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

I am no longer able to open or download most PDFs from web pages. I have the pop-up blocker turned off in Preferences.

  • 1 reply
  • 6 have this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by philipp

more options

In recent months I have found that I am unable to download or open PDF documents from web pages. Download links either open a blank page in a new tab or do nothing. PDFs that I am unable to view in Firefox can be viewed and/or downloaded in Safari most of the time and Chrome all of the time so I assume the problem is not my computer or operating system. I recently turned off the pop-up blocker but that did not make a difference. The problem has worsened over the past couple months, it appears that more and more web sites are moving to a different protocol for viewing/downloading PDFs. It used to happen occasionally but now I find that I am unable to view a majority - about 75% - of PDFs. I am using Firefox v18 for Mac with Mac OS X 10.6.8.

In recent months I have found that I am unable to download or open PDF documents from web pages. Download links either open a blank page in a new tab or do nothing. PDFs that I am unable to view in Firefox can be viewed and/or downloaded in Safari most of the time and Chrome all of the time so I assume the problem is not my computer or operating system. I recently turned off the pop-up blocker but that did not make a difference. The problem has worsened over the past couple months, it appears that more and more web sites are moving to a different protocol for viewing/downloading PDFs. It used to happen occasionally but now I find that I am unable to view a majority - about 75% - of PDFs. I am using Firefox v18 for Mac with Mac OS X 10.6.8.

All Replies (1)

more options

hello ahegarty, you could try using the PDF Viewer addon, for more details also see PDF files are blank or cause an error message on Mac.