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Firefox no longer asks whether to open or save files.

  • 5 majibu
  • 1 ana tatizo hili
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  • Last reply by Terry

cs127.pr
cs127.pr
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Until about a month ago, every time I clicked on a download link to save a file, Firefox asked whether I want to save the file to my downloads folder, or to just open it, which would save it to a folder in my temp folder that would be deleted when I close Firefox.

Now, out of nowhere, it doesn't ask the question anymore, it automatically assumes I want to save it to a folder (instead of "opening" it).

Before anyone tells me to go to Settings -> General -> Applications, and set the file types to "Always ask", I have tried, and there are two problems with it:

  • There are only a few file types in that list. While I can set Firefox to ask when downloading those types of files, anything else (like text files or MP3 files) is saved to the downloads folder without asking. I want it to ask what to do with any file, not just the specific file types in that list.
  • Even for the file types that are available in the list, if I choose to open a file instead of downloading, it is still saved to my downloads folder instead of the temp folder, and is not deleted after I close Firefox.

Also, I'm using Manjaro Linux with KDE, and I also have the Plasma Integration extension installed on Firefox.

Until about a month ago, every time I clicked on a download link to save a file, Firefox asked whether I want to save the file to my downloads folder, or to just open it, which would save it to a folder in my temp folder that would be deleted when I close Firefox. Now, out of nowhere, it doesn't ask the question anymore, it automatically assumes I want to save it to a folder (instead of "opening" it). Before anyone tells me to go to Settings -> General -> Applications, and set the file types to "Always ask", I have tried, and there are two problems with it: * There are only a few file types in that list. While I can set Firefox to ask when downloading those types of files, '''anything else''' (like text files or MP3 files) is saved to the downloads folder without asking. I want it to ask what to do with '''any file''', not just the specific file types in that list. * Even for the file types that '''are''' available in the list, if I choose to open a file instead of downloading, it is still saved to my downloads folder instead of the temp folder, and is not deleted after I close Firefox. Also, I'm using Manjaro Linux with KDE, and I also have the Plasma Integration extension installed on Firefox.

All Replies (5)

bob164
bob164
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There is a further problem to add to the OP's second bullet: If you configure 'Always Ask' then choose 'Open in Firefox', not only does it still clog up the downloads folder, but it also shows the URL as a local file://... so you don't ever see the original URL and therefore cannot share it.

Before someone says you can copy the URL that you originally clicked to get the file in the first place, that is often full of private information you don't want to share (e.g. the URL that a search returns).

Opening only local files also makes all the internal URLs within a downloaded file incorrect. In a PDF, for example, pre-Firefox98 you could right click on one of the thumbnails to copy and share the URL pointing to a particular page within a PDF file. Now, it just points to the particular page in your local file, which is useless for sharing.

So this change has broken the work of many other people who had previously made it possible to share references to all sorts of more specific parts of files on the Internet. Mozilla is not meant to be making sharing more difficult or impossible.

To revert this change in Firefox 98, I have used about:config and set browser.download.improvements_to_download_panel to false, as in this support article: 

   https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1370409

However, that is likely to be removed in future.

If there is not a longer term fix to this, please can the 'Open in Firefox' option of the 'Always Ask' facility at least behave the same as the direct 'Open in Firefox' facility.

cs127.pr
cs127.pr Mwenye swali
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Well then, apparently all of this is intentional, and it's because of the download "improvement" in Firefox 98, which is definitely not an improvement in my opinion.

I really hope they add a proper way to revert these changes, or add the ability to choose what to do for any file type, not just the only ones that are available in the list right now.

Also, thank you bob164 for answering. I'll be turning off improvements_to_download_panel until they fix the "issue".

Terry
Terry
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You can add file types to the Applications list using the method in the link below.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/change-firefox-behavior-when-open-file#w_changing-download-actions

cs127.pr
cs127.pr Mwenye swali
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terry21 said
You can add file types to the Applications list using the method in the link below. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/change-firefox-behavior-when-open-file#w_changing-download-actions

bold text

That works, but I want it to ask what I should do for any file, I don't want to add every file type I commonly download and set each one to "always ask" individually.

Also, the fact that they don't get downloaded to the temp folder, and that choosing "open in Firefox" for PDF files still downloads them to the Downloads folder, as bob164 mentioned, is still a problem.

I'll continue to use Firefox with the "download improvements" turned off, I hope there will be an option to properly revert the changes.

Thanks for the help though.

Terry
Terry
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You could try in about:config the preference I have marked in bold below. It works for me when saving files and probably works when opening but I can't verify that. The quote is from searchfox. org.

browser.download.useDownloadDir - bool True - Save files directly to the folder configured via the browser.download.folderList preference. False - Always ask the user where to save a file and default to browser.download.lastDir when displaying a folder picker dialog

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/about-config-editor-firefox

Modified by Terry