Join us and the lead editor of IRL, Mozilla's multi-award-winning podcast, for a behind-the-scenes look at the pod and to contribute your ideas for the next season, themed: "AI and ME." Mark your calendar and join our Community Call on Wednesday, Aug 7, 17:00–17:45 UTC. See you there!

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

How do I OPEN and read pdf docs on line rather than download, save and then read and delete. This only happens on some sites & started recently.

more options

When I go to a site and try to open something (like a monthly statement, etc.) instead of opening it in pdf so I can read it Firefox makes me download it, save it, and then open it. Then I have to go through the whole find it and delete it routine if I don't want to keep it. Don't know why this started to happen recently, and it does not do it on all sites.

When I go to a site and try to open something (like a monthly statement, etc.) instead of opening it in pdf so I can read it Firefox makes me download it, save it, and then open it. Then I have to go through the whole find it and delete it routine if I don't want to keep it. Don't know why this started to happen recently, and it does not do it on all sites.

Chosen solution

Please try the following:

  1. Open the Firefox Options window
  2. Select the Applications tab
  3. Locate Portable Document Format (PDF) on the list of file types
  4. Change the Action to Preview In Firefox
  5. Click Ok

This should allow you to preview most files in Firefox.
This will not work in all cases because some website contain codes to force the browser to download instead of preview.

Read this answer in context 👍 7

All Replies (1)

more options

Chosen Solution

Please try the following:

  1. Open the Firefox Options window
  2. Select the Applications tab
  3. Locate Portable Document Format (PDF) on the list of file types
  4. Change the Action to Preview In Firefox
  5. Click Ok

This should allow you to preview most files in Firefox.
This will not work in all cases because some website contain codes to force the browser to download instead of preview.