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    How to open pdf files in an external viewer

    Opera for Windows
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    • ulrikef
      ulrikef last edited by

      I have a lot of documentation on my pc that is hyperlinked in html files. I want to open this documentation in an external pdf viewer - the plug-ins simply don't offer the tools I need to search in the documentations, they have a tendency to hang, also it gets too confusing when the browser has all sorts of tabs for the pdf-files beside normal website tabs.

      With the older opera it was no problem to tell opera to use an external pdf viewer, but with opera 26 the best I could manage was to disable the plug-ins, so that the file is downloaded and then to double click on the entry in the download folder - but this leads to all sorts of doublettes in the download folder - in two days I already managed to have five version of the same file in this folder. Also this solution clashes with my wish to choose the download folder before a download.

      So I'm currently very unhappy with my workflow. Isn't there any way to tell opera to open a pdf in an external viewer of my choice?

      Ulrike

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      • Deleted User
        Deleted User last edited by

        If your external viewer has a plugin for the browser, maybe it is possible. If you have Foxit Reader or Adobe reader, the PDF should open with their plugin in the browser.

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        • ulrikef
          ulrikef last edited by

          But I don't want to open in the browser with a plug-in. I explicly wrote I want to open the pdf in the external application.

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          • Deleted User
            Deleted User last edited by

            So download the pdf and open it. Simple and easy.

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            • ulrikef
              ulrikef last edited by

              Sorry but did you actually read my question? I alreay wrote that's what I'm currently doing but that it doesn't satisfy my needs.

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              • A Former User
                A Former User last edited by

                For your separate application to open, it anyway needs to get downloaded - somehow - first.
                In Google Chrome, for such items/files there's a download/popup menu that contains some extra options - for PDFs, it's (one of them is) Open in Adobe Reader or like that (I'm not sure now where it is exactly, but it's there). I don't know about nuOpera, though.

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                • donq
                  donq last edited by

                  Do like I do - use old Opera for such behavior. Of course if your PDF source site doesn't work with O12, then you need to use some other browser.

                  There are many (I have seen at least two) threads in these forums about allowing open links (like PDF, but other file types too) directly. So far we haven't seen any positive response from Opera devs ๐Ÿ˜ž

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                  • A Former User
                    A Former User last edited by admin

                    ... I "agree" with the thread opener: I want to show PDFs in my external PDF viewer, too (no, not only a viewer, but Acrobat Professional ;)).
                    Why? To get all my familiar shortcuts for navigating etc. in this PDF. Makes life easier -- the digital, too ๐Ÿ˜‰

                    ... but, รคh, sorry, there are too much postings like the one in this thread and e.g. here: https://forums.opera.com/topic/2094/open-a-file-instead-of-save-it

                    ๐Ÿ˜ž

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                    • ulrikef
                      ulrikef last edited by

                      @donk, @segros: I had seen one of the threads but as in my case the files are local files on my PC I hoped someone had written a suitable extension -- it can't be so difficult to add an entry to the context menu of links which strips the "file:///" and then calls "start path/to/xyz.pdf".

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                      • Deleted User
                        Deleted User last edited by

                        Earlier this was easy, but "new and improved solutions" have made the experience of the browser worse.
                        I hope the developers can make it easier for the user to determine which program to use when opening PDF files!

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                        • lando242
                          lando242 last edited by

                          It takes time to restore features after completely rewriting the browser from scratch. They will get there.

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                          • trek1701
                            trek1701 last edited by

                            First step you did was to disable opera's built-in pdf plug-in viewer. That you've done already.

                            Try this next. Right click on a pdf file. A context menu will open up. My system is windows 7. Select "open with" "choose default program" If you for example have Adobe Reader on your system it many be listed under recommend programs. If not click on the little arrow by "other programs" and select what ever your external pdf viewer is. Next make sure that the "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" box is checked. Click on "OK" The extension of a pdf file is now associated with this program. So from now on a pdf file should now open in your chosen pdf viewer. Hope this works for you. Good luck.

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