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FireFox 33 is not rendering a pdf to be printed. It worked in version 29 and on other browsers. How do you fix this?

  • 15 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cbwilson

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I have some screen shots of the "Failed" pdf file. The pdf renders and we are able to print from other browsers. I have tried resetting FireFox, tried running in safe mode. I am at my wits end. I don't see a way to attache a Word doc here.

I have some screen shots of the "Failed" pdf file. The pdf renders and we are able to print from other browsers. I have tried resetting FireFox, tried running in safe mode. I am at my wits end. I don't see a way to attache a Word doc here.

All Replies (15)

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hello, the firefox pdf viewer is still somewhat experimental and under very active development - you could try if the same error is occurring in the current development version, which you can download as an addon from http://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/extensions/firefox/pdf.js.xpi

in case it has the the same rendering/printing problems, you could then file a bug report at https://github.com/mozilla/pdf.js/issues (a github account is necessary for it though) - please also provide a sample document where the error is apparent!

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Is this your own PDF and if so, can you provide a link to it?

(If this has anything to do with seeing a "Please wait..." message when trying to print shipping labels on a popular website, that problem is discussed in this thread: Error Printing Shipping Labels -- not yet solved.)

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I will try the .xpi.

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The .pdf is generated from a VB .Net web application. It isn't saved anywhere, but is viewed and printed. It has worked in other version of FireFox and currently only other browsers.

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Is the problem only with Firefox's built-in PDF viewer, or does it also occur if you change your viewer to the Adobe Acrobat plugin? This article has the steps for that: View PDF files using Firefox’s built-in viewer.


Does the same problem occur on other computers? If it's specific to one computer, you may want to clear the file that stores content-type/download associations in case it has become corrupted. Here are the steps for that:

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button to launch a file viewer window.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
  • (menu bar) File > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename mimeTypes.rdf to something like mimeTypes.old

Start Firefox back up again. Download handling will be back to its default settings. Any difference?

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No success with testing the pdf.js.xpi.

I have tried several choices including the Adobe Acrobat Plugin without any success.

This is happing to users all over the state that were using FireFox.

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Could you look for error messages in the Browser Console (Ctrl+Shift+j). I suggest opening the console and clicking the Clear button. Then switch over to your link or button to initiate the PDF generation process and click that, then switch back to the console and watch for any error messages.

It also should log the pages and other resources loaded, which you can compare with other browsers to see if something is failing to load (for example, a timed or event-driven redirect).

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This is the message that was returned: TypeError: window.createPopup is not a function Help.js:5.

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Hi cbwilson, window.createPopup is a proprietary method of older versions of IE. Maybe your script redefines it for Firefox, but the redefinition no longer works in Firefox 33 for some reason?

You originally mentioned Firefox 29. Is that the last version in which this page worked, or did it just start failing in Firefox 33? This is going to sound silly, but... some older scripts may only check the first digit of the version number, so if this problem started with Firefox 30, it might be due to some code that functions differently when encountering version 3.

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It is possible we may have to make some code changes, but what is the method that should be used for FireFox?

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I didn't know to use the Browser Console. Thank you very much for the help with this.

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Edit: Sorry, this is a repeat: You can open the Browser Console by pressing Ctrl+Shift+j. It will start filling with messages. Along the top there are several buttons. Click the Clear button. Leave that window open, switch over to the page you want to study, and take the action that usually causes a problem. Then switch back over to the Browser Console window to see what has appeared.

Also, does the download arrow on the toolbar show anything? Some users are encountering errors with downloads in Firefox 33 due to a new test for corrupted downloads. Please see this thread for more information on this change: Our clients are having trouble downloading a text (.txt) file from our site on version 33.0.

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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So, what method does work for FireFox? is it one of the Add-on, Plugins under Applications for a PDF?

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I have no idea why your code wants to create a popup window or an in-document popup, so I don't know what to suggest as a replacement or if that is even relevant to the problem.

If you can provide a link to the script, or a demo that shows the same problem, that would be helpful.

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Attached are screen images of it working in IE. Instead of the image being diplayed under FireFox, the boxed in image area is empty, all white background.