View PDF in browser

[Brock Landers]

Can someone please tell me how to view pdf files in a web browser in OS X? I would prefer Firefox, but will switch to a different browser if necessary. Downloading every pdf file I want to look at and opening it in preview is a hassle.

Thank you

 

[palpatine]

Can someone please tell me how to view pdf files in a web browser in OS X? I would prefer Firefox, but will switch to a different browser if necessary. Downloading every pdf file I want to look at and opening it in preview is a hassle.

Thank you

I prefer Chrome for various reasons. In the case of PDFs, Safari seems to download files a lot more slowly.

No matter what you use, you are going to have to download the PDF (or anything else) off the server in order to view it. However, it works the same in Chrome and Safari. PDFs appear in the browser window. I don't understand what you mean about "preview."

 

[Brock Landers]

I prefer Chrome for various reasons. In the case of PDFs, Safari seems to download files a lot more slowly.

No matter what you use, you are going to have to download the PDF (or anything else) off the server in order to view it. However, it works the same in Chrome and Safari. PDFs appear in the browser window. I don't understand what you mean about "preview."

I mean the application called Preview.

So there is no way to open a pdf in a new tab of a web browser? I do this all the time on pc's at work...

 

[palpatine]

I mean the application called Preview.

So there is no way to open a pdf in a new tab of a web browser? I do this all the time on pc's at work...

i don't think i have had to use the preview app to view pdfs in safari. that sounds odd to me.

but, as far as i know, safari doesn't have any tabs, so i don't think you'll get a pdf to open up that way! personally, i find safari to be slow and poorly developed compared to firefox and chrome. chrome has tabs. you ought to be able to select the option to open in a new tab if you want. i am on ipad right now, so can't confirm that. download chrome and give it a try.

 

[Hansr]

By default Safari will display the pdf in the browser. For firefox use a plugin, this is one option: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pdf-plugin-for-firefox-on-mac-/

 

[JTToft]

Safari displays PDFs in the browser window by default. Works quite well.

 

[Macsavvytech]

I prefer Chrome for various reasons. In the case of PDFs, Safari seems to download files a lot more slowly.

Fanboy much? Love Chrome but both Safari and chrome are very similar in this respect. Especially considering they are both webkit browsers

No matter what you use, you are going to have to download the PDF (or anything else) off the server in order to view it. However, it works the same in Chrome and Safari. PDFs appear in the browser window. I don't understand what you mean about "preview."

This is true, i have never had a issue where i have had to download it.

 

[acedickson]

i don't think i have had to use the preview app to view pdfs in safari. that sounds odd to me.

but, as far as i know, safari doesn't have any tabs, so i don't think you'll get a pdf to open up that way! personally, i find safari to be slow and poorly developed compared to firefox and chrome. chrome has tabs. you ought to be able to select the option to open in a new tab if you want. i am on ipad right now, so can't confirm that. download chrome and give it a try.

They all have tabs. Are you sure you've used Safari?

 

[palpatine]

Fanboy much? Love Chrome but both Safari and chrome are very similar in this respect. Especially considering they are both webkit browsers

I don't think of myself as a fanboy.... I use Chrome, IE, Firefox, and Safari every day. I prefer Chrome for various reasons (totally unrelated to the poster's question, so I don't want to derail the thread with them). I don't love it (flashbacks to the final stage of Portal here--no, I don't want to marry it). I prefer it.

As far as speed, I don't know any technical details about WHY, but Safari is slower to display the very same PDF files. Is this only a problem that I am having?

@acedickson
As for the tabs, I honestly had no idea they existed! Why in the world would they be off by default? Unbelievable. I had never even thought to look in system preferences to turn them on.

Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[bigjobby]

As for the tabs, I honestly had no idea they existed! Why in the world would they be off by default? Unbelievable. I had never even thought to look in system preferences to turn them on.

CMD+T to open a new tab. Its pretty much standard nowadays with all major browsers.

 

[trevorplease]

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pdf-plugin-for-firefox-on-mac-/

 

[palpatine]

CMD+T to open a new tab. Its pretty much standard nowadays with all major browsers.

LOL. I didn't know the shortcut. I am new to Macs, but even with Windows, I always press the tab icon.

I will practice my shortcuts more!

 

[bigjobby]

LOL. I didn't know the shortcut. I am new to Macs, but even with Windows, I always press the tab icon.

I will practice my shortcuts more!

No problemo. On Windoze its CTRL+T.

To the OP, (I believe) Safari opens pdf web links within the browser by default. To open in a new tab, right click the link and choose the relevant option. Pretty sure Firefox can be tinkered to do the same but I'm not a frequent enough user of FF to comment.

I've had no problems with download speeds for PDFs on Safari.

 

[bozz2006]

Right-click also opens the menu with the option to open the link in a new tab. Command click also does the same thing.

 

[JTToft]

@acedickson
As for the tabs, I honestly had no idea they existed! Why in the world would they be off by default? Unbelievable. I had never even thought to look in system preferences to turn them on.

Thanks for the heads-up.

- Tabs are not turned off by default in Safari... And there are no options in System Preferences that have anything to do with Safari.

What are you talking about?