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How to view aspx PDF files in Safari 4.0.3

Hi,

Using Safari 4.0.3 on os 10.5.8. I'm trying to view PDF files that are supposed to be viewed and editable within the browser (this is how the site works on a pc using internet explorer). When I click the relevant icon on the site, the site asks me if I'm sure I want to view that file (this is normal), and I click accept. Then Safari simply downloads the aspx file into the downloads folder. To the extent I could open the aspx manually using Reader (I can't), it wouldn't help anyway because the file is meant to be edited within a web browser, and within the pdf there are options to "save," "save and close," etc. I need to be able to open and view this file from within Safari.

I have the latest Adobe reader and made sure the settings allowed for opening of PDFs from the internet.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

iMac intel (2006), Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Oct 7, 2009 9:56 AM

Reply
13 replies

Oct 7, 2009 10:00 AM in response to Erik Morales

Greetings,

The .aspx extension is a proprietary Microsoft "technology"; it has nothing to do with PDF at all. If you can view the document on a PC, you should be able to view it in Safari, unless the page is coded specifically for IE, in which case there's nothing you can do about that.

And why would you have Adobe Reader installed, since you don't need it for anything? Safari is perfectly capable of rendering PDF files on it's own, much faster than Adobe Reader or it's accompanying plugin for Safari.

Oct 7, 2009 10:42 AM in response to Golden Shoes

Hi,

No need for smugness, but thanks for your reply. I installed Reader because the owners of the site told me to. In this case, aspx has everything to do with PDF, since it is what would hopefully allow me to access the PDF files within Safari.

I guess I'll just accept that it may not work on Safari, as the site is designed for IE (though the owners claim it should work on Safari).

Oct 7, 2009 11:00 AM in response to Erik Morales

Erik --

I would try Firefox to see if that will open it.
I think the site people don't understand or use Macs.
If they would send you the file as a PDF I know you could see the PDF,
but I'm still not sure you could edit it without Adobe Reader Pro . . .
But it's been a couple of years since I was actively working with PDF's professionally.

BTW, I always prefer Adobe Reader to Preview.
For design work, it's a real necessity.

Hope you get your situation solved, Erik.
We're all just other Mac users here, trying to help each other find solutions.

Oct 27, 2009 6:25 AM in response to Erik Morales

Hi,

I'm having the same problem. There seems to be no way around it. I'm wondering, however, why not many other mac-users have posted the same problem. I use this function to (mainly) view some bills. I'm also wondering if this issue is solved with Snow Leopard? I haven't gotten around to installing this yet.
These constant problems with viewing this file or that really bugs me, fortunately there's mostly some way to fix this. Not this time.

Nov 13, 2009 11:30 AM in response to Kirk Olson1

I concur with Kirk Olson1's comment above, and have been unable to solve this 'til reading this post.

Change the .aspx extension of a saved file to .pdf and presto, Preview opens the doc for reading without complaint. This may not solve the problem the user has with editing the file within their browser. But the .aspx file, without a doubt, is in fact a file of "some" sort that is readable by Preview. As to the properties of editing the file, I can't speak to that. Since I am using this to read and save my bank statement, I would hope that the ASPX file is a signed document that can't be edited without the change being detectable... otherwise, what purpose is served by introducing a new filename extension ASPX for PDF files???

I've had the same "Browser can't view/open ASPX file" problem under Mac OS 10.5.* and Safari and Firefox. A bank provides me with "PDF" files (so they say) that download (to view, or file-save-as) with the .aspx filename extension. Firefox 3.5.* doesn't handle them. I've not downloaded Adobe products to my Mac and have avoided doing so because I don't want Adobe mucking with the way Preview works, etc.

In an experiment, I am unable to coerce Preview to open a copy of the same file while it had the .aspx extension (via Ctrl-Click the aspx file, Open_With, Enable All Applications to Open). Preview just sits there without opening the file, no error dialog, and I don't see any telltale warnings in the console log either. The same file, with a filename extension changed, no problem opening and viewing.

Nov 13, 2009 11:48 AM in response to Kirk Olson1

Two bits of info for this thread about ASPX. From downloadatoz dot com:

"The ASPX file extension identifies Active Server Page Extended files. These are associated with Microsoft Windows Server web services and may be used to perform advanced functions on dynamic websites, such as facilitate online shopping functions. Microsoft Corporation has developed the former ASP language which is used to developed web based services such as web sites, web applications and so on."

And, I used the command-line utility:
file *.aspx
It told me the ASPX files downloaded from my bank were PDF Document version 1.3
Your mileage may vary.
Thanks again to Unix!

Nov 18, 2009 4:56 AM in response to rj_oregon

I get the same problem. I need to submit my online tax return & the support team ensured that it would work on a Mac. .aspx pages are equivalent to .php or .jsp - they are the Microsoft flavor of dynamic server pages (dynamically created web pages), so they should work as any other web page.

I tried downloading & re-naming the extension to .pdf. I was able to edit the PDF from this downloaded file but when trying to save (via the 'Save online' link it contains) it I got an error "An error occurred during the submit process. Cannot process content of type text/html; charset-utf-8"
After reading forums, I checked my adobe reader settings:
EDIT / PREFERENCES / INTERNET and check the "Display PDF in browser"
... which were checked.

Eventually I got the answer for my specific case, which was to open the PDF in Safari, which worked in the end (I could edit & save my PDF from within the browser)

Cheers
Tracy

Feb 13, 2010 12:07 PM in response to Erik Morales

If anyone progresses with solution to this I would like to hear it.

I just got a new MacBook Pro and migrated all my stuff over from my old MacBook

There are two sites that I use in Safari that generate PDF files that should open within the browser using Adobe Reader. One is the US postal service and the other is my web-hosted work database/ forms program. I have set Adobe reader to allow this. It worked fine on my old MacBook but somehow after the migration it stopped working. Can't figure out why.

How to view aspx PDF files in Safari 4.0.3

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