[Macworld]

Post your comments for Bugs & Fixes: When PDFs won't load in Safari here

[mblachford]

I've not installed the Adobe plug in and have still had consistent trouble loading pdfs in the browser. I can always bypass using the option key to download, but this is a clean install of Snow Leopard. All I get is a black background. Any ideas?

[GaryRK]

I had the same problem. I could view pdf files in firefox but not safari. I found that this tip worked from me; go to Library/Internet Plugins, and User/Library/Internet Plugins and delete any 'PDF browser plug-ins. After that i had no problems viewing pdf files in safari.

I would be interested to hear if this works for you.

[mblachford]

Thanks for the tip, but since I was having troubles with my Snow Leopard upgrade I did a clean install. I have not loaded a single pdf plugin so there isn't anything to take out. I'm a big fan of the PDF Browser Plugin (http://www.schubert-it.com/pluginpdf/) but it isn't 64bit compatible. I use the Glims add on (MacHangout.com), but that doesn't seem to have any bearing. I just want to invoke Safari's viewer and then open it in Preview if I deem it necessary. If I'm missing something feel free to enlighten me.

[mblachford]

To any one who cares, this seems to be a Safari Snow Leopard bug. I never installed any plugins like Adobe or Schubert's on my clean install but can only get Safari's inline viewer to work in 32bit mode. When in 64, only a dark grey background comes up. I've trolled the apple discussion forums and no one has an answer. I'm hoping the upcoming 10.6.2 update will address this problem.

[GaryRK]

i'm sorry the tip i gave you didn't work for you. here is the apple support discussion link about this problem. There are some other tips in there that might be useful.

http://discussions.a...com/thread.jspa threadID=2038718&tstart=0

[bastion]

mblachford, on 09 October 2009 - 08:38 AM, said:

To any one who cares, this seems to be a Safari Snow Leopard bug. I never installed any plugins like Adobe or Schubert's on my clean install but can only get Safari's inline viewer to work in 32bit mode. When in 64, only a dark grey background comes up. I've trolled the apple discussion forums and no one has an answer. I'm hoping the upcoming 10.6.2 update will address this problem.

Is it reproducible under a different account? PDF viewing in 64-bit Safari hasn't been an issue for me.

[bitwise]

While it sounds from the comments like there may be a bug in Safari, the article only seems to indicate that it's due to Adobe's plug-in not being updated yet. Given that pretense for the article, it's too bad Safari and bug are included in the title with no mention of Adobe. I think Apple is doing it's best to move the OS forward, and applaud that effort. And some want flash on the iPhone?!

[ted_landau]

bitwise, on 09 October 2009 - 11:31 AM, said:

Too bad Safari and bug are included in the title with no mention of Adobe.

Sorry if the title seemed misleading. I see your point. I would just point out that "Bugs & Fixes" is the name of the column in general, not just this particular article. I think of this article as more about "Fixes" than "Bugs."

[bitwise]

Mr. Landau, I appreciate your reply to my post. I'm often frustrated with acrobat quirks as I support designers that need some of its features still not found in preview. So I already have that bias. Nonetheless, a good, informative article with some good comments. Thank you.

[hillstones]

I hate Safari's navigation of a PDF file. The simple solution is to right click on the PDF within Safari and choose the option to open with Acrobat Reader.

[leskern]

hillstones, on 10 October 2009 - 08:35 AM, said:

I hate Safari's navigation of a PDF file. The simple solution is to right click on the PDF within Safari and choose the option to open with Acrobat Reader.

I agree, but I have an easier solution: Use Firefox. When all is fixed go back. I hate more work just so I can use Safari. Doesn't do mime types anyway, and Firefox allows me to set them. That's two good reasons not to use Safari right there.

This post has been edited by leskern: 10 October 2009 - 12:28 PM

[whitedog]

I tried the latest version of PDF Browser plugin, dated 09/02/09. But it's not compatible with Safari in 64 bit in Snow Leopard. I hope it will soon be updated so that I can use it again. In the meantime, Safari's native PDF support is working for me, parochial as it is. One other thing to check: a variety of utilities, like Mac Pilot, enable you to disable PDF support in Safari. If you inadvertently checked that option, it's possible one of those is blocking PDF viewing.

[jazzace]

Thanks for the tip. I guess I haven't come across this problem because I use OmniWeb as my default browser and uncheck "open PDFs in the browser" in the Preferences so that I can have PDFs displayed in Preview. I'd love to set Safari to do this, but it doesn't look like there is even a hidden "defaults" setting that I can adjust. :-( The option-click workaround is useful.