FAQ - How do I get documents (files, PDFs, etc) to open in a browser window instead of downloading to my computer?

This is generally a browser setting that determines if documents download to your computer, or open in a browser window. Below are some generic instructions from Google as well as a few example instructions for several common browsers:

Firefox

  1. Navigate to your Firefox browser settings
  2. Scroll down until you see a section called Files and Applications. 
    Here you can configure how you want your browser to behave with different actions and file types. For example, if you always want to have your PDFs open in a browser instead of downloading, you can find the PDF type shown below. You can also default all files to a certain behavior with the configuration under "What should Firefox do with other files?"


    To configure specific types of files, such as PDF, click on the down arrow on the PDF Action column as shown below and choose what you would like to happen for PDF files:

Chrome

  1. Navigate to your Chrome browser settings
  2. From Settings, navigate to the Privacy and security tab and find the Site Settings

  3. In Site settings, click on Additional content settings down arrow to expand your options and find PDF documents as shown:
  4. Once in PDF documents, you can chose the behavior you desire for PDFs:

Chrome can sometimes be finicky on PDFs. There is a Chrome extension that fixed the PDF issue you can try: PDF Viewer - Chrome Web Store

Here are some generic instructions:

To open a PDF in your browser instead of downloading it, you'll need to adjust your browser's settings to handle PDF files as a web page rather than a downloadable file. 
 
For Google Chrome:
  1. Open Chrome and go to chrome://settings/content/pdfDocuments.
  2. Toggle off the setting that says "Download PDF files instead of automatically opening them in Chrome". 
     
  3. Now, when you click on a PDF link, it should open in a new tab in your browser. 
     
For other browsers (e.g., Firefox, Edge):
  1. Look for a similar setting within the browser's settings related to "Downloads" or "PDF documents."
  2. The setting will likely be something like "Open PDF files in the browser" or "Ask me what to do with each download".
  3. Choose the option that allows PDFs to open in the browser. 
     
Important considerations:
  • PDFs as attachments:
    Some websites may configure PDFs to always download, regardless of browser settings, because they are listed as attachments. 
     
  • Default PDF viewer:
    If you have Adobe Acrobat or Reader installed, you may need to adjust its settings to use the browser's built-in PDF viewer instead of the application.