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

Cuireadh an snáithe seo sa chartlann. Cuir ceist nua má tá cabhair uait.

Viewing PDF in browser

more options

Sometimes when I click on a PDF file link, it opens in the Firefox, but sometimes it does not, and Firefox instead asks where to save it, which is annoying. Why this inconsistent behaviour? How can I view the PDF files in Firefox every time?

Sometimes when I click on a PDF file link, it opens in the Firefox, but sometimes it does not, and Firefox instead asks where to save it, which is annoying. Why this inconsistent behaviour? How can I view the PDF files in Firefox every time?

Réiteach roghnaithe

Only files send as content type application/pdf are opened in a tab in Firefox.

If a file is send as a generic file type like "application/octet-stream" or as content-disposition then Firefox will offer to save the file.

Read this answer in context 👍 3

All Replies (4)

more options

Réiteach Roghnaithe

Only files send as content type application/pdf are opened in a tab in Firefox.

If a file is send as a generic file type like "application/octet-stream" or as content-disposition then Firefox will offer to save the file.

more options

Great! Thanks for the swift and helpful reply.

I tried the "Open in Browser" extension first and it half-solves the problem. Firefox still shows you the save dialog, but the extension gives you the additional option to view in browser. That's the same number of steps I had to make before, so nothing gained.

Mason sounds like a very powerful extension, but is overkill for this situation.

"InlineDisposition Reloaded" was exactly what I needed. When there's a PDF in my google search results, I simply click on it and it opens as expected. Very lightweight at 4kb.

more options

This add-on might also be helpful.

Always Preview: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/always-preview/

more options

Yup, Always Preview seems to work equally well.