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Firefox keeps a copy of every PDF I view online

  • 3 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by bigmike

bigmike
bigmike
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In Preferences>General I have my Download directory set so I don't have to select a directory each time I download something. The problem is that Firefox (3.6.8) keeps a permanent copy of every .pdf I even just look at online, not just the things I specifically download. How do I set up a temporary cache directory that I can clear periodically, different from the directory I want my manual downloads to go to? My download directory is getting huge, and it's mostly full of junk.

In Preferences>General I have my Download directory set so I don't have to select a directory each time I download something. The problem is that Firefox (3.6.8) keeps a permanent copy of every .pdf I even just look at online, not just the things I specifically download. How do I set up a temporary cache directory that I can clear periodically, different from the directory I want my manual downloads to go to? My download directory is getting huge, and it's mostly full of junk.

All Replies (3)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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You can try to set the Boolean pref browser.helperApps.deleteTempFileOnExit to true on the about:config page.

To open the about:config page, type about:config in the location (address) bar and press the "Enter" key, just like you type the url of a website to open a website.
If you see a warning then you can confirm that you want to access that page.

See also http://kb.mozillazine.org/about%3Aconfig

ladybanksia99
ladybanksia99
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I also have this issue and I tried the above steps, but do not have the 'browser.helperApps.deleteTempFileOn Exit option. There are a few others there, but not this one. What are my options?

Thanks.

bigmike
bigmike Question owner
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Right-click anywhere on the about:config page. Choose New->Boolean, paste browser.helperApps.deleteTempFileOnExit into the field shown, then select True as the value.

I found this discussion about how/why it was implemented: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=302433