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Do not see "What should Firefox do with this file?" prompt" when downloading information

billstinson1967
billstinson1967
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Hello:

Until recently, whenever I downloaded information from a web site I perform research on, the resulting csv/excel files would trigger the "What should Firefox do with this file?" prompt" so i could review the information before possibly downloading it.

Then, without explanation, the prompt suddenly disappeared and now, whenever I try to download a csv/excel file, it automatically wants to save to a folder on my flash/hard drive. I have reviewed my Firefox settings with nothing appearing wrong and I even talked to the people behind the web site I gather my information from and they said the problem is not on their end.

I have been using Windows 11 for the last few months and I've been using this particular web site to gather information from for over 3 years both at home and at a public library and have never encountered this problem ever.

Any information/help would be greatly appreciated.

Bill

Hello: Until recently, whenever I downloaded information from a web site I perform research on, the resulting csv/excel files would trigger the "What should Firefox do with this file?" prompt" so i could review the information before possibly downloading it. Then, without explanation, the prompt suddenly disappeared and now, whenever I try to download a csv/excel file, it automatically wants to save to a folder on my flash/hard drive. I have reviewed my Firefox settings with nothing appearing wrong and I even talked to the people behind the web site I gather my information from and they said the problem is not on their end. I have been using Windows 11 for the last few months and I've been using this particular web site to gather information from for over 3 years both at home and at a public library and have never encountered this problem ever. Any information/help would be greatly appreciated. Bill

All Replies (4)

Terry
Terry
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The change was made by Firefox 98. https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/98.0/releasenotes/

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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Hi Bill, as you noticed, changed its standard behavior from "ask what to do" (before) to "save file" (now). In many cases, there is a fairly quick fix, so let's check for that possibility:

(1) You can try changing the behavior for CSV files on the Applications list on the Settings page. This article has the steps:

Manage file types and download actions in Firefox

(2) If CSV is not listed there, try this first: open the Downloads list, right-click the CSV file, and choose Always Open Similar Files.

Firefox then should add CSV to the Applications list with a "Use Excel" action (or if another program is the default editor for PDFs, that program). You can use the steps in the previously mentioned article to change it to an Always Ask action if you prefer.

(3) If that menu item is missing for these downloads, the site might be misidentifying the file as generic binary content instead of saying specifically that it is a CSV file. This is harder to work around.

danielle.mead
danielle.mead
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I have the same problem. I have already set both types of CSV to "always ask" in the Firefox settings but it still only gives me the option to save the file. I also tried the suggestion above "open the Downloads list, right-click the CSV file, and choose Always Open Similar Files" but that didn't help.

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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danielle.mead said
I have the same problem. I have already set both types of CSV to "always ask" in the Firefox settings but it still only gives me the option to save the file. I also tried the suggestion above "open the Downloads list, right-click the CSV file, and choose Always Open Similar Files" but that didn't help.

Hi Danielle, was "Always Open Similar Files" available for the downloads that didn't follow your rules?

I see you also started a new question, so we could continue there.