How can I view a PDF without downloading it?

Montiverdi

When using Vivaldi, I routinely open PDF files in PDF-XChange.

PROBLEM: When I select 'Open', rather than 'Save' or 'Save as', the file still gets saved into my chosen default downloads directory where I routinely download files that I want to keep. This is a nuisance.

The majority of PDF files that I view are not files that I want to keep. For those that I do want to keep, I can easily press 'File --> Save As' to save it in my default directory.

QUESTION: Using Vivaldi, how do I view the file in PDF-XChange without downloading it?

I can't find any setting that forces the 'Open' button to be just 'Open' and not 'Open and Save'.

Pesala

@Montiverdi To be pedantic it is impossible to open a PDF file without downloading it. What you want is to save it in a temporary folder instead of in your default downloads folder.

The best solution currently is to open it in Vivaldi using the plugin.

It would be nice to have Support for MIME Types like in Opera 12.18 so that we can decide how Vivaldi should deal with each file type.

P.S. I am also a fan of PDF-XChange Editor. Even the free version can do many things that the plugin cannot do, but the plugin is fine for reading PDF files — I use Save As and select the folder where I want to save PDF files if I need to do more than just read a PDF file.

Montiverdi

Thanks very much, @Pesala. I used the free version of PDF-XChange for years, and then bought the Pro version so that I could do small edits and other things --- it's great.

Yes, I should have mentioned that I know that a PDF can't be opened without downloading it. But if I press 'View', the normal Windows practice is surely that the file goes into the 'Temp' directory rather than the default downloads directory. That way:

It doesn't muck up the list of intentionally downloaded files.
I won't have to delete it later (I am constantly forgetting to do this).
I have immediate access to all the many features of PDF-XChange.
The Vivaldi tab is not occupied by a PDF file, and I can snap the PDF's window next to the webpage that I got it from.
On the odd occasion where I forget save an opened file that I want, I have the option of fishing it out of the Temp directory.

I have never experienced before this saving of a PDF file into the default downloads directory when I only click 'Open'. It appears to be an oversight.

Pesala

@Montiverdi It is not an oversight. It just does what Chrome does as far as I know. A feature to do it differently has not been implemented yet.

It is easy enough to open the linked PDF in a new tab and keep the two tabs side-by-side using Tab tiling.

Shift+Click on the link, Middle-click or Ctrl+click to open it in the background, or right-click and choose what to do from the context menu.
Assign a shortcut to Select Next Tab
Enable Include Active Tab in Selection
Assign an easy to remember shortcut like "T" to Tile Vertically (default = Ctrl+F9)

Ayespy

@Pesala said in How can I view a PDF without downloading it?:

A feature to do it differently has not been implemented yet

This is true. And there's no telling how soon it might happen, as changing the Chromium behavior turns out to trigger some ridiculously complex problems.

Montiverdi

Thanks again, @Pesala, for these remarks. I'll muddle along as it is, because I really dislike mixing up multiple PDFs and browser windows. For comparison, here is the situation with Firefox and Edge Chromium on my up-to-date Windows 10 PC.

FIREFOX: All as expected. When I click on a DuckDuckGo link to a PDF file, the PDF file opens in PDF-XChange, and the downloaded PDF is in the Temp directory.

EDGE CHROME: I rarely use this browser. When I click on the DuckDuckGo link, the PDF file opens in the browser. This is unexpected behaviour, because I have set PDF-XChange as the default for opening PDF files in:
Settings --> Apps --> Default apps --> Choose default applications by file type.
According to WinAero and InfoWindows, this is the correct procedure to have PDFs open in third-party apps, but it doesn't work on Version 81.0.416.77 64-bit.

The behaviour in Edge appears to be about marketing, as if it is being made as difficult as possible to to open files from the internet with third party software. Presumably this code is written by Google and not Microsoft.

Here are two ways that Vivaldi could possibly fix the situation:

EITHER: If the user clicks 'Open', then when the tab is closed, a dialogue could come up asking if the user wants to save the PDF. This would really irritate many users, so in addition, Settings should give the non-default option simply to delete the file with no warning (and/or the dialogue could contain the future option).

OR: If the user clicks 'Open', then the file is saved to Temp. If the user clicks 'Save' or 'Save as', then the file is saved to the default location or the chosen location.

Surely the Chrome code base can be adapted for either or both of these --- but I wouldn't know.

I will put in a notice, but I am not sure if it is a bug report or a feature request.

felagund

This is the feature request for Temporary Downloads directory support: https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/24240/save-opened-files-in-temporary-folder