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Why can't I open PDF documents in Hotmail anymore?

  • 10 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by v_kcin

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Since the most recent Firefox update, I can't open PDFs in Hotmail. When I click on then, I get taken to Hotmail's PDF/ photo viewing page, but the documents don't open - just a blank page.

This issue only happens with PDFs. I can still open pictures this way, and I can still see the message / reply area on the right.

Since the most recent Firefox update, I can't open PDFs in Hotmail. When I click on then, I get taken to Hotmail's PDF/ photo viewing page, but the documents don't open - just a blank page. This issue only happens with PDFs. I can still open pictures this way, and I can still see the message / reply area on the right.

All Replies (10)

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Does your Hotmail have a little menu like this for PDFs:

<center></center>

If you test each option, which ones work as expected and which ones fail?

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It does. Download and Save to OneDrive works. Preview does nothing.

And normally you can click on the title or the main tab and it will pop up in a sub-window, which it does now but appears blank.

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@FFus3r I tried clearing Cache and Cookies, and checked my Add-Ons but that didn't help.

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Hi v_kcin, are you able to preview PDFs from websites in a tab, the problem only happens on Hotmail/Outlook?

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It doesn't seem to work in a tab either

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Could you double-check your PDF setting on the Options page?

  • Windows: "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options
  • Mac: "3-bar" menu button (or Firefox menu) > Preferences
  • Linux: "3-bar" menu button (or Edit menu) > Preferences
  • Any system: type or paste about:preferences into the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it

Scroll down to the Applications section and check whether "Portable Document Format (pdf)" is set to "Preview in Firefox". (Example screenshot attached.) See: View PDF files using Firefox’s built-in viewer.

If that is already set, try temporarily changing to "Always Ask" to see whether that works (i.e., Firefox should show the download dialog when you follow a link to a PDF) and then change it back.

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There are other things that need attention.

The System Details list shows that you have multiple (outdated) Flash plugins, current is 31.0.0.108 (31.0 r0).

  • Shockwave Flash 31.0 r0
  • Shockwave Flash 18.0 r0

You can find the installation path of a plugin on the about:plugins page.

You can download the latest NPAPI Flash plugin for Firefox on this page.

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@jscher2000 That seems to have done the trick. Thank you!!!

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@cor-el I have tried to update these plugins but they don't seem to respond for some reason. I downloaded the update from Adobe website and either nothing happened after installation, or the installation wizard would jam somehow (like not allowing me to click "Next" or something similar, or not allowing to close Firefox to proceed with the installation)...

I thought Firefox stopped using plug-ins?