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How to fix the PDF viewer

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  • 4 have this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by ctemerson7

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When I try to open a PDF in Firefox, it would only give me the option to save the file or open it in an external application. I made sure that the "preview in Firefox" option was selected, but it still would not work. I have already tried to uninstall and reinstall Firefox, and that did not solve the problem. Any suggestions?

When I try to open a PDF in Firefox, it would only give me the option to save the file or open it in an external application. I made sure that the "preview in Firefox" option was selected, but it still would not work. I have already tried to uninstall and reinstall Firefox, and that did not solve the problem. Any suggestions?

Chosen solution

One possible reason is that the setting is corrupted. Try the double-switch -- changing the setting to Save File and reloading the Options page and then selecting Preview in Firefox.

Some websites may instruct Firefox to save the file instead of letting you view it in a tab. There are some add-ons that can override that, such as:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/display-inline/

A third possibility is that the site isn't specifically flagging the file as a PDF and instead is sending a generic content-type. The above might solve that, or you could try my extension:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/content-type-fixer/

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Chosen Solution

One possible reason is that the setting is corrupted. Try the double-switch -- changing the setting to Save File and reloading the Options page and then selecting Preview in Firefox.

Some websites may instruct Firefox to save the file instead of letting you view it in a tab. There are some add-ons that can override that, such as:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/display-inline/

A third possibility is that the site isn't specifically flagging the file as a PDF and instead is sending a generic content-type. The above might solve that, or you could try my extension:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/content-type-fixer/

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Thank you, the double switch solved it half the time, and the add-ons solved the rest.