Aug162012

How can I make Chrome ask to open a file as opposed to downloading it?

Ashwin Ramesh asks:

Is there any possible way wherein I can make Chrome prompt the “Open file” option instead of it downloading to my computer?

Sometimes when I browse and find a PDF in my search results I do not want to download and open from my computer. I would prefer to “Open” it. Does anyone know how one handles this in Chrome?

Thanks!


Browser: Chrome 21
System: Windows 7
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6 Answers -

0 votes

Bruce Epper

August 16, 2012

That’s unusual. When I click on a PDF file in Chrome, it just opens it. Are you using an extension that is causing this behavior?

Ashwin Ramesh

Ok yeah, I think I was bad in phrasing what I wanted to ask. Forget pdf files.. say you search for a ppt file and want to open it. Unlike browsers such as IE/Opera, which give you an “Open” option when you download, Chrome gives me “Keep” and “Discard”. And I don’t want to do either, but just open and view it. Is it possible?

August 16, 2012
0 votes

ferdinan Sitohang

August 16, 2012

go to “about:plugins” in your google chrome browser, under “Chrome PDF Viewer” give a check in “always allowed” and it will display your pdf file in a browser. This PDF plugin is a default plug in it has. for another reference go to suport.google.com

Ashwin Ramesh

Thanks! That helped!

August 16, 2012
ferdinan Sitohang

Welcome..

August 16, 2012
0 votes

Oron

August 16, 2012

PDF and Flash are special cases since they are handled internally by Chrome (but you can override that to use 3rd party plug-ins or applications). Generally however, I don’t believe there’s an option for that in Chrome.
That said, all it takes is a _one click_ on the button on the bottom of the screen to open the document. I really like this feature – it means that opening the file is still quite easy, and I get to keep the downloaded file in a convenient location.

0 votes

Ben Mordecai

August 25, 2012

The simplest way it to just click on the progress meter along the bottom once the download has initiated. This will cause it to open immediately upon completion.

Ashwin Ramesh

hehe that’s what I do when I want to “Open” them in Chrome :)

September 2, 2012
0 votes

Filipe Costa

September 1, 2012

This is the reason why Chrome doesn’t do that automatically:
This step helps prevent malicious software from automatically downloading to your computer. If the download URL matches the latest list of malicious website published by the Safe Browsing API , a warning will appear.
Source: http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95759&from=95579&rd=1

Ashwin Ramesh

I see.. thanks for the info :)

September 2, 2012
0 votes

Krishna Vallabhaneni

September 2, 2012

right click