Firefox ignoring PDF setting
On Monday (8/16/2021) I started Firefox and all PDF links opened in its viewer. This was strange since I always have these files set to open in a third party viewer since I have to view the files while using Firefox to search related data. I checked the settings and they were set properly. I tried changing the settings to other options as well as other readers and none of them work.
I went on line and tried ever suggestion that I could find without any luck. I have reset Firefox to it original state and the issue continues.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Carl
Chosen solution
Apologies. My last response was from my cell as I was away from the computer.
The https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ61.pdf does work properly
Here is one of the links that is not work since Monday. I wonder if there was a Windows update the is causing the problem.
file:///C:/Manuals/Digital/MX%202300N%202700N/MX%202300%202700%20Service%20Manual.pdf
Truly, many thanks for your help
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Hi Carl, what is your current PDF handling instruction on the Settings page? By default, after a Refresh it will be set to "Open in Firefox". (View and edit PDF files using Firefox’s built-in viewer)
Does the behavior differ between sites? For example, does this one follow instructions: https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ61.pdf
Thanks for the quick response
I currently have Firefox set to ask what to do but it still opens the file in the internal reader without asking.
As far as I can tell it is doing it on all sites. The main one is a html page on the computer itself with links to various PDF files.
chellner55 said
I currently have Firefox set to ask what to do but it still opens the file in the internal reader without asking. As far as I can tell it is doing it on all sites.
Did the Copyright Office link open in the viewer automatically, it didn't trigger the download dialog?
The main one is a html page on the computer itself with links to various PDF files.
Does the HTML page have file:/// links or https:// links? With https:// links, the web server informs Firefox of the content-type of the file. With file:/// links, hmm, I assume Firefox uses the .pdf file extension to decide whether it can open the content.
Chosen Solution
Apologies. My last response was from my cell as I was away from the computer.
The https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ61.pdf does work properly
Here is one of the links that is not work since Monday. I wonder if there was a Windows update the is causing the problem.
file:///C:/Manuals/Digital/MX%202300N%202700N/MX%202300%202700%20Service%20Manual.pdf
Truly, many thanks for your help
Upon further research...
There was a patch in Firefox 91 for file:/// HTML pages linking to file:/// PDF documents
There was a bug in the file => file situation where "Always Ask" led to a broken dialog. As a quick fix, the built-in viewer is always used in Firefox 91.
There is a bug on file requesting to rewrite the fix so that external applications can still be used as the default (1726501). I don't know whether that will get traction, but...
Discussion on that bug mentions the option to completely disable the built-in viewer using a preference if you already prefer to always use an external application:
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.
(2) In the search box in the page, type or paste pdfjs.disabled and pause while the list is filtered
(3) Double-click the preference to switch the value from false (enabled) to true (disabled)
Does that solve it for you for now?
More info on about:config: Configuration Editor for Firefox.
It worked perfectly! Thank you so much. This whole week has been so infuriating. Have an absolutely wonderful weekend.
