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"Always ask you where to save files" download feature not working

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  • Last reply by Terry

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When downloading files from within Firefox, the option "Always ask you where to save files" seems to have stopped working recently. (Since version 98 or 99.) Sometimes it appears the selected files don't download at all, and other times it looks like they get downloaded to the Downloads folder. Still others, especially .pdf files, get downloaded to some unknown location, and then get opened in another application. I experienced no problems up until just the last week or two.

When downloading files from within Firefox, the option "Always ask you where to save files" seems to have stopped working recently. (Since version 98 or 99.) Sometimes it appears the selected files don't download at all, and other times it looks like they get downloaded to the Downloads folder. Still others, especially .pdf files, get downloaded to some unknown location, and then get opened in another application. I experienced no problems up until just the last week or two.

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The following article describes how Firefox handles downloaded files for different types of content, such as saving a file or opening an application installed on your computer, and how you can change that behavior. Manage file types and download actions in Firefox

Modified by jeyson1099

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The answer provided by "jeyson1099" is all well and fine, but segwaying from the original question. In Firefox Preferences > General > Files and Applications there are two (2) options on how to handle Downloads (ref attached screen shot): 1. Save files to <specify folder> 2. Always ask you where to save files Ever since Firefox 98 or so, this number 2 option, even when selected, doesn't work! It seems Firefox always reverts to option number 1, and even when it's not selected and the specified folder is greyed-out, it will still download to that folder.

Frankly, I think Mozilla made an unnecessary and difficult mess concerning Downloads. Now, where can I report the above bug?

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The changes were deliberate and I believe they are here to stay. The site you want, however, is https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/

You should check your settings under the following heading Applications because Mozilla changed them with release 98. If you want to choose the destination folder change the preference marked in bold below to false in about:config. The quote is from searchfox. org. There is no preference ...lastDir, that is a reference to what the file picker will show.

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