Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Why can't Firefox open a .pdf sometimes?

  • 1 reply
  • 2 have this problem
  • 11 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

GilDawson
GilDawson
more options

Sometimes Firefox 45.0 on my MacBook Pro running 10.11.3 will open a .pdf file in a new tab. Sometimes it will instead offer to save it.

The .pdf I'm trying to look at right now is my monthly statement from PayPal. Firefox wants to save it.

I looked in Preferences -> Applications and scrolled down to find *two* entries (See screenshot.), both with pop-up Action menus. The bottom entry looks good with the Action Pop-Up set the "Preview in Firefox".

The top entry Action Pop-up does not have a selection for "Preview in Firefox", so I selected "Use other..." and navigated to Applications -> Firefox -> Firefox.app. This did not seem to help. When I clicked away it reverted to "Use Preview".

Are there two kinds of .pdf files, one that Firefox can view and not the other?

--Gil

Sometimes Firefox 45.0 on my MacBook Pro running 10.11.3 will open a .pdf file in a new tab. Sometimes it will instead offer to save it. The .pdf I'm trying to look at right now is my monthly statement from PayPal. Firefox wants to save it. I looked in Preferences -> Applications and scrolled down to find *two* entries (See screenshot.), both with pop-up Action menus. The bottom entry looks good with the Action Pop-Up set the "Preview in Firefox". The top entry Action Pop-up does not have a selection for "Preview in Firefox", so I selected "Use other..." and navigated to Applications -> Firefox -> Firefox.app. This did not seem to help. When I clicked away it reverted to "Use Preview". Are there two kinds of .pdf files, one that Firefox can view and not the other? --Gil
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

The built-in Firefox PDF Viewer only supports the content type application/pdf. If the server sends the file with a different content type or as content disposition then Firefox will only offer to save the file.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (1)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Chosen Solution

The built-in Firefox PDF Viewer only supports the content type application/pdf. If the server sends the file with a different content type or as content disposition then Firefox will only offer to save the file.