A fact that sometimes explains PDF problems on a particular website: Firefox determines which downloads are PDFs based on a content-type header sent by the server, application/pdf. If the server sends some other content-type, Firefox will not try to display it in its PDF Viewer.

To choose how Firefox will handle PDFs, what usually works is to set your preference in the Options dialog on the Applications panel. Either:

• "3-bar" menu button > Options > Applications
• Firefox menu > Preferences > Applications

In the search box above the list, type or paste PDF and pause while the list is filtered. Then use the drop-down on the right side to choose your preference, for example:

• Preview in Firefox (uses the internal PDF Viewer)
• Always Ask (should display the Open/Save/Cancel dialog)

Sometimes the file that stores your download handling preferences will become corrupted. Because it is a poorly documented, difficult to edit format, the standard medicine is to rename the file and have Firefox regenerate a new one. If you want to try that:

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
• Help menu > Troubleshooting Information

In the first table on the page, click the "Show in Finder" button

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
• File menu > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename mimeTypes.rdf to something like mimeTypes.old

Start Firefox back up again. PDF settings should default back to "Preview in Firefox" but you can edit as needed. Does Firefox obey?

Oh, I skipped something. To choose the file name and download location, you make a change on the General panel of the Options dialog. See: Startup, home page, tabs, and download settings.

OK its opening a dialogue asking whether to display or save. But I want to SAVE AS using my choice of filename. How do I get that?

The Mac version DOES NOT HAVE anything titled "options." Usually I find it in the PREFERENCES somewhere. Pref /General has "choose download location" which I had already set.

Hi VerizonSucks, when you set the download location, did you choose "Always ask me where to save files"? This displays the dialog that lets you edit the file name. Well, at least on Windows it works that way.

Thanks, that works. Requires more clicks than in Safari though.

Repetetive motion injury is something that designers should consider. My right thumb joint is painful after using a trackpad since they were invented (PowerBook 500 in the early 1990s). "Gestures" helps -- now I'm over-using different joints.

BTW I just learned that Physical Therapists are recognizing what they call "Texting Posture" where the person's neck & shoulders have become hunched forwards.

And there is room in the Prefs to say "ask for location & choose filename every time" so that the Pref pane becomes more usefully descriptive of what it happening.

These downloaded PDFs are funny. There is a second file "xxx.pdf.part"

what the hell ? Can I just trash it? Or Do I have to keep BOTH these files together forever?

OK, more odd behavior. The "opening" dialogue box persists -- half a dozen are in the Window / drop down menu.

The "SAVE" option is active when the box opens. I hit OK Then the box for entering the filename or just OK appears Then this "opening" box shows up on top again.

It SHOULD just "go away" since I have made my choice on what to do. OR close itself if I click on the web page (so I can grab the next file I want).

But it seems that it will persist until I hit CANCEL.

THIS IS WAY TO MANY CLICKS & TIME TO DO WHAT SHOULD BE A SINGLE CLICK, TOP MENU CHOICE TO "save this PDF with a new name." followed by "save" once I enter the filename I desire. Or just use the existing filename.

The .part file is a temporary file during the download process and eventually should be removed once the download is complete.

Boot the computer in Windows Safe Mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test.

• http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-start-windows-in-safe-mode/

>The .part file is a temporary file during the download process and eventually should be removed once the download is complete. >

The .part file seems to become a Folder ending in "_files"

This is not desirable. I don't want to have to keep together both that and the ".html" portion in order to SAVE a complete web page.

If I trash the _Files folder, the .html file is missing all the graphics.

Why can't FF put the whole page together as one document? Safari does when you Save As Web Archive.

Hi VerizonSucks, if you are ending up with .htm and a corresponding _files folder, then you are saving the web page (using the "complete" option) instead of the PDF.

I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to save. If you want to save a PDF displayed in Firefox's PDF Viewer in its original format, then find the narrow toolbar at the top of the PDF viewer and use the Download button (has an arrow) to save the PDF.

If you want to save a "complete" web page as a single file, that is not a built-in feature. You can generate a PDF of the page or you can use an extension that generates a single-file archive.

• For generating PDFs, I am not familiar with the options for Mac users.

• For the archive format, see: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/mozilla-archive-format/

>For the archive format, see:

I'll try that but I'm not familiar with the 2 formats offered. Which is the same as the Macintosh "web archive?"

> You can view and save MHT (MHTML) files, with excellent compatibility with Internet Explorer; but more importantly, you can use the MAFF file format... >

Well, I've spent the last 4 hours or so schmucking around with some error that prevents FF from opening properly... Spin Locks & locks up my whole computer.