It depends on what kind of documents they are. For example:

• PDFs - Firefox can display these in a tab using either a built-in viewer or a plugin
• Office (Word/Excel) documents - Firefox cannot display these and an external application is needed, so usually you would see the Open in..., Save, Cancel choices
• ZIP archives - same as Office documents

What kind of documents are you trying to view, and from where?

it happens with all types of documents. when I try to print, it makes me save it before I print

What is the sequence of events? For example:

(1) Display a document in a Firefox tab -- so far okay?

(2) Call up print preview and click Print, or call up the print dialog directly (e.g., Ctrl+p) -- so far okay?

(3) When you click OK in the Print dialog, you are prompted to save the file -- if this happens, look for a checkbox for "Print to file" in the Print dialog and uncheck that, this is not useful in modern times

Or something else?

lowtee said

it happens with all types of documents. when I try to print, it makes me save it before I print

Is the correct printer selected? Is "Print to file" selected? Shouldn't be.

The save screen comes up before the print screen. When I click on something, it doesn't open it, it goes straight to save.

lowtee said

When I click on something, it doesn't open it, it goes straight to save.

The site might be pushing the linked content as a download. You can gain more control over whether Firefox lets you open a download or saves it directly with some settings:

(1) Whether to ask you where to save. See: Startup, home page, tabs, and download settings

(2) Content-type-specific setting. See: Applications panel - Set how Firefox handles different types of files