Opening PDF files within Firefox

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This article describes troubleshooting methods for a specific problem with the Adobe Reader plugin. For general information on installing Adobe Reader, see Using the Adobe Reader plugin with Firefox.

The Adobe Reader plugin can be used to display PDF file inside the Firefox browser window. If there is a problem with the plugin, it may become impossible to do this. When you try to view a PDF, Firefox may try to download it instead.

The following troubleshooting methods can help fix this problem.

Mac OS:

Note: If you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no supported plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window. See the Adobe Reader article for information.

Table Of Contents

Check Firefox settings

Firefox 2:
  1. At the top of the Firefox windowOn the menu bar, click on the ToolsFirefoxEdit menu, and select Options...Preferences....
  2. Click the Content icon.
  3. Next to File Types click Manage... to bring up the Download Actions window.
  4. Click on the PDF extension in the list. Then click the Change Action... button to bring up the handler options.
  5. Click the radio button next to Use this Plugin. Adobe Acrobat should be in the field.


    • If Adobe Acrobat was not listed by Use this Plugin:
      1. Close Firefox.
      2. Navigate to your Firefox profile folder.
      3. Delete the mimetypes.rdf file.
      4. Restart Firefox and then retry this set of instructions.
  6. Click OK to close the Change Action window. Then click Close to close the Download Actions window. Finally, click OK to close the Firefox OptionsPreferences window.

Firefox 3:
  1. At the top of the Firefox windowOn the menu bar, click on the ToolsFirefoxEdit menu, and select Options...Preferences....
  2. Select the Applications panel.
  3. Find Adobe Acrobat Document in the list and click on it to select it.
  4. Click on the drop-down arrow in the Action column for the Adobe Acrobat Document entry and select Use Adobe Acrobat (in Firefox).


    • If Use Adobe Acrobat (in Firefox) is not listed as an Option:
      1. Close Firefox.
      2. Navigate to your Firefox profile folder.
      3. Delete the mimetypes.rdf file.
      4. Restart Firefox and then retry this set of instructions.
  5. Click OK to closeClose the Firefox OptionsPreferences window.


Now try to view a PDF in Firefox. If it opens in the browser window, the problem is solved. If not, continue with the following instructions.

Check Adobe Reader settings

  1. Open Adobe Reader
  2. Once in Adobe Reader, click the Edit menu in the menu bar, and then click Preferences... The Preferences window will open.
  3. In the Categories section, click on Internet.
  4. Make sure the first check box, Display PDF in browser, is checked.
  5. Click OK to dismiss the Window, and then close Adobe Reader.

Now try to view a PDF. If it opens in the browser window, the problem is solved. If not, continue with the next troubleshooting instructions.

Windows:

Re-install the plugin

  1. Close Firefox.
  2. Open the Adobe Reader installation folder. This can be done by using Windows Explorer to navigate to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Reader, assuming Reader 8 is installed in the default location.
  3. Open the Browser sub-folder inside the Adobe Reader installation folder.
  4. Copy the nppdf32.dll file to the Firefox plugins folder: Right-click the file and then click Copy from the context menu. Then use Windows Explorer to navigate to your Firefox installation's plugins folder (usually C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins). Then go to the Edit menu and click Paste.
  5. Open Firefox and in the address bar type about:plugins to bring up the Firefox plugins list.
  6. Look for the Adobe Acrobat entry.

If the entry is there, try to view a PDF. If it opens in the browser window, the problem is solved. If not, follow the next set of troubleshooting instructions.

Re-initialize the plugins database

Follow the instructions in the Re-initializing the plugins database section of the Troubleshooting plugins article?.

This will force Firefox to rebuild its plugin database. Now try to view a PDF in Firefox. If it opens in the browser window, the problem is solved. You may need to repeat the steps above after taking this step.

Further information

If none of the above troubleshooting methods worked, see Adobe's troubleshooting page for further instructions.

You may need to re-install Adobe Reader - the Adobe Reader article has installation instructions. You should uninstall all previous versions of Reader (Acrobat Reader) that are on your system before re-installing.

If after you get in-browser PDF viewing working, you would like to have choice of whether to download PDFs or view them in the browser, PDF Download extension offers that option.


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Page last modified on Thursday 07 of August, 2008 22:21:29 PST.
Contributors to this page: Chris_Ilias , AliceWyman , np and Bo .
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