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No longer able to download pdf files from websites.

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  • 25 have this problem
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  • Last reply by Carp

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I am running Firefox 11.0 & Aurora on a Mac with OS X 10.6.8. I used to be able to download pdf files, such as my bank staements, direct from websites with no problem on either browser. Recently, when clicking on the link, the dialog box asking whether I want to save it or open it no longer appears and nothing else happens. Can't download. My wife has the same problem with a new Mac with OS x 10.7 Lion. I am also running an older version of Firefox 3.6.28 on a Mac with PPC processor & OS X 10.5.8. With this I have no problems downloading the pdf files I want. I have compared the Firefox preferences between the two machines and made them the same. Also found the Unable to download or save files link on Firefox Help and I have Reset the browser.download configs as it suggested. And nothing has changed. What to do? Anybody out there can help me? Thanks in advance.

I am running Firefox 11.0 & Aurora on a Mac with OS X 10.6.8. I used to be able to download pdf files, such as my bank staements, direct from websites with no problem on either browser. Recently, when clicking on the link, the dialog box asking whether I want to save it or open it no longer appears and nothing else happens. Can't download. My wife has the same problem with a new Mac with OS x 10.7 Lion. I am also running an older version of Firefox 3.6.28 on a Mac with PPC processor & OS X 10.5.8. With this I have no problems downloading the pdf files I want. I have compared the Firefox preferences between the two machines and made them the same. Also found the ''Unable to download or save files'' link on Firefox Help and I have Reset the browser.download configs as it suggested. And nothing has changed. What to do? Anybody out there can help me? Thanks in advance.

Chosen solution

There have been problems reported with the latest Adobe Reader update on Mac.

See [/questions/925119]

You can disable the Adobe Reader plugin in Firefox and use the Adobe Reader program or Preview instead.

  • Firefox > Preferences > Applications > Adobe PDF document : Use Adobe Reader
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Seçilmiş Həll

There have been problems reported with the latest Adobe Reader update on Mac.

See [/questions/925119]

You can disable the Adobe Reader plugin in Firefox and use the Adobe Reader program or Preview instead.

  • Firefox > Preferences > Applications > Adobe PDF document : Use Adobe Reader
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Thank you cor-el. I followed your link and fixed it. Great stuff.

For others, what I did was: Go to Firefox > Preferences > Applications. Under the column 'Content Type' I found 'Adobe PDF Document' and clicked on it to highlight it. This creates a dropdown menu in the 'Action' column. I chose 'Use Adobe Reader (default)' instead of 'Use Adobe Acrobat NPAPI Plug-in, version 10.1.3 (in Firefox)' Problem solved....yay!

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I tried this solution but it didn't correct the problem. Anything else to try? Appreciatively,

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Okay, I think I fixed it by going to Add-ons Manager and disabling Adobe Acrobat NPAPI plug-in, version 10.1.3. Now I'm back to downloading PDFs, then opening or saving.