Virginia Defense Force

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Viewing PDFs

Question:

Whenever I hit View PDF or View Preview on the Web app, the PDF is always downloaded as a file. Is there a way to display in the web browser only?

Answer:

This is a setting specific to each web browser that can be changed to suit user preferences.

Google Chrome:

You can normally open PDFs automatically in Chrome by clicking on the file you want to see.

If your PDFs are downloading instead of opening automatically in Chrome, Chrome PDF viewer could be turned off.

  1. On your computer, open Chrome.
  2. At the top right, click More Settings.
  3. At the bottom, click Show advanced settings.
  4. Under “Privacy”, click Content settings.
  5. Under “PDF Documents,” check the box next to “Open PDF files in the default PDF viewer application.”
  6. (Uncheck this box if you want PDFs to open automatically when you click them.)

 

Mozilla Firefox:

Firefox includes a built-in PDF viewer that allows you to view almost all PDF files found on the web without a plugin.

The built-in PDF viewer is enabled by default. If this is not occurring you can change this by following the steps below:

  • On your computer, open Firefox
  • Click the menu button and choose Settings
  • Select the Applications panel
  • Find Portable Document Format (PDF) in the list and click on the entry to select it.
  • Click on the drop-down arrow in the Action column for the above entry. In the Action section, change the action for how you want to open the file. The Action entry will show Preview in Firefox when you’re using the built-in PDF Viewer.
    1. To use an external application to view PDF files, select the entry for the PDF application you wish to use e.g. if you want the PDF to open in Adobe Reader instead of in the Firefox browser window, select Use Adobe Reader.
    2. To use an available plugin to view PDF files in Firefox, select Use PDF plugin name (in Firefox).
    3. If you want to download the PDF files instead of opening them, select Save file.

 

Microsoft Internet Explorer:

By default, Internet Explorer opens PDF files in the Internet Explorer browser window.

To disable this and have PDF files open in your PDF reader program (Adobe Reader or other), follow the steps below:

  1. Open Internet Explorer
  2. Click the Internet Explorer Tools button and select Manage add-ons.
  3. For the Toolbars and Extensionsoption, click in the Show drop-down list and select All add-ons.
  4. Look for the Adobe PDF Readerin the extensions list. If you have a PDF reader program other than Adobe Reader, you may need to look for that program’s name in the list instead.
  5. Select the extension found in step 4 above and click the Disablebutton in the bottom left of the Manage Add-ons window.

(To enable the ability for Internet Explorer to open and display PDF files in the Internet Explorer browser window enable the Adobe PDF Reader plug-in (or the extension for your PDF Reader, if you have something other than Adobe Reader installed)).

 

Microsoft Edge:

By default, MS Edge will open a PDF in the browser. If you want to download the PDF to your computer, just right click on the PDF file in the browser and select Save As.