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Make PDF behaviour in firefox consistent

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by pg_78

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PDF behaviour is pretty arbitrary.

In my settings I have 'Always Ask' for PDFs and 'Always ask' for Downloads: where to save files.

And yet - if I export a file from Google Docs as PDF (an action which I would expect to trigger an 'always ask' even if that were not the setting I had already set) - it does not ask; it just downloads to my home directory (which is not a directory specified anywhere as a preference for where to download to).

I am aware that this is probably Google's being creepy and exploiting some setting or lack of setting, but firefox should protect me against this and when multiple settings are set to 'always ask', firefox should, y'know, maybe ... ask.

Seriously - why is firefox making it the user's job to work out what weird exceptions to an explicit policy should be dealt with as a separate case? If the download and save routines are activated then, if the settings are set to 'ask' - it should [profanity] ASK.

Zero tolerance for profanity even if censored. Profanity removed

PDF behaviour is pretty arbitrary. In my settings I have 'Always Ask' for PDFs and 'Always ask' for Downloads: where to save files. And yet - if I export a file from Google Docs as PDF (an action which I would expect to trigger an 'always ask' even if that were not the setting I had already set) - it does not ask; it just downloads to my home directory (which is not a directory specified anywhere as a preference for where to download to). I am aware that this is probably Google's being creepy and exploiting some setting or lack of setting, but firefox should protect me against this and when multiple settings are set to 'always ask', firefox should, y'know, maybe ... ask. Seriously - why is firefox making it the user's job to work out what weird exceptions to an explicit policy should be dealt with as a separate case? If the download and save routines are activated then, if the settings are set to 'ask' - it should [profanity] ASK. ''Zero tolerance for profanity even if censored. Profanity removed''

Modified by Andrew

All Replies (4)

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Try downloading another copy of Firefox, run it from the folder and see if you have the same issue. https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/#product-desktop-release

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I opened a sample file from Google Docs in Nightly, saved it as a pdf. see screenshot Just curious... what OS?

Modified by jonzn4SUSE

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In Google Docs, when I use

File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf)

with your configuration of "Always ask" for PDFs, I also get the old Download dialog.

In case your Applications list is out of sync with some underlying data, have you tried changing that setting among the various options and then back to "Always ask"?

That is on Windows 10, in case it matters.

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This could be related to the issue I have. See the steps here to reproduce: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1372691

Modified by pg_78