Current Firefox versions have enabled a built-in PDF Viewer that doesn't have all features that other PDF readers like the Adobe Reader have or may not function properly otherwise.

You can change the action for Portable Document Format (PDF) from Preview in Firefox to use another application like the Adobe Reader or set to Always Ask in "Firefox > Options/Preferences > Applications".

You can set the pdfjs.disabled pref to true on the about:config page to disable the build-in PDF viewer.

You can check the value of the plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types pref on the about:config page and remove the application/pdf part if present or reset the pref to the default via the right-click context menu.

See also:

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/view-pdf-files-firefox-without-downloading-them

It's more convenient if the PDF is in Firefox (easier to save State documents and confirmations, otherwise I have to print them out then scan and save them).

I did try to change the pdf to "true" by doing the Toggle and all of that but it hasn't changed anything.

I tried resetting my preferences, tried to change the pdf setting to "true" and I tried ensuring the updates were all installed.

Hello,

In order to change the default reader for PDF files (to not open PDF files with Firefox's internal PDF reader but with Adobe's), follow these steps:

1. Go to Tools > Options (or Firefox > Options).
2. In the Options window, select the Applications tab.
3. In the Search field, type PDF. You should find Portable Document Format (PDF).
4. On the right handside you should find an Action column. Use that to change it to Adobe Reader

If you are using the Download button (Firefox PDF viewer) or the Save button (Adobe Acrobat plugin) then you should be getting the PDF in the same format you could download it directly without first previewing it in a Firefox tab.

Is the statement displayed full page or is it embedded in another page? It may be a little trickier to save an embedded PDF.

The document will save to a PDF format but when I open it, the background colors show. The words, numbers, etc do not show up.

This only happens with certain websites like comcast, DirecTV, Verizon, etc. If I use a State or IRS Website, my documents save and open just fine.

Hi AnimeLady04, could you clarify something:

• How are you viewing the PDF after saving it -- in the Adobe Reader (stand-alone) software, or another external viewer? Or in a Firefox tab?

• On the problem sites, are you saving a PDF from a PDF viewer, or are you using an add-on to convert a web page to PDF format?

I save it as PDF and it opens in Adobe Reader

I have tried to "Save As" but normally when I save a document like this, I save it through my scanner (which I have also tried and it does not work).

I have also tried to download the document and open it outside of Firefox THEN save it but I still have the same problem.

On the problem site - I have tried to view the document insource (on the website) and I have downloaded it off of the website (the document is actually in my Downloads) and again, still the same issue.

I guess I'm still not completely clear on how you're saving the file.

In my example, there are buttons on each of viewers to save the PDF. Are you using one of those buttons? If not, can you find and use those?

If you are viewing a web page that isn't already a PDF, then the two viewers in my example won't be used. In that case, how are you saving as a PDF? Is it through a toolbar button or added menu item? (Windows versions of Firefox can't save a web page as PDF without added software.)

Ok there are three ways I attempt it.

1) When the document downloads, I open the document in Adobe Reader (outside of Firefox) then I "save as" but I still have the same problem (numbers and letters won't show up). I normally will go to "Print" and my scanner is listed (like a printer would be) and I save it on a network using that way. This also does not work (numbers and letters will not show up).

2) I open it in Firefox and like your example, I have the buttons at the bottom. I try to "save as" and also "print" like I would if it was in Adobe Reader (like option 1) but my problem still exists.

3) In Firefox, I go to File - Print - and using my Scanner as the "printer" try to save it to PDF but my problem still exists.

Normally- I can use the buttons at the bottom or in Firefox, go to Print and using my scanner as the "printer" save the document.....this is the usual route I use to save documents. But this is not working for certain websites. The only websites that now work are State or Federal websites. This changed after the update Firefox recently did.

You may have a problem with a missing or corrupted font if the text isn't visible.

You can try to do a font test to see if you can identify corrupted font(s).

• http://browserspy.dk/fonts-flash.php?detail=1

I clicked on the link but it said I had 354 fonts installed. If I had corrupted fonts, wouldn't Adobe or Firefox give me an error? Because I never get an error code or anything. The font and numbers just don't show up.

A PDF should look at least as good in Adobe Reader as it does in the browser -- often better. I think most of the problems are with ordinary web pages that you are converting to PDF using the print-to-PDF process.

If you try Print Preview on these pages, you may be able to determine before printing that Firefox is not handling them well. In that case, I recommend the Print Pages to PDF extension. It captures the page as it appears on screen, so it works around Firefox's printing limitations.

Please note: due to changes in Firefox 22, the main page won't let you install that extension. However, the update is available on the "versions" page now.

Okay I tried that and still not working. I still have the same problem.

I tried going to File - Print Preview But that just shows a complete blank paper with the date at the bottom.

If Print Preview is blank, then Print isn't going to work well, whether you print to a regular (paper) printer or a PDF printer.

Firefox can't always print every page correctly. In those cases, the extension I recommended usually does a good job capturing it.

I tried the extension - still didn't work.

However, I forgot to add in my last post that after I installed your extension, when I try to open the PDF (After saving it) I now get an error instead of the PDF just opening and the pages are blank.

I attached two images. The first one is now what I am getting. The second image is what I usually had (no errors just a blank page).

again, this CANNOT be a corrupted PDF because this happens to MULTIPLE PDF's that I try to save. This example is from the comcast website but this happens with all websites that are not state or federal (example: Verizon, Comcast, DirecTV, T Mobile, so on - I have tried saving PDF's with all of these websites).

Hi AnimeLady04, thank you for posting the error message.

This apparently is a problem that occurs with many different PDFs. I found various support threads with suggestions for how to avoid corrupting PDFs, but the only suggestion for end users was to use a different viewer, e.g., Adobe Community: How to fix error "Cannot extract the embedded font ...."?, which suggests using Foxit Reader instead of Adobe Reader.

For Comcast in particular, their online help page indicates that the statements are already in PDF format when you view them. If that's true, it would explain why a conversion tool corrupts them, because the conversion tools are designed to work on ordinary web pages, not PDFs displayed in the browser.

If using the Firefox PDF viewer download button, or the Adobe Acrobat plugin save button, does not work, can you right-click the link to the statement and use Save Link As to save their PDF?

But even if I do "Save As" (per your images) I still have the same problem. That's what I tried first. I tried going to the PDF and clicking on Save As. I also tried using it from the print view - that doesn't work.

But I will try the link and see how that works.

It's a font issue.

I had exactly the same issue and found that I had somehow disabled Times New Roman, which caused pdf pages to display with no writing on them.

On a mac I went into Font Book and toggled the disabled fonts back on.

If you don't know the font, try and open the pdf in Acrobat and look at Documents/Properties/Fonts

Let me know if this worked

The latest stable version of the built-in PDF viewer is available as an extension and this version can possibly perform better than the version shipped with the current Firefox release.

You can find the latest stable version of the PDF Viewer (pdfjs) extension here:

• PDF Viewer: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/pdfjs/

You can also try out the latest development version of the PDF Viewer (pdfjs) extension for Firefox:

• http://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/extensions/firefox/pdf.js.xpi