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.

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

Firefox hangs while opening PDFs. Correct it ASAP

more options

While accessing PDF links Firefox and system both hangs many times and firefox is not able to display PDFs. Please check why Firefox is unable to display PDFs

While accessing PDF links Firefox and system both hangs many times and firefox is not able to display PDFs. Please check why Firefox is unable to display PDFs

Chosen solution

Which plugin version are you using for PDFs? For example, this is what I see:

orange Firefox button or classic Tools menu > Add-ons > Plugins category

Adobe Acrobat 10.1.4.38

If the problem occurs on some particular websites, could you provide a URL or describe any reason those might be different from other PDFs?

If the problem occurs for all PDFs, could you test those sites in Safe Mode? That's a standard diagnostic to bypass interference by extensions (and some custom settings).

First, I recommend backing up your Firefox settings in case something goes wrong. See Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles. (You can copy your entire Firefox profile folder somewhere outside of the Mozilla folder.)

Next, restart Firefox in Firefox's Safe Mode (Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode) using

Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

In the dialog, click "Start in Safe Mode."

If PDFs works normally, this points to one of your extensions or custom settings as the problem.

Any difference?

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (2)

more options

Hi,

Please also try to Disable Adobe PDF in Firefox Tools (Alt + T) > Add-ons > Plugins, and instead right-click and Toggle to false the key pdfjs.disabled in about:config to enable the built-in PDF viewer.

  1. In the Location bar, type about:config and press Enter. The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear.
  2. Click I'll be careful, I promise!, to continue to the about:config page.

about:config Entries

The Config Descriptions add-on adds helpful source comments in about:config.

Viewing PDF

Using extensions

Modified by dumdidadida

more options

Chosen Solution

Which plugin version are you using for PDFs? For example, this is what I see:

orange Firefox button or classic Tools menu > Add-ons > Plugins category

Adobe Acrobat 10.1.4.38

If the problem occurs on some particular websites, could you provide a URL or describe any reason those might be different from other PDFs?

If the problem occurs for all PDFs, could you test those sites in Safe Mode? That's a standard diagnostic to bypass interference by extensions (and some custom settings).

First, I recommend backing up your Firefox settings in case something goes wrong. See Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles. (You can copy your entire Firefox profile folder somewhere outside of the Mozilla folder.)

Next, restart Firefox in Firefox's Safe Mode (Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode) using

Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

In the dialog, click "Start in Safe Mode."

If PDFs works normally, this points to one of your extensions or custom settings as the problem.

Any difference?