Officially support browser.download.start_downloads_in_tmp_dir as an options in settings

[juanep97]

At some point, Firefox changed the old behavior of downloading opened files temporarily only, and now all files are saved and kept by default. This pollutes the user home directory with files that the user might not have wanted to keep. Even keeping the current behavior as default, having the option visible in preferences will help users understand the browser behavior. It has received sufficient backlash from the community to be considered.

Since it is already in about:config, not much effort would go into officially supporting it, but it would guarantee that the option does not quietly disappear. Now, users unsatisfied with this behavior need to search in the internet for a solution that is not guaranteed to exist in futures releases, when it could be another checkbox in the Files and Applications section in Preferences.

Examples of the community take and confusion over this matter:

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/705045/open-files-without-download-them-in-firefox

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/78871696/open-in-firefox-should-save-file-in-temporary-folder-bu...

https://www.askvg.com/tip-force-firefox-to-start-downloads-in-temp-folder-again/

https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/1941hi2/firefox_downloading_files_to_default_download/

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/unhide-browser-download-start-downloads-in-tmp-dir-and-add-to/i...

https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/ww0ms1/why_is_firefox_both_opening_and_downloading/

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/unhide-browser-download-start-downloads-in-tmp-dir-and-add-to/i...

and many more.

[Jon]

Thanks for submitting an idea to the Mozilla Connect community! Your idea is now open to votes (aka kudos) and comments.

[jbholx]

If you google "browser.download.start_downloads_in_tmp_dir site:connect.mozilla.org", this is currently the second hit out of several pages of this being brought up.

Storing something as a temp file when it is viewed is the sensible behavior. I do not know why this was changed. Not only do I believe that this should be added to the Settings page, I also think the old behavior should be the default. Let users select that option if they, for some reason, want every file they view to be permanently downloaded.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

To complement, this discussion.

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/how-to-view-files-from-the-web-without-saving-them-to-dis...