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open in preview saves to unfindable folder

  • 3 replies
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  • Last reply by MJ

MJ
MJ
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I am having problems printing to a pdf in firefox 118.0.2 on macOS Sonoma.

  • When I print a webpage, I do "Print using the system dialog"
  • I then select "Open in Preview", and the webpage appears as a PDF in Preview
  • However, if I then File>Save the PDF, it no longer prompts me for a folder location.
  • Instead, it saves it to a folder called "printing.983.3".
  • I don't know where this folder is located on my computer, because it doesn't show up in Finder.
  • Note that all my downloads go my Downloads folder. But not these previewed documents.

Is this preview folder a firefox setting?

thanks for your help!

I am having problems printing to a pdf in firefox 118.0.2 on macOS Sonoma. * When I print a webpage, I do "Print using the system dialog" * I then select "Open in Preview", and the webpage appears as a PDF in Preview * However, if I then File>Save the PDF, it no longer prompts me for a folder location. * Instead, it saves it to a folder called "printing.983.3". * I don't know where this folder is located on my computer, because it doesn't show up in Finder. * Note that all my downloads go my Downloads folder. But not these previewed documents. Is this preview folder a firefox setting? thanks for your help!

All Replies (3)

MJ
MJ Question owner
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Oh, i just figured out where this folder is located:

Macintosh HD/private/var/folders/gj/sb1fr3m54zz1fn1xglc_rhd80000gn/T/TemporaryItems/printing.983.1

with folder names of printing.983.1 to 983.5 and printing.1009.1 to 1009.5

So why is this happening and how do I make it just go to the Downloads folder?

zeroknight
zeroknight
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The "Save to PDF" printer in the non-system print dialog saves to the Downloads folder.

MJ
MJ Question owner
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Let me rephrase my question. Because my drive got wiped and I had to reinstall macOS, is there some setting in macOS or Firefox where I can get back to how printing to a PDF used to work for me?

Before my computer disaster, I could just Open in Preview, and after modifying the PDF, I could click Save and it would go to the Downloads folder.

But now, from "Print using the system dialog", there are still 2 ways to save to the Downloads Folder, but both of them require more steps than I like.

1. "Open in Preview" 

   - opens the pdf, and then I have to 
   - click on the file name at the top of the Preview window,
   - click on the "Where" dropdown menu 
   - scroll down to select the Downloads folder to Save it
   - I have to go through this everytime I create a PDF from firefox.

2. "Save as PDF" 

   - saves the pdf to the Downloads folder
   - then I have to go to Finder and open the pdf to edit it
   - This is the way firefox worked before, but I don't like saving before opening a file