PDF printing in Firefox
April 7, 2011 2:37 PM Subscribe
Mac OSX 10.5.8 form PDF printing: Can anyone tell me why it might be that sites which generate a unique PDF for download will malfunction with Firefox but not with Safari or Chrome? A typical example is Purolator.ca: clicking on the javascript link to print a waybill returns a cgi file but no pdf.
Not much in terms of Firefox plugins although I do have adblock plus installed.
Not much in terms of Firefox plugins although I do have adblock plus installed.
Response by poster: Thanks kindall, I'll try that next time.
posted by HLD at 3:00 PM on April 7, 2011
posted by HLD at 3:00 PM on April 7, 2011
Generally these issues are because the server is sending a binary stream of data with a mime-type identifying what it is (application/pdf), and the browser is expected to convert that into an extension and is failing for some reason. In Options > Applications, do you have anything defined for pdf?
posted by smackfu at 4:16 PM on April 7, 2011
posted by smackfu at 4:16 PM on April 7, 2011
Yes, I would second checking the preferences, to see how Firefox is handling the PDF mime type ("application/pdf").
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:12 PM on April 7, 2011
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:12 PM on April 7, 2011
Response by poster: In the Firefox Options/Applications menu, there are three Portable Document Format types: (application/download), (applicatication/pdf), and (binary/octet stream). All are set to 'always ask'.
When I've had trouble in the past, it's always been with - fill in the form, pay fee by credit card, click the link to print the mail-in form as a pdf - type sites... which when it fails is not easily repeated to diagnose due to the payment. Are there any sites out there known to do this kind of server-generated PDF one could suggest for testing?
Thanks for the help.
posted by HLD at 9:46 PM on April 7, 2011
When I've had trouble in the past, it's always been with - fill in the form, pay fee by credit card, click the link to print the mail-in form as a pdf - type sites... which when it fails is not easily repeated to diagnose due to the payment. Are there any sites out there known to do this kind of server-generated PDF one could suggest for testing?
Thanks for the help.
posted by HLD at 9:46 PM on April 7, 2011
Filename is handled partly by the
posted by artlung at 7:36 PM on April 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Content-Disposition headers which are sent out by the webserver and by the programmers who did the work. If it fails in your particular setup probably a note to the support team for the site would be worthwhile.posted by artlung at 7:36 PM on April 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by kindall at 2:41 PM on April 7, 2011