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Files keep automatically downloading even though I have the setting to ask or use 'preview"

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Michele M. Algreen
Michele M. Algreen
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I don't want to automatically download files, I would like to be able to choose and most of the time I just want to look at them in preview (or in Firefox) without downloading. How do I get Firefox to stop doing this? It is super annoying! I have the file handling setting set to 'ask,' but it downloads it every single time.

I don't want to automatically download files, I would like to be able to choose and most of the time I just want to look at them in preview (or in Firefox) without downloading. How do I get Firefox to stop doing this? It is super annoying! I have the file handling setting set to 'ask,' but it downloads it every single time.

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Terry
Terry
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A preference was added to about:config in version 102 so that files you want to look at rather than download are saved in your temp folder. Try changing the value to true. browser.download.start_downloads_in_tmp_dir

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/about-config-editor-firefox

cor-el
cor-el
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  • Top 10 Contributor
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Files always need to be downloaded when you want to view them. Files that aren't too big and that Firefox can handle internally can be kept in memory (memory cache) and bigger files can be stored in the disk cache. Files you you want to pass/share to/with an external application need to be saved to the hard drive in a location that this application can access. By default this is the default Download location as set in "Settings -> General -> Downloads" and can be diverted to the OS temp folder by enabling the above mentioned browser.download.start_downloads_in_tmp_dir pref.