Macworld: Problem with "Get Your PDFs Out of ...

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11 Replies Last post: Aug 28, 2006 5:46 PM by peroberts

Hypergene

5 posts since
Aug 4, 2006

Aug 4, 2006 9:57 PM

Problem with "Get Your PDFs Out of Safari" tip

In the Sept. 2006 issue of MacWorld, on Page 66, the Working Mac section has a tip to force Safari to download PDFs rather than viewing the PDF in Safari. The instructions say to type the following statement in Terminal:

Code:<hr /><pre>defaults write com.apple.Safari
WebKitOmitPDFSupport -bool YES</pre><hr />

I've typed this a number of ways, and a number of times without Safari running and it simply does not work. Is there a typo? Or is there a bad break or missing space? I don't get it, because I normally have no problems with Terminal commands. FYI.. I'm using 10.4.7.

Thanks,
Shayne

griffman

7,985 posts since
Jan 9, 2001

1. Aug 4, 2006 10:37 PM

in response to: Hypergene

Re: Problem with "Get Your PDFs Out of Safari" tip

There should be no line breaks, and a space after ".Safari"

-rob.

Hypergene

5 posts since
Aug 4, 2006

2. Aug 5, 2006 9:16 PM

in response to: griffman

Re: Problem with "Get Your PDFs Out of Safari" tip

Rob -

I had already tried it the way you've explained it.
Just tried it again and it didn't work.

Is there a way to hack the Preference file manually, using a text editor?
What would I need to type?

I really want this to work, because I hate viewing PDFs in the Safari browser window.
I'm using Safari 2.0.4 if that helps...

Thanks,
Shayne

griffman

7,985 posts since
Jan 9, 2001

3. Aug 5, 2006 11:10 PM

in response to: Hypergene

Re: Problem with "Get Your PDFs Out of Safari" tip

Please copy and paste the input and output of your Terminal session here, from when you enter the command.

thx;
-rob.

Hypergene

5 posts since
Aug 4, 2006

4. Aug 6, 2006 4:30 PM

in response to: griffman

Re: Problem with "Get Your PDFs Out of Safari" tip

Here it is:

Code:<hr /><pre>defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitOmitPDFSupport -bool YES</pre><hr />

I'm curious. Is this code working for anyone else?

griffman

7,985 posts since
Jan 9, 2001

5. Aug 6, 2006 9:48 PM

in response to: Hypergene

Re: Problem with "Get Your PDFs Out of Safari" tip

I want to see what, if anything, your Terminal spit out when you entered that. Also, do you have Adobe Acrobat installed? If so, and it's set to handle Safari's PDFs, this tip won't do anything for you.

-rob.

Hypergene

5 posts since
Aug 4, 2006

6. Aug 7, 2006 5:22 PM

in response to: griffman

Re: Problem with "Get Your PDFs Out of Safari" tip

Terminal didn't spit out anything.
I just returned an empty command line prompt.

And yes, I do have Adobe Acrobat Pro installed. (why didn't the article mention that this would be a problem? what a friggin waste of my time.)

When I hit a PDF via Safari, Acrobat doesn't launch and dispaly the PDF.
Are you saying that this is over-ridding Safari settings and forcing Safari to render the PDF in the browser?
Argh.

scr14

21 posts since
Sep 11, 2005

7. Aug 7, 2006 7:33 PM

in response to: Hypergene

Re: Problem with "Get Your PDFs Out of Safari" tip

This is probably a dumb answer and shows my complete lack of computer skills, but I usually just hold down the option key while I click on the PDF link and it downloads to my desktop. Then clicking on it opens it in Preview -- I suppose I could open it in Adobe Reader if I wanted to. A lot less fancy than other methods, but it works.

Sydney

Hypergene

5 posts since
Aug 4, 2006

8. Aug 12, 2006 11:36 AM

in response to: scr14

Re: Problem with "Get Your PDFs Out of Safari" tip

I do the same thing. But it's not always clear that you are clicking on a PDF link sometimes. And once you start the Safari download and render of a PDF, it cannot be stopped until it's complete. So it basically hijacks Safari. I would love a way around this.

aphayton

240 posts since
Jul 23, 2003

9. Aug 15, 2006 2:36 AM

in response to: Hypergene

Re: Problem with "Get Your PDFs Out of Safari" tip

If you have Acrobat you need to change it's own preferences regarding the viewing of pdf's from websites.

farnsworth

1 posts since
Aug 22, 2006

10. Aug 22, 2006 3:37 PM

in response to: aphayton

Re: Problem with "Get Your PDFs Out of Safari" tip

Cool, thanks for the pointer - and no thanks to Mr. Breen for forgetting to mention this in his article!

peroberts

1 posts since
Aug 28, 2006

11. Aug 28, 2006 5:46 PM

in response to: farnsworth

Re: Problem with "Get Your PDFs Out of Safari" tip

This tip works for me as long as I also remember to remove AdobePDFViewer.plugin from Library>Internet Plugins>

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Aug 4, 2006 9:57 PM

Problem with "Get Your PDFs Out of Safari" tip

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