Unable to open pdf files in Safari 5.1

I also installed the Shubert plug-in and it does work... but I have had it crash Safari a few times, or just hang (spinning wheel). It's better than before however, at least I have most functionality back. Actually I like the interface better than previously.

Dude, chill!

I was just relaying a finding I made during my research of the issue... offered by Adobe (text taken directly from their website). I did not infer or state that Adobe OR Safari were "the problem," although if asked for my opinion obviously Safari is it.

So in conclusion; don't ever presume to "tell" me what I should or shouldn't be posting. Instead, begin by applying some principles of critical thinking, and you'll save yourself a bunch of needless keystrokes.

My finding is that the Quicktime Plugin.plugin (in Library, Internet Plugins) is the reason why Safari 5.1 "opens" pdf in Quicktime. I copied the plugin to Disabled Plugins and deleted the original (drag and drop leaves the original at it's place!), reset Safari, closed and reopened it. Now it displays pdf's. BUT I am unable to display movies. When I move the plugin back everything behaves as before: I can see movies, but Safari displays the first page of a pdf using Quicktime.

I never used Adobe Reader and have no files related to that.

I see no way to change the settings of the plugin. I deleted the plugin's plist to no effect.

Captnpetee wrote:

So in conclusion; don't ever presume to "tell" me what I should or shouldn't be posting. Instead, begin by applying some principles of critical thinking, and you'll save yourself a bunch of needless keystrokes.

Well I said please, so that implies asking you and not telling you in my opinion. I am sorry if I was not clear.

I do think that relaying all kinds of findings will mistify things.

I have installed the PDF browser plugin and that is a solution for now, but it is not what I want. OSX always had PDF support in the system AND Safari without installing all kinds of plugins like Adobe Reader etc. I want that back and I do not think that Apple left it out on purpose and will see this as a bug.

@DK2005: Please stay on topic and do not discuss Quicken 2007

If you read the release from Adobe, you'll see that they are saying there's a compatibility issue with Safari 5.1 and the required Safari plug-in.

".......but applications that require the Adobe Reader or Acrobat plug-in to render PDF documents in the Safari browser will be affected. "

So it appears that Safari is not, and was not, capable of displaying .pdfs without the required plug-in.

To say that this is Safari's problem is ridiculous. Adobe makes the plugin. Therefore, my analogy to you between Lion and Quicken is valid to prove my point. Adobe needs to fix the plugin to work with Safary 5.1

@Gogolathome: You should really try to stay on topic. It doesn't really matter whose problem it is. The topic was about a work-around until someone figures out how to fix it.

I never had Adobe reader and Safari CAN display PDF documents without the Adobe plugin:

http://cl.ly/0T471e141P0G2m3p0d2K

My problem was at the beginning that the quicktime plugin was somehow interfering and displayed the first page of a PDF in Safari. I have been playing around and believe that deleting the Quicktime Plugin.plugin preference file and restarting Safari must have done the job because all seems to work - movies as well as pdf's.

I could not edit and save my last message and want to add the following:

Deleting the com.apple.quicktime.plugin.preferences.plist as well as a file called "Quicktime Preferences" (not a plist) must have solved the issue.

These files were in the user library which is hidden and can be accessed by holding the selection key (alt) and using the Go to menue in finder.

Thank you for confirming that Safari (version 5.0.5) did not need a plugin to read PDF files.

I did also some investigating and it seems indeed that com.apple.quicktime.plugin.preferences.plist contains a mime type application/pdf and that was not enabled on my computer. Enabling this (webplugintype enabled) shows only the first page of a PDF document as also other people remarked.

I investigated also OSX Snow Leopard (10.6.8) and Safari shows PDF even without application/pdf mime type so it is built-in.

I still cannot beleive that Apple is forcing users to use Adobe Reader or other plugins.

BTW: even Adobe confirms that Safari 5.1 renders PDF's natively http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/908/cpsid_90885.html

Also Chrome does this without plugins.

Message was edited by: Gogolathome

If your .pdf files are opening as Quicktime, you can follow the steps you would use to remove the Acrobat plug-in. (Article http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/870/cpsid_87060.html)

Just go to /Library/Internet Plug-ins/ and remove the QuickTime Plugin.plugin

You don't HAVE to use Acrobat. Just remove the plugin for it, and it will default to Preview. Simply remove the plugin called /Library/Internet Plug-ins/AdobePDFViewer.plugin

If you remove the quicktime plugin, no videos can be seen and you get te missing plugin sign!

But Safari will of course show PDF's correctly. The solution that works to see all correctly is by deleting the quicktime plugin's preferences and a file called "Quicktime Preferences". You need to reset and restart Safari to be sure that it works. For me the above was the only way to get it permanently working fine.

Agree fully, but as you can see in my posts I narrowed the guilty files to Quicktime Plugin plist and Quicktime Preferences (way at the bottom of the plist files and without the plist extension).

So to make it very clear: under Lion there is no need at all for acrobat reader nor for any pdf plugin.

Janpieter wrote:

Agree fully, but as you can see in my posts I narrowed the guilty files to Quicktime Plugin plist and Quicktime Preferences (way at the bottom of the plist files and without the plist extension).

So to make it very clear: under Lion there is no need at all for acrobat reader nor for any pdf plugin.

Sorry to disagree with you, but that is not true and not very clear to confused posters that still can't read PDF files in Safari 5.1

The image above is from a secure site where I get my pay statements. It clearly states that a missing plugin is required. That plugin is for Adobe reader. Additionally I have gone to other sites that require it. Printing out a return label for a RMA authorzation required a the plugin. The only way around was to right click on the "Print Label" link or button and download the label. This was just a trial and error thing, no directions to do so.

The Schubert plugin mentioned above works fine, by the way.

I also never used Adobe reader in the past. Safari and Preview took care of all my needs and Safari did have a reader plugin. It may be all part of a security thing with Apple trying to protect me from Zombies and Malware, but it IS very much needed.

This is indeed strange. I did all my tests with these two sites:

https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/public/diagnostics/Acrobat.html

http://samplepdf.com/

Without having any PDF plugin installed both sites tell me that my PDF software is correctly installed!. I therefore took it for granted that Safari under Lion takes care of the job. I have tested the Schubert plugin when I had the problem that all PDF's were opened (first page only) by Quicktime and it worked fine but I see no need for it after discovering what prevents Safari from displaying them natively.

I missed to show the proof that Safari CAN render PDF's. These screenshots were taken while testing with the links in my previous post: