Where did you install Firefox from? Help Mozilla uncover 3rd party websites that offer problematic Firefox installation by taking part in our campaign. There will be swag, and you'll be featured in our blog if you manage to report at least 10 valid reports!

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

Èròjà atẹ̀lélànà yii ni a ti fi pamọ́ fọ́jọ́ pípẹ́. Jọ̀wọ́ béèrè ìbéèrè titun bí o bá nílò ìrànwọ́.

Setting preferences to bypass the new PDF viewer

  • 4 àwọn èsì
  • 1 ní ìṣòro yìí
  • 6 views
  • Èsì tí ó kẹ́hìn lọ́wọ́ Amanda9

more options

My Firefox preferences for all types of PDFs are set to "always ask," which is what I want. What happens instead is that they automatically open (very slowly) in the new Firefox PDF viewer. I want to have what I used to have: the opportunity to decide whether to open or save, and if I choose open, have that happen in Acrobat or Reader. I realize that I can (at least theoretically) set the preferences to automatically open in Acrobat, but that's not what I want. Is there any way to set preferences so I still get the functionality I had before the upgrade to Firefox 19? (I'm using Firefox 19.0.2 on a Mac.) Thank you.

My Firefox preferences for all types of PDFs are set to "always ask," which is what I want. What happens instead is that they automatically open (very slowly) in the new Firefox PDF viewer. I want to have what I used to have: the opportunity to decide whether to open or save, and if I choose open, have that happen in Acrobat or Reader. I realize that I can (at least theoretically) set the preferences to automatically open in Acrobat, but that's not what I want. Is there any way to set preferences so I still get the functionality I had before the upgrade to Firefox 19? (I'm using Firefox 19.0.2 on a Mac.) Thank you.

Ọ̀nà àbáyọ tí a yàn

please also make sure that the default action for the entry named portable document format (pdf) in the preferences > applications tab is set to always ask. then it should work as intended...

(the screenshot is taken on windows but it will look similar on your system).

Ka ìdáhùn ni ìṣètò kíkà 👍 1

All Replies (4)

more options

hello, enter about:config into the firefox location bar (confirm the info message in case it shows up) & search for the preference named pdfjs.disabled. double-click it and change its value to true.

more options

That's helpful, but not exactly what I was looking for. This makes the PDF automatically download, which is a definite improvement, but ideally I'd like to have the old open-or-download option back so I could decide on a case-by-case basis (and then if I choose "open," get it to open in Acrobat). Or, it would also help to know for sure that that's no longer an option.

Still, huge improvement (and I can definitely live with this if it turns out there's no way to do the thing I'm describing) -- thank you very much.

more options

Ọ̀nà àbáyọ Tí a Yàn

please also make sure that the default action for the entry named portable document format (pdf) in the preferences > applications tab is set to always ask. then it should work as intended...

(the screenshot is taken on windows but it will look similar on your system).

more options

YES! It's working now. Thanks so much.