Safari won't save or export a pdf file which otherwise displays correctly.

Back up all data before making any changes. Please take each of the following steps until the problem is resolved.

Step 1

If Adobe Reader or Acrobat is installed, and the problem is just that you can't print or save PDF's displayed in Safari, you may be able to do so by moving the cursor to the the bottom edge of the page, somewhere near the middle. A black toolbar should appear under the cursor. Click the printer or disk icon.

Step 2

There should be a setting in its preferences of the Adobe application such as Display PDF in Browser. I don't use those applications myself, so I can't be more precise. Deselect that setting, if it's selected.

Step 3

If you get a message such as ""Adobe Reader blocked for this website," then from the Safari menu bar, select

Safari ▹ Preferences... ▹ Security

and check the box marked

Allow Plug-ins

Then click

Manage Website Settings...

and make any required changes to the security settings for the Adobe PDF plugin.

Step 4

Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it, the copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:

/Library/Internet Plug-ins

In the Finder, select

Go ▹ Go to Folder

from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-G. Paste into the text box that opens by pressing command-V, then press return.

From the folder that opens, move to the Trash any items that have "Adobe" or “PDF” in the name. You may be prompted for your login password. Then quit and relaunch Safari.

Step 5

The "Silverlight" web plugin distributed by Microsoft can interfere with PDF display in Safari, so you may need to remove it, if it's present. The same goes for a plugin called "iGetter," and perhaps others—I don't have a complete list. Don't remove Silverlight if you use the "Netflix" video-streaming service.

Step 6

Do as in Step 4 with this line:

~/Library/Internet Plug-ins

If you don’t like the results of this procedure, restore the items from the backup you made before you started. Relaunch Safari.

Odd. Saving a file through the icon works but "save as" and "export" produce an empty file. This comment is true for both my iMac and laptop; the latter is still on Maverick. Another oddity - if I attempt to "save as" a file that already exists, then I will get the appropriate question and if I respond "replace" then the file is OK. To further complicate the situation, the replaced file bears a new date and time indicating that it really is a new copy.

Your comments relating to Adobe do not appear applicable in this case. The pdf file(s) loaded into Safari come from a variety of on-line sources and in no case can I "save as" or "export" excepting as noted above.

The question remains open. Bear in mind that Chrome works as expected with any of the loaded pdf files. I therefore lay the problem firmly on Safari's doorstep.

Hmmmmm! I went through the steps you recommended and that cured the problem. Thank you. Whether or not I have introduced other problems as a result remains to be seen.