This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

PDF viewer in tab

  • 5 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

moz_spt
moz_spt
more options

When I go to a web page which is a PDF, the web page used to load as a PDF. Now there are 2 tabs, one is blank and has an address which refers to the PDF location, and the other is a PDF saved to the Temp folder (eg. file:///C:/Users/USER/AppData/Local/Temp/some_PDF.pdf)

My preference is: www.some_website/some_PDF.pdf

This is because I save the tabs, and the next time I use Firefox, the temporary PDF is not loaded anymore. As well, I prefer 1 tab instead of 2.

Where is the setting to adjust?

When I go to a web page which is a PDF, the web page used to load as a PDF. Now there are 2 tabs, one is blank and has an address which refers to the PDF location, and the other is a PDF saved to the Temp folder (eg. file:///C:/Users/USER/AppData/Local/Temp/some_PDF.pdf) My preference is: www.some_website/some_PDF.pdf This is because I save the tabs, and the next time I use Firefox, the temporary PDF is not loaded anymore. As well, I prefer 1 tab instead of 2. Where is the setting to adjust?

Chosen solution

Unfortunately, no, with Always Ask the file will be treated as a downloaded rather than as a type of web content. If you use Open in Firefox, then you can download afterwards using the PDF Viewer's download button.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (5)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Hi, you should be able to fix this by changing the setting on the Options page: View PDF files using Firefox’s built-in viewer. Does yours have this option:

moz_spt
moz_spt Question owner
more options

Thanks for advising. I should have mentioned that I have the setting on "Always ask" as I also save to the hard drive. So if the choice is to open in Firefox, is the issue above able to be solved.

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Chosen Solution

Unfortunately, no, with Always Ask the file will be treated as a downloaded rather than as a type of web content. If you use Open in Firefox, then you can download afterwards using the PDF Viewer's download button.

moz_spt
moz_spt Question owner
more options

No worries, thanks for advising.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

You get the "Open in Firefox" choice if the server sends the file as a generic content-type like "application/octet-stream" or as "content-disposition:attachment". In this case the file is downloaded to the temp folder and opened in Firefox with a file:// URI located in the temp folder. You would have to save/bookmark the original link that you should get in the download manager (Library) via the right-click context menu of this item (Copy Download Link).