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How can I force Firefox to open EPS file upon Download? Settings won't "take"

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I work in a job where I must download an EPS file and have it open in Adobe Illustrator straightaway, without dialog box. I have checked the "Do this every time" box, and set it to always open Illustrator upon download of an EPS file in the Options panel. It will not "take" my instruction, and always asks me what to do with the file when it is downloaded, every time. My coworkers say this is a "known bug" -- that's a pretty heinous bug, Mozilla.

Is there an extension or about:config tweak we can use to bypass the dialog box?

I work in a job where I must download an EPS file and have it open in Adobe Illustrator straightaway, without dialog box. I have checked the "Do this every time" box, and set it to always open Illustrator upon download of an EPS file in the Options panel. It will not "take" my instruction, and always asks me what to do with the file when it is downloaded, every time. My coworkers say this is a "known bug" -- that's a pretty heinous bug, Mozilla. Is there an extension or about:config tweak we can use to bypass the dialog box?

All Replies (20)

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Where is the coworker getting the known bug at? Site? And did you contact Adobe about file association as well since if that is Adobe format association.

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WestEnd said

Where is the coworker getting the known bug at? Site? And did you contact Adobe about file association as well since if that is Adobe format association.

? We all get this "What should Firefox do with this file?" dialog box when we try to download and open an EPS file. They tell me Mozilla is aware that the settings do not work, to instruct it to automatically open a file upon download. I have opened Options and told it to open the EPS file with Adobe Illustrator, as instructed... it is supposed to work but it does NOT, that is the "bug." Of course Adobe has nothing to do with this, since it's Mozilla Firefox that is supposed to hand off the file to open automatically (it opens in Illustrator just fine after I hit OK on this dialog box). P.S. It worked before the Quantum update. P.S.S. I do NOT want to have to go back to using Chrome! :(

Modified by seattlespayne

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Could you find out the content-type the server is indicating for that file? The way to do this is a little bit obscure, but here goes.

First, open Firefox's Network Monitor in the lower part of the tab where you are clicking the link. Either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Web Developer > Network
  • (menu bar) Tools > Web Developer > Network
  • (Windows) Ctrl+Shift+e

Whenever you trigger a request in that tab, Firefox will log it in the Network Monitor.

Click the button to download the EPS file and Firefox should start downloading it to the TEMP folder in the background. You can cancel at that point.

Click the request line in the Network Monitor and Firefox should open a panel on the right side with details. One of the sections of that panel is called Headers; that might be displayed automatically the first time.

In the Headers panel, find "Response Headers" -- response is what the server sent back -- and look for a line starting with Content-Type and see what it lists.

In order for Firefox to handle this download automatically every time, it needs to be something unique to the files, and not something generic like "application/octet-stream" that sites use for a wide variety of different types of binary files.

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It says this:

content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

Modified by seattlespayne

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It worked for one download and is now back to doing this popup message.

I'm not sure what to do now.

Firefox also does not allow me to set a destination folder for the downloads, they all go to Temp folder when I have told it to put them in Downloads folder.

Modified by seattlespayne

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seattlespayne said

It says this: content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

That doesn't seem right. A JSON file is a data structure meant to be used by a script. An EPS file should have a content-type more like application/eps, image/eps, application/x-eps, or image/x-eps.

Or maybe a script in the page is reading that JSON data file and constructing an EPS download out of it locally? In that situation, I think Firefox will always display a download dialog because of limits imposed on how scripts work with files.

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Is a new tab opening for the download? Unfortunately, the Network Monitor is limited to showing information for the current tab, so if you are getting the download in a new tab, I'll have to mention a different way to view the content type.

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These are files that exist on a remote server, I have no idea how the programmers get them to us. I'm not sure why this worked correctly with my work for 10 years, and as soon as the Quantum update happened, it started doing this.

Okay... I'll go back to Chrome. :(

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jscher2000 said

Is a new tab opening for the download? Unfortunately, the Network Monitor is limited to showing information for the current tab, so if you are getting the download in a new tab, I'll have to mention a different way to view the content type.

Yes it opens a new tab when it downloads the file. The tab disappears as soon as the download finishes (instantaneously), then the dialog box pops up.

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seattlespayne said

jscher2000 said
Is a new tab opening for the download? Unfortunately, the Network Monitor is limited to showing information for the current tab, so if you are getting the download in a new tab, I'll have to mention a different way to view the content type.

Yes it opens a new tab when it downloads the file. The tab disappears as soon as the download finishes (instantaneously), then the dialog box pops up.

Maybe it's easier to use Chrome, but if you have another two minutes...

You can open the Browser Console window using either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Web Developer > Browser Console
  • (menu bar) Tools > Web Developer > Browser Console
  • (Windows) Ctrl+Shift+j

Click the trash can icon at the upper left to clear the window, then click the funnel icon to display a row of different types of stuff the console can show. Click the right-most two buttons for XHR and Requests.

Leaving this window open, switch back to the page and click the download button again. After letting Firefox start the download, you can cancel the URL or the little triangle at the left end to view the headers. Any new information on the Content-Type for the file?

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jscher2000 said

Leaving this window open, switch back to the page and click the download button again. After letting Firefox start the download, you can cancel the URL or the little triangle at the left end to view the headers. Any new information on the Content-Type for the file?

Thanks so much for your time. I am confused by your wording. I started the download, then "you can cancel the URL or the little triangle at the left end to view the headers."

I clicked the XHR to filter but many, many files came up still so I have no idea which one to ask for the content type on. The very top one (which looks to be an URL) says "Content-Type text/plain;charset=UTF-8". One says "Content-Type application/json; charset=utf-8."

Again this is not done on the tab that pops out when the download is occurring.

I apologize for being dense, this is out in the weeds for me. ;)

Modified by seattlespayne

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seattlespayne said

I am confused by your wording. I started the download, then "you can cancel the URL or the little triangle at the left end to view the headers."

Sorry, you can click the URL.

Try cleaning up again, set XHR and Requests to show, and click the garbage can to clear the list. Then try the download again. The goal is to isolate the request for the EPS file so you can inspect that one's headers. I suppose you have a reasonable idea of its file name.

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When I click the garbage can to clear the list, before I try the download, then I click the download button, no activity registers on the Network list (see image below). The tab pops out to signify that the EPS file is going to download, the download happens (after I click OK because it doesn't automatically do it like it says it should), but nothing occurs in this window. I need a way to get the headers on the actual EPS file download but the tab disappears instantly (although occasionally I will get an Internal Server Error and it stays out -- perhaps I need to wait until I get one!).

When I look at the list without clearing it, there are no EPS files in the list, only text and gifs that appear on the page.

Suppose I find out what the content type is, what is the next step? Thanks again!

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seattlespayne said

When I click the garbage can to clear the list, before I try the download, then I click the download button, no activity registers on the Network list (see image below).

Yes, you need to use the Browser Console window because of the new tab problem.

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FFus3r said

try this addon:

Does not work because it requires a right-click on an image, whereas I need to click a little icon to download the EPS file. Thanks anyway!

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jscher2000 said

Yes, you need to use the Browser Console window because of the new tab problem.

Console? I'm sorry but I had clicked on Network (I don't recall you saying to use the Console tab). That shows no activity either after I click on the garbage can and try to download a file. I just need to figure out the content type... then what does one do, tell Firefox to open whatever file type it is, with Illustrator?

Modified by seattlespayne

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Sorry not the tab-specific Console, this one:

jscher2000 said

You can open the Browser Console window using either:
  • "3-bar" menu button > Web Developer > Browser Console
  • (menu bar) Tools > Web Developer > Browser Console
  • (Windows) Ctrl+Shift+j
Click the trash can icon at the upper left to clear the window, then click the funnel icon to display a row of different types of stuff the console can show. Click the right-most two buttons for XHR and Requests.

Leaving this window open, switch back to the page and click the download button again. After letting Firefox start the download, you can cancel click the URL or the little triangle at the left end to view the headers. Any new information on the Content-Type for the file?

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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If you can't open the file automatically then this usually means that the server doesn't send the file with a valid content type. An automatic action only works properly is there is a action present in "Options/Preferences -> General -> Applications" and stored in handlers.json

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if firefox won't save your preferences, see this page:

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