I just want to open a .pdf file online . . . but Firefox insists on downloading it!
OS: Mac OS 10.14.5 Firefox Version: 113.0.2
Settings gives me multiple options for handling a .pdf file. The first three are (1) Open in Firefox; (2) Always ask; and (3) Save File.
If I select "Open in Firefox," the file will open in my existing window. If I select "Save File," the file downloads to my desktop.
The problem arises when I select "Always ask." If I then select "Open in Firefox," the file opens (in a new tab!) and simultaneously downloads to my desktop!
Is this a system glitch, or am I somehow doing something wrong?
Wšykne wótegrona (5)
You can set browser.download.start_downloads_in_tmp_dir = true on the about:config page to make Firefox use the OS temp folder for downloads you open in an external application.
You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. On the warning page, you can click "Accept the Risk and Continue" to open about:config.
nhcowboy1 said
OS: Mac OS 10.14.5
Just a heads up. Since you use the old macOS 10.14.5 the most current version of Firefox you will be able to use will be Fx 115.0 ESR as 116.0 and later will require macOS 10.15 (ten.fifteen) at minimum to run. Firefox 115 is to be released on July 4th.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-users-macos-1012-1013-1014-moving-to-extended-support
cor-el wrote: "You can set browser.download.start_downloads_in_tmp_dir = true on the about:config page to make Firefox use the OS temp folder for downloads you open in an external application."
I have no idea what this means.
To be clear, some of the .pdf files I access need to be downloaded to my desktop (and nowhere else). Others I do NOT want to download - to my desktop or anywhere else that'll take up space on my hard drive.
All I want is for Firefox to do what I ASK when that's what it's set to! And I'm apparently not the first person to post about this issue . . . but I've yet to see a resolution.
James - Thanks for the heads up!
You get the about:config page by entering about:config in the address bar. Having done that (and accepted the warning), search for the preference mentioned.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/about-config-editor-firefox
Firefox needs to download a file to be able to open this file for viewing. Currently Firefox downloads such a file always to the default download location (in your case the desktop) whereas previously Firefox saved the file to the OS temp folder in case you aren't downloading and saving the file. The browser.download.start_downloads_in_tmp_dir pref I mentioned above reverts this change and saves the file to the OS temp folder.