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.

How to vary behavior when handling PDFs: download some, show others

  • 2 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • 10 views
  • Last reply by zeroknight

Tbw
Tbw
more options

When Content Type PDF is set to Open in Firefox in Settings, some hyperlinks (see 'Download PDF' on https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.00923) will navigate to the hosted PDF without downloading to my computer. Others (see 'Download PDF' on https://www.overleaf.com/project/65c142c6d78ec5a8a34636b0) will download to my device then open the downloaded file in browser. (I am also interested in what causes this distinction in the first place.)

When it is set to Save File, both types of links will download to my device without opening.

In my experience with other browsers, the behavior is similar to the first case, but downloaded files are not opened upon finishing downloading, only doing so if the file is clicked on in the download menu during or after downloading. Is there any way to replicate this behavior?

When Content Type PDF is set to Open in Firefox in Settings, some hyperlinks (see 'Download PDF' on https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.00923) will navigate to the hosted PDF without downloading to my computer. Others (see 'Download PDF' on https://www.overleaf.com/project/65c142c6d78ec5a8a34636b0) will download to my device then open the downloaded file in browser. (I am also interested in what causes this distinction in the first place.) When it is set to Save File, both types of links will download to my device without opening. In my experience with other browsers, the behavior is similar to the first case, but downloaded files are not opened upon finishing downloading, only doing so if the file is clicked on in the download menu during or after downloading. Is there any way to replicate this behavior?

Chosen solution

Files can be "inline" (open) or "attachment" (download) according to Content-Disposition. You can make attachment PDFs save without opening by changing browser.download.force_save_internally_handled_attachments to true in about:config.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (2)

Tbw
Tbw Question owner
more options

Apologies, the Overleaf link above will not work. Here is a new one https://www.overleaf.com/read/qkccsbnthvgb#a06e10

zeroknight
zeroknight
more options

Chosen Solution

Files can be "inline" (open) or "attachment" (download) according to Content-Disposition. You can make attachment PDFs save without opening by changing browser.download.force_save_internally_handled_attachments to true in about:config.