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Adobe Acrobat not working consistently

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Some machines I can set it to open PDF files using Adobe Acrobat in the Options | Applications section instead of Save, but some don't have an Adobe Acrobat option under Applications so those don't work with PDF files at all. Some new installs still have a Preview in Firefox setting for Adobe Acrobat so the PDF files actually open in the browser like IE and Chrome. Shouldn't all installs allow you to Preview in Firefox for Adobe Acrobat PDF files? This is very inconsistent. What options should you have and how do you fix it if you don't get all the options and/or Adobe Acrobat doesn't show up under Applications at all?

Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks,

Rex

Some machines I can set it to open PDF files using Adobe Acrobat in the Options | Applications section instead of Save, but some don't have an Adobe Acrobat option under Applications so those don't work with PDF files at all. Some new installs still have a Preview in Firefox setting for Adobe Acrobat so the PDF files actually open in the browser like IE and Chrome. Shouldn't all installs allow you to Preview in Firefox for Adobe Acrobat PDF files? This is very inconsistent. What options should you have and how do you fix it if you don't get all the options and/or Adobe Acrobat doesn't show up under Applications at all? Any thoughts or ideas? Thanks, Rex

All Replies (2)

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Files associations is handle by the O/S if this is a Windows O/S. Unless each of those computer has their own Acrobat install the browser will launch it's default pdf reader. To have Acrobat options that must be installed. And also since this is a Adobe software you also want to contact Adobe support on their software as well.

WestEnd trɔe

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Hi Rex, are you centrally managing multiple Firefox configurations? If so, a moderator can move your question to the "Firefox for Enterprise" board.

All installations of Firefox should have "Preview in Firefox" selected by default for "Portable Document Format (PDF)" files (more precisely, content-type application/pdf).

Sometimes the settings file that stores download/application handling preferences becomes corrupted. You can rename the file and have Firefox rebuild it. Here's how:

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, on the Profile Folder row, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Exit/Quit
  • (menu bar) File > Exit (or Firefox > Quit)

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename handlers.json to something like handlersOLD.json. If you see a file named mimeTypes.rdf, rename that one to mimeTypesOLD.rdf.

Start Firefox back up again. Any improvement?