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Config to automatically save pdf (or other mime types)

1998marcom
1998marcom
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I would like to use firefox to download several pdfs using selenium. To do so, I need to make firefox save pdfs automatically, without asking for confirmation. I duckduckgo-ed the issue (1, 2, 3, 4), but couldn't find an up-to-date working solution.

I tried to initialize a firefox profile and set the following prefs: ``` "browser.download.dir": dir, "browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk": "application/pdf", "browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting": False, "browser.download.folderList": 2, ```

But firefox seems to ignore those and wants to display the pdf internally. If I force `"pdfjs.disabled": true`, I get again the download manager pop up. I can edit the preference in "about:preferences" to make firefox automatically download pdfs ([https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/.../change-firefox-behavior-when-open-file]), but I cannot find a way to script this.

So, which are the about:configs to make firefox automatically download pdfs?

I would like to use firefox to download several pdfs using selenium. To do so, I need to make firefox save pdfs automatically, without asking for confirmation. I duckduckgo-ed the issue ([https://yizeng.me/2014/05/23/download-pdf-files-automatically-in-firefox-using-selenium-webdriver/ 1], [https://intellipaat.com/community/12473/downloading-file-to-specified-location-with-selenium-and-python/ 2], [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46435978/downloading-pdf-with-selenium-webdriver-for-firefox/ 3], [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/36309314/set-firefox-profile-to-download-files-automatically-using-selenium-and-java 4]), but couldn't find an up-to-date working solution. I tried to initialize a firefox profile and set the following prefs: ``` "browser.download.dir": dir, "browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk": "application/pdf", "browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting": False, "browser.download.folderList": 2, ``` But firefox seems to ignore those and wants to display the pdf internally. If I force `"pdfjs.disabled": true`, I get again the download manager pop up. I can edit the preference in "about:preferences" to make firefox automatically download pdfs ([[https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/change-firefox-behavior-when-open-file|https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/change-firefox-behavior-when-open-file]]), but I cannot find a way to script this. So, which are the about:configs to make firefox automatically download pdfs?

All Replies (1)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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Does selenium use a predefined profile?

The setting to always save files served with the Content-Type "application/pdf" is stored in the handlers.json file. This file appears to override the legacy neverAsk preferences based on a quick glance at the source code.

Note: If you do not control the server from which you are opening PDFs, one potential problem would be if the server uses a different Content-Type. Some servers send the generic "application/octet-stream" while others may improvise. Firefox will give you the dialog for unknown binary content types.