Prevent PDFs from stealing Firefox navigation commands

June 7, 2007 3:04 PM

Without opening in a separate program, how can I prevent embedded PDFs from stealing the Back/Forward keyboard functionality from Firefox?

I frequently view PDFs briefly, and wish to return to the previous page, but once I click inside the PDF window (ie, to scroll or drag the pages), Adobe Reader takes and uses the Back command (Alt + left) for returning the PDF to the "Previous View" instead of returning to the previous page. Is there a way to unbind this key command from Adobe's function?

I could use the browser arrows, but I'd like to maintain the keyboard shortcut functionality for speed, and sometimes (especially with Reader 8) Firefox's nav buttons are not shown.

Bonus points for a solution that doesn't require installing more widgets for Firefox.

posted by toomanyplugs to computers & internet (13 comments total)

Try this extension.
posted by ajr at 3:09 PM on June 7, 2007

Why not just open them in a new tab? Then you can close the tab to go back to the previous page.
posted by emyd at 3:23 PM on June 7, 2007

New tab is the way to go.
posted by The Deej at 4:19 PM on June 7, 2007

But then you still can't do control-W to close that tab. And I can't tell what ajr's extension even does.
posted by librarina at 4:22 PM on June 7, 2007

I second ajr's suggestion of the Docufarm extension. Docufarm is an online utility that provides web-friendly access to antagonistic filetypes such as PDF, PS, and DOC. Docufarm can be accessed via the website search box linked above or through a browser extension. The extension permits you to upload an attachment to Docufarm with one click. If you'd prefer the document not be archived online, simply click "delete" before leaving the page. Using this utility overcomes the need for embedded applications-- thereby preserving your Firefox shortcuts.

Here's an example (reached via query):.
posted by nilihm at 4:38 PM on June 7, 2007

This may be the stupidest assumption, but can't you tab back to get focus to the main window?
posted by loiseau at 4:41 PM on June 7, 2007

@loiseau: it seems not. Here's an example everyone can try, regardless of their filetype handling. It's a full screen Flash animation. Just left-click on the banner once to guarantee focus and then try out all the key combinations you'd expect to work. The behavior of this page reflects how your browser handles embedded content, be it PDF, DOC, or SWF. Docufarm uses Javascript and so doesn't override your browser's shortcut management.
posted by nilihm at 4:50 PM on June 7, 2007

Oh, and once you use Docufarm you can just uninstall the Adobe Acrobat Reader extension. Net change in widgetry: 0. Now where're my bonus points?
posted by nilihm at 5:22 PM on June 7, 2007

This has been a bug in Mozilla/Firefox since 2001 with no end in sight. I think you're out of luck.
posted by marionnette en chaussette at 8:17 PM on June 7, 2007

Is there a better example? nilihm's doesn't 'work' for me.
posted by cashman at 6:18 AM on June 8, 2007

Hmm. From the link that marionnette en chaussette posted, it looks like I am out of luck. I'll try Docufarm, but I'm not sure I like how it handles pdfs, either.

Oh, and librarina's got it right about why you can't open it in a new tab; once you give focus to the pdf, Ctrl-W to close the tab stops working, too.

grrr...
posted by toomanyplugs at 9:38 AM on June 8, 2007

I'm in pdf's all day (have one open right now) and I don't have this problem (thank god).

If you can give me an example, perhaps I can figure out what setting I have enabled that this doesn't happen to me.

I've probably had 15 different pdf's open today, and I don't have this issue.
posted by cashman at 11:39 AM on June 8, 2007

Snark.
posted by nilihm at 11:56 AM on June 8, 2007