Finally found a fix how to stop firefox downloading each PDF to your local drive - eviltoast
Re: Firefox now saves files that I only wanted to open
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I just learned some good news: Firefox 103 users can switch the case (B) to case (A) using a setting. Could you make this change, turn off the extension(s), and test again? Here's how you can check on that: (A) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click...

Hey guys

Today I got so annyed by firefox’s default behaviour of downloading each and every PDF file to my disk that I went searching for a solution until I had the problem fixed. And it seems like I have finally found it. I have linked the solution but here is the fix in short:

  1. go to about:config
  2. change browser.download.open_pdf_attachments_inline to true

Thank you jscher2000 for the solution!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9785046

  • ominouslemon@lemm.ee
    511·
    11 months ago

    THANK YOU. This behavior has been bothering me since it was introduced but I thought there was no solution

    • assa123@lemmy.world
      6·
      11 months ago

      After watching other comments I wonder why some people don’t get that this was a bug or at the very least, undocumented behavior outside of the Settings GUI. I had to deal many times with file (4).pdf on my Downloads dir. A BIG thank you, OP.

  • ares35@kbin.social
    241·
    11 months ago

    it isn’t in right in firefox’s settings -> general -> under ‘files and applications’ ??

    ‘open in firefox’ (what you want), vs ‘always ask’, ‘always save’ (download) or ‘open in default application’ (such as adobe reader). actions are configurable for many file types.

    • herrherrmann@lemmy.ml
      31·
      11 months ago

      I believe even if you choose “Open in Firefox”, it will still download the PDF to the default download directory before opening it inside a Firefox tab. The behavior that OP describes above seems to prevent that downloading (and having the file around in your default download directory).

    • Humanius@lemmy.worldEnglish
      14·
      11 months ago

      I don’t know whether they fixed it since, but last I checked that option was broken.
      No matter what you select, half the time it still downloads the PDF to your drive.

      • PropaGandalf@lemmy.worldOP
        51·
        11 months ago

        It even says in the description that these settings determine how firefox will handle them after downloading them.

        • ares35@kbin.social
          32·
          11 months ago

          i have ‘open in firefox’ enabled on this pc for pdf. i never get a dl prompt. goes right to the internal pdf viewer every time.

          • Humanius@lemmy.worldEnglish
            101·
            11 months ago

            The problem is not that it gives a download prompt, but rather that it tosses the PDF file into your downloads folder unrequested.
            It opens the PDF in the internal PDF viewer as well, but that is not the thing people are having issues with.

            • ares35@kbin.social
              23·
              11 months ago

              NONE of the files i tested it on triggered the download prompt, populated the download status of the browser, or appeared in my default downloads location during their ‘viewing’ or after.

              • Humanius@lemmy.worldEnglish
                6·
                11 months ago

                Great that it seems to work for you, but I’ve been experiencing this bug for months now if not longer.
                I made the changes OP suggested, and now it seems to work correctly.

  • Moonrise2473@feddit.it
    121·
    11 months ago

    It does not fix the bug, i want to save in tmp & use external application like it did until last year

    I don’t want to have the same behaviour of chromium browsers, otherwise i would use chromium browsers.

    Luckily microsoft updated ms edge on linux to save on tmp the files that you want to open, but you don’t want to save. It’s the only browser left that does that with a simple check in settings and doesn’t require big workarounds. Used to be only firefox to do this… pity

    • oktoberpaard@feddit.nl
      5·
      11 months ago

      That sounds like browser.download.start_downloads_in_tmp_dir combined with “open with…”. That setting should download to tmp whenever you open it directly in an application. The other setting (browser.download.open_pdf_attachments_inline) should only be enabled if you want to open PDFs in the browser without downloading them.

  • kpw@kbin.social
    92·
    11 months ago

    Set the default download folder to /tmp. In the rare case you actually will need a file you download later, copy it to a better directory.

    • PropaGandalf@lemmy.worldOP
      11·
      11 months ago

      I still prefer storing the pdf in the browser cache and downloading it manually if I want than to download it directly to /tmp or anywhere else.

  • juli@programming.dev
    6·
    11 months ago

    Iirc, I had to set that firefox doesn’t open everything in the browser but downloads the pdfs to disk. It was in the settings.

    I really didn’t get the idea why I had to save pdfs manually. To me, it feels weird to not save pdfs automatically but I understand you if you rarely safe a pdf.

  • FeelzGoodMan420English
    3·
    11 months ago

    You can specify where you want the temp download folder to be fyi. It’s in the normal settings. Just make a folder in like C:/firefox temp files and have it dump all that shit in there.

    • PropaGandalf@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      11 months ago

      I know but I don’t want it to be shown in the downloads panel or get any notification I just want it to store it temporarily in the browser cache and ooen it in a new tab. Like a regular website. And if I really want to download something it should go directly to my regular download folder.

      • FeelzGoodMan420English
        1·
        11 months ago

        I’m pretty sure all browsers do this. Edge just hides the temp folder somewhere obscure I think. I could be wrong so feel free to do your own research but I think this is normal browser behavior. Only difference is in Firefox you just choose your own location.

  • Eager Eagle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    53·
    11 months ago

    Even with browser.download.open_pdf_attachments_inline set to false (default), Firefox already opens PDFs instead of downloading them, thanks to this setting:

    For what use cases is that needed?

    • PropaGandalf@lemmy.worldOP
      41·
      11 months ago

      For me it still downloads and then opens it in firefox. In the description it clearly says: Choose how Firefox handles the files you download from the web (…). And I don’t want it to download the file to my disk in the first place just store it in chache like a regular website.

      • Eager Eagle@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        11 months ago

        it doesn’t download them for me, unless I explicitly save the PDF that opens

        like this example.

        (akhtually it’ll always download in order to open it, I just mean it doesn’t create a PDF in the downloads directory)

        • PropaGandalf@lemmy.worldOP
          1·
          11 months ago

          Which firefox version are you on? I’m on 122.0b1 (flatpak beta) and changing these settings just defines what happens after I download the file. Also my download folder is set to ~/Downloads

    • QuazarOmega@lemy.lol
      191·
      11 months ago

      Because you don’t always want to permanently save to the drive the PDFs you find on the internet, often you just need to skim them and that’s it, just like a webpage

    • krigo666@lemmy.world
      131·
      11 months ago

      It keeps being downloaded as a regular download to the default download folder, filling up disk space and the file needs to be deleted by explicit command. With the change it’s a temporary download and is erased when cache is purged.

    • bstix@feddit.dkEnglish
      103·
      11 months ago

      PDFs are particularly annoying like that. On one hand most browsers offer to open them in the browser, but on the other hand it’s a “file” rather than a document. Imagine if your browser decided to download all the HTML webpages that you visit to your download folder, instead of the temporary cache. That’s how PDFs are handled.

      To make it more complicated, sometimes you’ll want that and other times you don’t.

      It’s also really annoying in terms of GDPR compliance, because some users gather a lot of PDFs in their download folder without even realising it. I empty my download folder daily, just like the trashcan, just to be sure that I’m not keeping things that I’m not supposed to keep. This is only/mainly due to the browsers handling of the PDF format.

        • bstix@feddit.dkEnglish
          21·
          11 months ago

          All of it, if the PDF contains personal information. Anything that can identify a person is personal information and can only be kept if the person has constented to you keeping it.

          It does not matter in which format or where. That includes files in your download or trash can folders.

          • GentriFriedRice@lemmy.world
            2·
            11 months ago

            Respectfully, that’s not true. GDPR Article 2(2)©:

            1. This Regulation does not apply to the processing of personal data: © by a natural person in the course of a purely personal or household activity;