Browser makes me save before opening

Hello,
When I'm surfing the Web and click a link that is a pdf file, I am forced to download and save the file to my hard drive before I can open it. How can I disable this so that the file simply is displayed without me having to save it first? There must be a setting somewhere for this for the Mac. Does anybody know?

Thanks

Which browser are you using? A resolution will differ depending on the browser of your choice.

I use Firefox. In 'Preferences', there is a checkbox 'Show the downloads window when downloading a file.' It is unchecked and I still get the save window when clicking a link for a .pdf file. I tried Safari and it just downloads it without asking and there is no chance to specify the download location since 'Preferences' only allows one destination. At least Firefox allows me to choose any target folder, which is why I use Firefox instead of Safari.

Regarding always getting the save window though... It would be nice if that could be turned off since it drives me crazy to have to save files that I only want to view. With Internet Explorer on Windows, it always just displays them, and I would like that capability on the Mac too.

Thanks.

I use Firefox. In 'Preferences', there is a checkbox 'Show the downloads window when downloading a file.' It is unchecked and I still get the save window when clicking a link for a .pdf file. I tried Safari and it just downloads it without asking and there is no chance to specify the download location since 'Preferences' only allows one destination. At least Firefox allows me to choose any target folder, which is why I use Firefox instead of Safari.

Click to expand...

That's because you don't know how to change the download folder in Safari or you're not doing it the correct way.

Open Safari Preferences, click on the General tab, and look for the button that states: "Save downloaded files to" click the arrow and click "other" and then browse to the folder of your choice.

Give that a try and let us know.

I think he means instead of downloading the pdf he wants it to just show in the browser window or new tab.

- Simon

Yes, exactly. I just want the file to display and not have to download it to the computer. That's the way it works on a PC with Internet Explorer. It downloads the file to some temporary location. Then, if I don't want to keep the file, I just close it and the data is gone. But, if I want to save it, I can click a 'save' icon and save it to the folder of my choosing. With the Mac, the file is on my hard drive no matter what. I would hope that there is a setting for the Mac/Firefox that would let me display it without saving it first. Maybe it's not possible since I've checked everywhere and can't find a setting for it.

Regarding the reply about selecting the 'Other' option in Safari Preferences. All that does is let you select a single folder that everything goes to. I don't want that. If I want to download a 'subject' file and I have a folder for it, I want to be able to download it to there, not have it go into a bucket folder and then have to select it and move it to my 'subject' folder later. It's ridiculous that Safari doesn't allow that and thankfully Firefox does.

Thanks

You need a plugin for Firefox.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7518/

You could also install Adobe Reader (which is how it worked on your PC) but that's a much slower and buggier way to do it (which is how it worked on your PC.)

Safari has built in support for viewing PDF files while Firefox does not. Without installing an addon such as this in Firefox, you will always be forced to use an external program or download a PDF. You can try installing that extension to add functionality to Firefox so that you can view PDFs in the browser.

As to why Safari is always downloading PDFs, I'm unsure (right now). You could also look into using Chrome - it has a built in PDF viewer.

Preferences/Applications

I was having the same issue and here is what I did to fix it: Open Firefox's preferences and click the Applications tab. Then you can choose the action that happens with each program.

Thanks to everyone for the help. I installed the Firefox PDF plug-in and I can either select it or Adobe Reader in the Firefox Preferences Applications tab, and both work. I don't need to always save it to the hard drive anymore!

Glad you got it resolved

- Simon