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Cannot View or automatically download PDFs in Safari 7.0

This is a bizarre problem since the Safari 7.0 update. If I click on a link for a PDF, instead of downloading the PDF and opening Acrobat or Preview, I just get a page of the underlying code.


E.g., clicking on http://images.apple.com/media/us/osx/2013/docs/OSX_Mavericks_Core_Technology_Ove rview.pdf


gives me:


%PDF-1.5 %âãÏÓ 1101 0 obj <> endobj xref 1101 29 0000000016 00000 n 0000002539 00000 n 0000002690 00000 n 0000003122 00000 n 0000003237 00000 n 0000004185 00000 n 0000004648 00000 n 0000004761 00000 n 0000005026 00000 n 0000005537 00000 n 0000006159 00000 n 0000006419 00000 n 0000007050 00000 n 0000017804 00000 n 0000025298 00000 n 0000025328 00000 n 0000025454 00000 n 0000025490 00000 n 0000025567 00000 n 0000039803 00000 n 0000040145 00000 n 0000040214 00000 n 0000040332 00000 n 0000040409 00000 n 0000040687 00000 n 0000043992 00000 n 0000103676 00000 n 0000002338 00000 n 0000000876 00000 n trailer <<7ECE529081E14E87910F79877C04D8A0>]/Prev 4452637/XRefStm 2338>> startxref 0 %%EOF 1129 0 obj <>stream hÞ´T&#127;P’g ÿ>€ ˆ &#144;” …° ašÓrˆŒÈ• ™3ónh&#157;Õ•— ×&#143;[5TÒ—Ê™^®U¶ uYËSS7·öC·Ì~l&#157;m-]k7ÙêÔ®:-k»vÝíá ”ÖþÝóÜËû}>ßïçûóá í;ðÿTàÁÔâAÞ4 wÁM@tð³@6Ò U0w#€…¿QEÕ`–¡%ÈY ˜ ,©ˆÊ c~ 7õ¬Žˆr{à1 Ô >Ÿ; D#P¶Íy Z ¬ p²•ÙÊÉy¾=ûíyÐ× ø ´« [øÙ†²¨ª°Ð&#157;ÜY ÷ÏTéÆËzm¡ŠÌêz-‹?GwC8•#¯†Êâ%T#8©=”]_Þ/J6ÓS/×й‚!ûï ɲ BÞ 6YßVZiW &#141;N8/ º Iš¾ALþô +úí¼M¦Nä »Y&#141;y$X¨/ s£ Ùä *gvnEÚ~Qè.çÍåaíù‚4MŸÅê_) öä ¡²[4ið ûÑÚÒTbS‘±s_ª&#141;]=ÿÎRC ýîy»£ÄžYÈ Ï¯‹H ‹e?œÄº¡¼ÒfÓg9½1·˜kÍ&#127;uÈ‚Î d¼Ñ«E"N£æÁ CŽ’ã Oy c ûÕCƒ Zò ‰’&§•òëÕƘig lC_@†CµÉäá™]ñšó Q* ÉMÎ 4Y¦±m•oEž ã¿ŒD÷ Õ»œ c‚ÅVœ™KW)—¦¯þjÛø});²'ÁüŒ£ : 謶* ¥R>ëÔ+ •l&#144;]‚] ™‘¹äDÒ žba«ýõ×h£ã:}x ‹®s`ÝN傦z ÷Z t€p»ÖÖrîž óc í&#143;{ ¬LÜeäù÷–¹ Ç ™©©å«¤Áû’÷B{Þä ‹žñ(• \‘xM Ô§ÙÎ ^’+À&õy/Ìo˜m&#143;—™:A ಼TSïæ]äÛI×t?œgz¤Úbh QñTpfU‰[nËLë ɳ™ÔüŸÎ Éú0(ä-5t%˜ ²iáÁ µkÄÚZ¶¢'3&#144;ï ± ÌjK[ÐtHÎ÷Î&#157; ¤ 95÷¶ q7½Áÿ¢Œ´¬ŽÒ²éúîku®¬ó¿u݉!‹¡QcvNÈü¼ 4µáÛÙøÒþ|I ¹¯tbñ•?7æ|YÐûUd½à è“¢G@ &#141;îÅؤìÎÈÝ"¾·?4&#141;ÛÀó}! äA =ÕE WüŸ2f¿ä ÷’ði¿×/W åMÛ»þ¿ï) x æÓßÁïéøÙL¦ lT ÙÔ#¨ ²à!ºCY £”ÜÙà 1@…5Àå ” rX Jø›um” b Cà #i@ 0 O N ExN ”bJê v Gè :&#141;G² óâBk°ö)0Y `h&#143;Á^x @ lƒÝ oÁ ˆÃ» Î (etc.)


I get pages of this code.


If I do a "Save As" of this page in Safari, then it saves it as a proper PDF, viewable by any PDF reader. This happens on all PDFs, not just Apple's. I installed Mavericks and Safari 7.0 at the same time, so I don't know when the problem began. This happens on both my iMac and MacBook Air. I changed the default viewer from Acrobat to Preview, but it did not help.


I feel like I've been transported back in time 15 years when this is how files were exchanged...


Any ideas?


Running:

  • Safari 7.0
  • OS 10.9 Mavericks


on

  • iMac i7
  • MacBook Air i7

OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 24, 2013 5:15 PM

Reply
44 replies

Oct 24, 2013 7:28 PM in response to cm477

Open a Finder window then from the menu bar click Go > Go to Folder


Type or copy paste the following:


/Library/Internet Plug-Ins


Click Go.


If you see the: AdobePDFViewer plugin in the Internet Plug-Ins folder, move it to the trash.


Restart your Mac and try opening a PDF file.


If that didn't help, it may be a font issue.


Try troubleshooting duplicate or corrupted fonts > Mac Basics: Font Book

Oct 24, 2013 8:57 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

@ Carolyn: I forgot to mention that I looked in the Internet Plug-In folder already, and I had no AdobePDFViewer plug in the folder. Usually I have Safari download the pdf, and then I view it in Acrobat or Preview rather than within Safari.


@Linc: I checked the security settings, and it is already set to "Allow other plug-ins."


Unfortunately, it still does not work.


Thanks for the suggestion.

Oct 25, 2013 12:50 PM in response to Linc Davis

These are my installed plug-ins:


  • AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin
  • Citrix Receiver Plug-in
  • Google Earth Plug-in
  • iPhotoPhotocast
  • Java Applet Plug-in
  • MoveNetworks Quantum Media Player
  • Nokia Maps 3D browser plug-in
  • QuickTime Plug-in 7.7.3
  • Shockwave Flash
  • Silverlight Plug-In
  • Unity Player
  • WebEx64 General Plugin Container


However, I noticed that I do not have WebKit built-in PDF on either my iMac or MBA. (Note, I transferred the settings from my iMac to my MBA when I got my MBA about three years ago.)


I did a little more research and noticed some of your recommendations to others, so I tried the following:


  • I logged into my Guest account on each computer, and I can view PDF's within Safari (also worked in my wife's account). I prefer to have the PDF's download immediately and open within Adobe Acrobat (or Preview... I don't use Acrobat Reader), but at least that is a step in the right direction.
  • I removed the com.apple.Safari.plist file and restarted Safari, but it did not help.
  • I rebooted in Safe Boot mode, but I still cannot view or download PDF's in Safari.
  • I was able to view PDF's within Firefox and Chrome.


I am starting to regret upgrading to Safari 7.0 and Mavericks, as everything was working fine beforehand (I have other issues that I will post elsewhere).


Thanks.


Oct 25, 2013 3:06 PM in response to Linc Davis

I unchecked the box to allow plugins, but it still didn't work. I deleted the Silverlight plugin and restarted Safari, and it did not work.


I also started Adobe Acrobat and let it "heal" itself to install AdobePDFViewer.plugin, but it did not work with that plugin.


I wish there was a way to reinstall Safari. I am assuming since my default behavior was for PDF's to open directly in Adobe Acrobat rather than Safari, that may be causing this issue. I cannot remember what setting I changed so PDF's would open in Adobe Acrobat rather than within Safari.

Oct 27, 2013 12:23 PM in response to cm477

Since this morning, my safari 7.X can show pdf 🙂


I do not remember having any update from apple. So, it is probably due to the modifications I've done a couple of hours ago. Here are the two things I've done:


1) Update you adobe plugins through adobe website:


a) http://get.adobe.com/fr/reader/?promoid=JOPDC

b) http://get.adobe.com/fr/flashplayer/?no_ab=1


2) Since this issue with safari results from Apple security restrictions with Adobe plugins, all you have to do is go to safari "settings"/"preferences", then "Security" tab, and under "Security" tab check the "internet modules" and click to the right box to edit the "Setting for websites". Once inside, make sure both "Adobe Flash Player" and "Adobe Reader" are "Authorized/Allowed/Granted" to be use with any modules/links/websites: You will have a box on the right corner of each plugin suggesting "Ask", "Block", "Allow", "Always Allow", and "Unsecured mode".


Let me know if it worked for you 🙂 .


NBK.

Oct 27, 2013 1:12 PM in response to cm477

It's like it's not recognizing the MIME setttings that tells that it's a PDF so it's just displaying it as text.


I don't think I've every had Acrobat installed on my MacBook and I haven't had Safari displaying PDFs.

I had safari saving them and then I'd open them manually (which would be preview).


I don't see how this could be an Adobe/Apple Security issue.


(I do have updated flash installed but it's disabled by default with the click to flash plug in. I've tried turing it on)


FYI, I did not run the Safari 7.0 updater before I installed Mavericks, I installed Mavericks and it came with that.


Gary

Oct 27, 2013 1:27 PM in response to Neo Blu Karbon

So after never having Acrobat installed, I installed Acrobat and I can see that it senses the PDF but it displays the black screen (before installing I was getting a white background). I went and give the plug-in permissions but still no go.

(I'd updated Flash earlier).

If I turn off the plugins (via security options) I go back to seeing the ascii of the PDF and not the content (which is where I started).



UPDATE: After turning things on and off a few more times and relauching Safari a few times, Acrobat is working loading the PDFs in the page. Thisn't my goal, I want Safari to go back to just saving them to the Downloads folder, but I wanted to report it did work.


Gary

Oct 27, 2013 2:46 PM in response to garylapointe

Thanks for letting me know it worked for you 🙂


However i am not sure of what you mean by «go back to just saving them to the Downloads folder» Manually or automatically? ... In any case, unless you've change the location for downloads, this is supposed to be a default setting. Anyway, I recommend you these steps to try to restore you old settings:


1) Checked if in your Safari's general settings the download folder is set to "Downloads". If not, just select the location and that's it... Everytime you save a file it will go there... Probably 😉


2) Whether the first one is ok or not, try to save any pdf file in your computer using these few shortcuts and confirm that the saved file went in the location you wanted:


a) Open the pdf file in a new tab, then click on the save bubble which at the bottom center of the page =>

Once you see the box at the top center of the page make sure that BEFORE clicking on "Save" you've selected "Downloads" folder IF that's NOT the default location.


b) Two finger click (trackpad) / right click (mouse) / CTRL + click (Keyboard + mouse or trackpad) on the link to the pdf => a bubble appears and you have to select "Save the file under..." Once you see the box at the top center of the page make sure that BEFORE clicking on "Save" you've selected "Downloads" folder IF that's NOT the default location.


c) LEFT ALT + Click on the pdf link.


If these do not help can you clearly explain your problem?


PS: Apple/adobe security issue: some codes use by adobe are obsolete, corrupted or too weak to protect people from piracy or computer complete crash... These have been reported quite much since 2009. Hence, Apple made sure that adobe plugins work in a sort sandbox, in order to protect people both from unsecured websites and file corruption. However, this "sandbox" is getting so paranoid that it led us to the trouble we encountered earlier with viewing pdf in our browser. You can google it or search it apple forums 🙂. There are genuine stories (sometimes exagerated for fun) and tons of information about it.


NBK

Oct 27, 2013 2:51 PM in response to Neo Blu Karbon

I had "Open safe documents after downloading" as unchecked so PDFs just downloaded automatically when I clicked on them and did not open in preview (


1) They aren't going to the download folder since they are (MIME type misinterptreted and) being displayed as plaintext in Safari. If I option click them then they download.


2) Everything when downloading is going to the correct place. Just the PDFs that are displaying imporperly aren't going there (since it's not "downloading" them, it's displaying them.


Gary

Oct 27, 2013 3:06 PM in response to cm477

If I log in as a different user (guest or a test user) Safari displays the PDF properly in the browser (I can clearly tell that it's not Acrobat) but even unchcecking "Open safe documents after downloading" isn't getting it to save the file automatically.


Maybe that's not what I did to get it to save them years ago, I've been doing it this way for ages. The saving is kind of minor, getting them to display NOT as plaintext is the important thing! Then I'll worry about the saving to the documents instead of displaying.


Gary

Oct 27, 2013 5:13 PM in response to cm477

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

The purpose of this test is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account. Enable guest logins* and log in as Guest. Don't use the Safari-only “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac.”

While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your personal files or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.

Test while logged in as Guest. Same problem?

After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.

*Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault in OS X 10.7 or later, then you can’t enable the Guest account. The "Guest User" login created by "Find My Mac" is not the same. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.

Cannot View or automatically download PDFs in Safari 7.0

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