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How does the in browser PDF viewer remembers save location for different documents?

  • 3 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • Last reply by cor-el
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Ash
Ash

When viewing a PDF in Firefox the URL bar indicates the file was downloaded to a temporary folder. If I then select "Save" from the PDF toolbar; or if I right click and select "Save page as" it opens a save dialog to the location I previously saved the same category of PDF to. For example I have separate folders for invoices, if the PDF is my electricity invoice it somehow knows and opens the electricity folder. If it is a water invoice, it automatically opens the water folder.

Whilst this is indeed quite handy, I do not understand how Firefox is doing this; nor do I understand whether this may be a privacy risk in some circumstances and should therefore be configurable.

When viewing a PDF in Firefox the URL bar indicates the file was downloaded to a temporary folder. If I then select "Save" from the PDF toolbar; or if I right click and select "Save page as" it opens a save dialog to the location I previously saved the same category of PDF to. For example I have separate folders for invoices, if the PDF is my electricity invoice it somehow knows and opens the electricity folder. If it is a water invoice, it automatically opens the water folder. Whilst this is indeed quite handy, I do not understand how Firefox is doing this; nor do I understand whether this may be a privacy risk in some circumstances and should therefore be configurable.

All Replies (3)

wxie
wxie
  • Top 25 Contributor

I think Firefox "save page as" uses the last directory you used. If you do not change, it will not change.

Ash
Ash Question owner

No, it's not the last directory used. It differentiates between the files I download. If I open and save an electricity invoice it uses the last directory used for electricity invoices. If I immediately then open and save a water invoice it uses the last directory used for water invoices (not the last directory used).

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor

You can disable the feature to remember a host based download directory by creating a new Boolean pref in about:config with the name browser.download.lastDir.savePerSite pref and set its value to false.

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