Change default PDF viewer in Firefox

Question

Level 4

2,826 points

Change default PDF viewer in Firefox

Hi,

I use Firefox a lot for viewing the web and when I click on a PDF file I get the option of either saving it to my computer or opening it in Preview. However, I'd like to be able to open the PDF directly in Adobe Acrobat. Is there a way I can set what application should be used to open my PDF files from Firefox? And if so, how do I do it? Thanks so much.

-NifflerX

iBook G3, Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on May 15, 2006 2:16 PM

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Answer 1

am174744

Level 1

5 points

Jun 18, 2006 12:39 AM in response to nifflerX

I found an easy but not intuitive solution:
1. Find a pdf file on the web, click on the link to it
2. Choose Preview and set "Do this automatically ..." check box
3. Action will appear for pdf in preferences, and you can edit it and change the program to adobe Reader

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Answer 2

May 15, 2006 3:12 PM in response to nifflerX

nifflerX,

I have Firefox version 1.5 (backup browser so I'm not too savvy as to its preferences) and looking around in the preferences I see that under Downloads tab>Download Actions>View and Edit Actions it appears that you can change this there. Or am I missing something? Sorry if this isn't what your looking for.....

best,

littleshoulders [:-)

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Answer 3

May 15, 2006 4:13 PM in response to nifflerX

NifflerX.... will this do the job for you...
Open with or always open with....
• Control+click and hold on the file...press and hold Option ...“open with” will change to “always open with”)
• Then select ... the application of your choice
• or slide down to “other” ... and navigate to the app you want
•. When located, click on “Add” or “Open”..

george

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Answer 4

nifflerX Author

Level 4

2,826 points

May 16, 2006 7:01 AM in response to littleshoulders

LittleShoulders,

Ideally that is what I'm looking for, however in that pop-up menu I can only change helper applications, not add any. And since I don't have PDFs defined I can't change the PDF viewer to be Adobe Acrobat instead of Preview.

-NifflerX

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Answer 5

nifflerX Author

Level 4

2,826 points

May 16, 2006 7:05 AM in response to George Orville

Georege Orville,

These look like the instructions to change the default viewer in the Finder. I don't have a problem doing this, my only problem is that when I click on a PDf file in Firefox it always opens with Preview instead of Adobe. When I right click on a PDF link in Firefox I'm allowed to open the link in a new tab and then a pop up box comes up allowing me to either "open with <application>" or "Save to Disk". But the only application I'm allowed to use is Preview, which is what I want to change. Is there a way to do this? Thanks so much.

-NifflerX

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Answer 6

May 16, 2006 7:24 AM in response to nifflerX

nifflerX,

Sorry, my oversight. I thought that that was what you were trying to do and didn't realize that it didn't allow adding a new file type......odd.

Without that preference there....I can't imagine a way to do it.

best,

littleshoulders [:-)

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Answer 7

nifflerX Author

Level 4

2,826 points

May 16, 2006 7:53 AM in response to littleshoulders

Nope, not what I was looking for at all 🙂. I did read some stuff about people being able to directly edit preference files with a text editor to force the change. Does anyone know anything about that? How to do it? Or some good tutorial sites for that sort of thing? Thanks so much.

-NifflerX

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Answer 8

nifflerX Author

Level 4

2,826 points

May 16, 2006 7:29 AM in response to littleshoulders

No problem, and I agree it's really strange. The best explanation I can find is here, which basically says they're not gonna put it in 'cause average users don't want it.

-NifflerX

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Answer 9

May 16, 2006 7:46 AM in response to nifflerX

nifflerX,

re: "The best explanation I can find is......"

Ahaa......probably not the explanation that you would want to hear though. LOL )))

best,

littleshoulders [:-)

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