Question

In case your application preferences file has become corrupted, you could try renaming or deleting it.

Help > Troubleshooting Information > "Show Folder"

The file is named mimeTypes.rdf and if you rename or delete it, it should be regenerated with default the next time you restart Firefox.

The Adobe Reader plugin may not be working properly on Mac.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/pdf-files-are-blank-and-cant-be-downloaded-mac
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Opening+PDF+files+within+Firefox

Disable the Adobe Reader plugin in Firefox (Tools > Add-ons > Plugins) and use the external Adobe Reader application or Preview application instead.

• Firefox > Preferences > Applications > Adobe PDF document : Use Adobe Reader

PDF files may also be found under another entry like Portable document.

I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM WITH

System: OS X 10.6.8

Adobe Reader: 10.1.5

Firefox: 18.0.1

IS THERE A SOLUTION

Hi Huvotnl, have you disabled the Adobe Acrobat plugin here:

Tools > Add-ons > Plugins category

Yes I did ! I have event deleted extensions.

I have disabled the plug-in and told the system to use the Adobe application to open PDFs...nothing changed.

If I delete the file you are talking about, will I lose my bookmarks or anything like that???

The mimeTypes.rdf file does not contain any bookmarks or personal data. If you are concerned about potential data loss, please make a backup of the contents of your personal settings (Firefox profile) folder before making any deletions.

In Preferences--Applications it seems as though the default for some items is "always ask" which doesn't happen! I changed "Preview Document (application/pdf)" from "always ask" to "Use Adobe Reader". I also changed "Preview Document (x-unknown/pdf)" from "always ask" to "Save File". Now the desired content opens in a new window & is downloaded to my desktop (my preference). I use a Mac & am not a computer whiz. This seems like a really stupid problem related to the newest version of Firefox.

This worked 4 me. Took me a while to find "show folder" that was right in front of me. Thank you

I have the same PDF problem which also has recently appeared. I am using Windows 7 on a 64 bit PC. I have tried multiple options/applications action settings for PDF and none appear to take effect. IE and Chrome work fine.

I appreciate all the responses and help---but none have worked for me either. If anyone finds success, let me know. For the time being I've just been going to Safari anytime I need to open a PDF.

Hello

It works now!

MAC 10.6.8 Firefox 19.0 Adobe 11.0.0 Install extension PDF 3 0 0 2

Remove everything, reinstall everything

Cross my fingers

Huvotnl,

Can you clarify? Was there an update released? And what do you mean by "remove everything?" What does that specifically entail?

Thanks,

Kyle

Remove Adobe Remove the extension Update Firefox to 19.0 Reload Adobe 11.0 Reload the extension PDF 3 0 0 2

Ok, what is extension PDF 3002? I think I understand the rest to mean, Update Firefox and delete Adobe the go back and redownload it. Yes?

On Firefox :

Toll Module Extension type PDF in search and you will see PDF Download 3 0 0 2 Dowload this extension

This what worked very well for me. In case your application preferences file has become corrupted, you could try renaming or deleting it. Help > Troubleshooting Information > "Show Folder" The file is named mimeTypes.rdf and if you rename or delete it, it should be regenerated with default the next time you restart Firefox.

Ernie,

That did it! Well some combination of what you said and all the updating stuff. I did try the PDF extension that Huvotnl suggested b/f doing what you suggested, but it didn't work. Anyway, that's months of frustration every time I wanted to download something now resolved.

Now, can you help me understand WHY that worked? How does renaming something change what's inside the file? Also, how did the file get corrupt? Is that any indication of a virus or some other larger problem I should be worried about? Not a tech guy here.

Also, I'm presuming that none of my other info, most importantly bookmarks, were lost, etc. I checked and they all seem to be there in the list. I just like to understand stuff.

Kyle

Also

Not all sites will work by all mean being able to download PDF file

With some you will have to download manually the file either save or open.

Please use save then open the file. This work for me.

I hope you understand

Hi kylevmorris, the mimeTypes.rdf starts out with a limited set of pre-defined application handlers. This can be modified by plugins, data from the Windows registry, changes you make in Application options (Options>Applications or Preferences>Application), and choices you make in the Open/Save/Cancel dialog.

Because there's no supervisor in Firefox making sure the file is completely coherent, it sometimes becomes, for lack of a better phrase, messed up. When you rename or delete the file (the file in your active personal settings folder accessible using Help > Troubleshooting Information > Show Folder button), you restart the process of building the list of application handlers. Everything should be good unless/until it becomes messed up again.

(Note that the mimeTypes.rdf is a text file that you could try editing by hand, but due to its poorly documented structure, and Firefox's ability to rebuild it, it's usually easier to just rename or delete it when there are problems.)

To all: please note that starting in Firefox 19, the built-in PDF Viewer may be activated in place of the application that previously handled PDFs.

To manually change this setting, you can try the steps described in this article: View PDF files in Firefox without downloading them". In brief:

(1) Open your Firefox Options/Preferences dialog

• On Windows, click the orange Firefox button or click the Tools menu, then choose Options.
• On Mac, click the Firefox menu then Preferences.
• On Linux, click the Edit menu then Preferences.

(2) Click Applications and pause while the list is displayed. Type pdf in the search box to filter the list.

(3) Click the drop-down control to the right of "Portable Document Format (PDF)" to change it from "Preview in Firefox" to your preferred handler for PDFs. For example, if you prefer to open PDFs in a Firefox tab using Adobe's plugin, choose "Use Adobe Acrobat (in Firefox)".

(4) Click OK to save your change and close the Options/Preferences dialog.

I have a solution. Thanks to all of your feedback I did the following: 1. Uninstalled Adobe Reader (apparently not necessary) 2. Uninstalled Firefox (preserved personal settings - bad choice) 3. Downloaded Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/ 4. Accessed PDF - still failing 5. Changed Applications Actions options - no change 6. Uninstalled Firefox (removing personal settings - good choice) 7. Reinstalled Firefox (imported bookmarks, etc. from Chrome) 8. Accessed PDF - now works (note Adobe Reader not yet reinstalled, using Preview in Firefox) 9. Tested Applications Actions options - now working 10. Reinstalled Adobe Reader 11. Tested Applications Actions option to use Adobe Reader - works 12. Reset Applications Actions option to use Preview in Firefox) - works

Super !

Hi mjkessler5, that sounds like an ordeal. Next time (hopefully there won't be a next time), instead of doing an uninstall/reinstall and removing all settings, try using the Reset feature first: Reset Firefox – easily fix most problems. This preserves many settings that usually aren't implicated in functional problems (for example, bookmarks) while giving you a fresh start on other settings.