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Firefox downloads a file, even if I choose "Cancel".

  • 2 replies
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  • Last reply by 3CAVM

3CAVM
3CAVM
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If I click a link to a file (eg, PDF, DOC), a dialog box appears that asks me to either "Open with [some application]" or "Save File". This dialog has a "Cancel" or "OK" button. So if I choose cancel -- meaning that I do not want to download the file -- Firefox goes ahead and downloads it anyway. In fact, it seems to actually download the file as soon as I click the link, before I've even had a chance to click "Cancel" or "OK". This does not seem like the correct behavior to me. Is there a setting somewhere that can turn off this automatic downloading?

I'm using Firefox 20.0 on a Mac.

If I click a link to a file (eg, PDF, DOC), a dialog box appears that asks me to either "Open with [some application]" or "Save File". This dialog has a "Cancel" or "OK" button. So if I choose cancel -- meaning that I do not want to download the file -- Firefox goes ahead and downloads it anyway. In fact, it seems to actually download the file as soon as I click the link, before I've even had a chance to click "Cancel" or "OK". This does not seem like the correct behavior to me. Is there a setting somewhere that can turn off this automatic downloading? I'm using Firefox 20.0 on a Mac.

Chosen solution

hello, yes your observations are correct, firefox will begin to download a file immediately even when you haven't yet made a choice were to save it / how to open the file or to cancel the download. so this is the expected behaviour & this is probably done to decrease the time it takes to download the file in question. i don't think that there is any setting in firefox to change that behaviour...

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philipp
philipp
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Chosen Solution

hello, yes your observations are correct, firefox will begin to download a file immediately even when you haven't yet made a choice were to save it / how to open the file or to cancel the download. so this is the expected behaviour & this is probably done to decrease the time it takes to download the file in question. i don't think that there is any setting in firefox to change that behaviour...

3CAVM
3CAVM Question owner
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Thanks for the quick reply. It's good to know that's how it's supposed to work, even if I don't necessarily like it :)