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"Save as" dialog box doesn't come up, even though I have "Always ask me where to save files" selected (email attachments)

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Recently, the "save as" dialog box quit appearing when I attempt to download email attachments. I have the "always ask me where to save files" box checked in the tools/options/general/downloads area. The box still appears when I use Chrome, but not when I use Firefox.

Recently, the "save as" dialog box quit appearing when I attempt to download email attachments. I have the "always ask me where to save files" box checked in the tools/options/general/downloads area. The box still appears when I use Chrome, but not when I use Firefox.

Chosen solution

Is it a Yahoo! mail attachment? Common issue in recent weeks. Try:

  • Copy the address from the Chrome address bar to the Firefox address bar, and bookmark that new address, and delete your old bookmark

Any luck?

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (10)

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Hello,

Can you please follow these steps and provide the value for the configuration 'browser.download.useDownloadDir'

  1. In the Location bar, type about:config and press Enter. The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear.
  2. Click I'll be careful, I promise!, to continue to the about:config page.

Can you please provide the values for the following keys

  1. browser.download.useDownloadDir
  2. browser.download.lastDir

Thank you

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You can try to delete the mimeTypes.rdf file in the Firefox profile folder to reset all file actions.

You can use this button to go to the Firefox profile folder:

  • Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
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gnittala:

browser.download.useDownloadDir;  user set  boolean  false
browser.download.lastDir   user set   string   I:\Excel\Rampart\Monterrey Village

Modified by cor-el

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The browser.download.useDownloadDir setting as false would mean that Firefox needs to prompt you for download actions. I will suggest you to try the option of deleting the mimeTypes.rdf file as suggested by cor-el. Please try that and let us know if it helped in resolving the issue.

Thank you

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I deleted the mimes.rdf file and it didn't help. I reset firefox on the troubleshooting page and it didn't help.

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Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).

  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window.
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I started Firefox in safe mode and attachments still wouldn't download. I get a brief message saying "scanning an attachment" but then it goes away and nothing happens. As far as I can tell, nothing is downloaded, nothing is opened.

What really has me puzzled is that some days, it will work just fine for a couple of attachments, then it goes back to doing nothing. I assume it is a Firefox issue since I can still download email attachments on Chrome.

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Hello,

Is there an anti-virus running on your machine? If there is one running can you please check its activity log to see if it is deleting any of the downloaded files.

Thank you

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Chosen Solution

Is it a Yahoo! mail attachment? Common issue in recent weeks. Try:

  • Copy the address from the Chrome address bar to the Firefox address bar, and bookmark that new address, and delete your old bookmark

Any luck?

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Actually, instead of a bookmark, your home page address might be out of date, so you would need to update that. These articles have tips on that: