Choose how Firefox handles the files you download from the web.

[GaBaN]

With version 98.0 the saving of .exe files won't ''ask me'' if i want to save the file like in previous versions.I read that the default saving attitude now is auto-saving. I have changed to ''always ask'' most of my content type like it was before, but the .exe type is missing. Please fix this on next version because a misclick - autosaving a .exe file can make things pretty bad. I have tried finding the ''Old Firefox'' folder in order to replace my old prefs.js but i guess newer versions have stopped using that folder.So please fix it.

[Dima]

I have nearly the same problem. when i try to open a pdf-file from a website, it dosn't matter which option i have choosen it always save the file on my pc.

[DamnRabbit]

I do not want files automatically saved to the Downloads folder.

Why doesn't Always Ask work the way it is supposed to (& how it used to work).  Getting ready to dump FireFox just for this reason.

[Jon]

Thanks all for participating in this thread and helping get this feature delivered 👏. It was shipped in Firefox 101, so we are closing out this thread.

Please continue sharing product feedback and ideas for new features/feature enhancements.

[Sassy_Squatch]

The version that was delivered doesn't match the previous behaviour.

It still leaves a copy in the designated downloads folder, instead of in a temporary location that's cleared out automatically.

[KatherineNYC]

Concur. Pdfs that I view are showing up in my default download location though I have "always ask" chosen.  Driving me nuts.  I don't want to deal with Chrome, but I will if FF can't undo this new feature.

[mrbigmouth502]

If I could give this idea an extra kudo, I would. Please reopen this.

[SamBull]

For anyone jumping to the end of the thread and wanting to know how to configure this correctly, see these 2 instructions:
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/choose-how-firefox-handles-the-files-you-download-from-the-web/...

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/choose-how-firefox-handles-the-files-you-download-from-the-web/...

[hifromnz]

I don't want anything except preview in Firefox for anything. I am quite capable of clicking the download button on the PDF tab's toolbar or right click, V on any image.

This is deliberate removal of the functionality to preview without downloading.

Time to roll back and switch off updates again.

[jscher2000]

@hifromnzwrote:

---

I don't want anything except preview in Firefox for anything. I am quite capable of clicking the download button on the PDF tab's toolbar or right click, V on any image.This is deliberate removal of the functionality to preview without downloading.

If you have a problem with images not saving, try starting a new question on the Mozilla Support site. They have a team of support volunteers to troubleshoot malfunctions with your currently installed version of Firefox, while this site is focused on idea submissions for future versions of Firefox (looking ahead anywhere from 8 weeks to many months). Here's a link to the new question form (for Windows/Mac/Linux): https://mzl.la/3y1vQUQ

"Previewing" vs. "Saving" PDFs

When you have the default "Open in Firefox" action for PDFs on the Settings page, it's not consistent where Firefox will save the file. Here's how to take control.

Firefox can't display PDFs without downloading and saving them somewhere. You can tweak some hidden settings to determine where Firefox saves the file, whether that is the web content cache, the "Save files to:" download folder, or the Windows Temp folder. Here are the slightly messy details.

Background: inline vs. attachment disposition

If web servers don't specify how Firefox should handle a PDF, or if they specify "inline" handling, then then Firefox loads the PDF as web content with its original URL in the address bar. The PDFs are saved with other cached web content, not in your download folder. This is good.

But web servers can try to force a download by setting Content-Disposition: attachment if they don't want browsers to show the files in a tab. Firefox changed what it does in this case:

Before Firefox 98: Firefox always showed a download dialog, even though you had already told Firefox what you wanted to do, even when you checked the box to always do this in the future. It was kind of infuriating.

Firefox 98+: Firefox downloads the file automatically and then opens it. Because these are saved to disk the URLs start with file:///. By default, they are saved in your "Save files to" folder on the Settings page. A lot of users were dissatisfied with use of their Downloads folder.

New options for saving downloads

In response to user suggestions/complaints, Mozilla added some options to modify the above:

(1) Just for PDFs, override "attachment" disposition to "inline"

When your handling action is "Open in Firefox", all PDFs can now be opened as web content and saved in the cache instead of a regular folder. Here's how you set this up (starting in Firefox 103):

(A) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

More info on about:config: Configuration Editor for Firefox. Please keep in mind that changes made through this back door aren't fully supported and aren't guaranteed to continue working in the future.

(B) In the search box in the page, type or paste browser.download.open_pdf_attachments_inline and pause while the list is filtered

(C) Double-click the preference to switch the value from false to true (or click the toggle button toward the right end of the row)

(2) For all the downloads Firefox saves to disk and opens automatically, change from the "Save files to" folder to the Windows Temp folder (if you made the change in #1, this will affect other kinds of files rather than PDFs)

(A) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

More info on about:config: Configuration Editor for Firefox. Please keep in mind that changes made through this back door aren't fully supported and aren't guaranteed to continue working in the future.

(B) In the search box in the page, type or paste browser.download.start_downloads_in_tmp_dir and pause while the list is filtered

(C) Double-click the preference to switch the value from false to true (or click the toggle button toward the right end of the row)

Hopefully some of that gets Firefox working the way you want.

[kaisekarenet]

I appreciate the updates to Firefox, but the auto-saving of files, especially .exe files, can be risky. It would be great to have more control over where files are saved or whether they are downloaded at all. This would be particularly helpful for users who frequently download apps for PC and need a clear choice on each download. Please consider restoring the 'Always Ask' feature for all file types.