Solution To The Issue Viewing PDF Files in Firefox

If you use Mozilla Firefox as your main browser, you may have discovered an issue when trying to view PDF files.

This issue has been around since at least version 11 on Mac OS X, but seems to be still there with the current version of Firefox 16.02. Clicking a link to view or download a PDF will take you to a blank page, where you wait… and wait…

There are a couple of solutions that I have found:

1. Disable an Adobe Acrobat plugin. It is the NPAPI plugin you are looking for. Go to the Tools > Add-ons > Plugins menu to find and disable it:

This should now launch the download panel again.

2. Open Firefox in 32-bit mode. This will allow you to view PDF files directly in the browser. Close Firefox and on Mac OS X, go to Applications > Firefox and ctrl/right-click to bring up the Get Info panel:

Check the 32-bit mode box and restart Firefox. You should now see the PDF in the browser.

Related posts:

Skype 5 on Mac OS X IOS 4.2.1 and Portrait Lock Mac Keyboard Shortcuts