Ever since I purchased a new MacBook Pro, I’ve suffered the indignity of having to download Web-linked PDFs to my Desktop instead of viewing them directly within Safari, because Safari only displays a gigantic Adobe Acrobat icon. What am I doing wrong, and how can I fix it?
What many Mac users don’t realize (especially those who just switched from the PC) is that PDF technology is natively built into Mac OS X. This means you can automatically create PDF files from within any Print dialog box, without needing additional software. And it also means that you can view PDF files natively in Preview and Safari, without having to install Adobe Reader.
In Adobe Reader > Preferences > Internet, uncheck the first two checkboxes to restore PDF viewing to its rightful place within Safari.
But if you already installed Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat Professional, those apps may try to hijack your native PDF viewing within Safari. To work around this, launch Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader, go to Preferences > Internet, and uncheck “Display PDF in browser using.” From that point forward, PDF files will be viewed in Safari using Mac OS X’s native PDF-viewing engine.
Anonymous
January 06, 2008 at 10:35pm
I changed this preference in Acrobat Standard 7.0 but in Firefox the PDF just downloads, not even displays. And for some reason I have to click the link twice for the download to happen (initially there is an error message about the associated helper application not existing). Any suggestions on how to view PDF's in Firefox?
