Re: Pdf viewer in web browser

Hi:

Thanks for your reply . . . 

Previously, I was able to open pdf files (all of them) by selecting the file and pressing Ctrl + [file].  I was able to view pdfs in Chrome's native pdf viewer.  The problem arose when I could suddenly ONLY open the pdf files in the dropbox pdf viewer.  The dropbox pdf viewer is unwanted in this instance - because a great deal of pdf functionality is LOST (including being able to open larger pdf files and the loss of the ability to easily share the files).  

I lost functionality when suddenly I was not able to do that any longer.  After discussing with tech support for over 72 hours, they supplied me with a fix that allowed for opening pdf files in the native Chrome pdf viewer by pressing Shift + Ctrl + [file].  

Now, a few months later, apparently, the fix no longer works.  

I would like to be able to view pdfs in the Chrome native pdf viewer, NOT the dropbox viewer.

The original thread can be found here:

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Sharing-and-collaboration/Pdf-viewer-in-web-browser/m-p/237488#M16322

Thank you, 

No worries, Sanchez, THANK YOU for forwarding the information . . . at this point in time I couldn't figure out how to contact Dropbox tech support, so I sincerely appreciate your doing so . . . Fingers crossed as to a solution!

Thank you again, 

What happens if you use the "Open" option on the PDFs instead? That should cause them to open with your computer's registered PDF handler, instead of Dropbox's viewer.

By going to Settings (on Windows 10) and setting my default PDF viewer for Windows to Chrome, and then using "Open" on dropbox.com, I was able to get my PDF files to open natively in Chrome. If you tell me your OS I can give you specific instructions. My original default PDF handler was Adobe DC, and it opened them fine, too. But I tested Chrome to confirm for you that it's possible to use it as you wish.

Unfortunately, doesn't work on Mac OS X.  Selecting "Open" merely opens it in Adobe Acrobat.  

Actually, it DOES work on OS X, but you need to change the PDF handler from Adobe to Google Chrome. Follow these instructions. Or, do this (same thing):

1. Find a PDF file in Finder
2. Right-click (control+click) the PDF
3. Select "Get Info"
4. Under the "Opens With" section select "Google Chrome"
5. Click "Change All..."
6. Enjoy!

Thanks so much for this information . . . 

The problem here, of course, is that you are asking people to change their global pdf viewer so that ALL pdfs open in Chrome . . . and this is only to solve a problem created by Dropbox alone.  

I currently have a 2TB account with Dropbox, 70% of which are pdf files . . . so, i use a lot of pdfs and I use them often.  I would like to be able to access my pdf files (many of which are large files, as well as forms) from other computers (using public computers, etc) . . . as a supposed "cloud-based" solution, making global systemic changes is untenable and not something that Dropbox should be asking people to do.  

I don't have this problem in iOS because I've abandoned using the Dropbox app altogether, and instead access my dropbox account directly through Acrobat's app . . . 

jaidgossamer I assumed that since Google Chrome was your preferred PDF viewer you would want to use it globally. Your last post said that my work-around "doesn't work in Mac OS X", which is untrue. It didn't include details of your use-case.

Thank you for your help in this matter, 

Best, 

jaidgossamer Anytime! 

You mentioned that sometimes you receive an error when PDF previews aren't displayed. If it's the "too big to preview" message then you might want to try Adobe's PDF Optimizer, as there's an 80 mb file size limit for Dropbox's preview.

You might also try printing one of your troublesome PDFs on your Mac and choosing "save as PDF"; the reprinting process sometimes fixes situations where non-standard layers in a PDF are causing issues for some PDF handlers (it can also shrink massive PDFs which contain many high-quality layers that weren't sufficiently down-sampled on export). It might be worth finding out if that resolves the issue, as it'll give Dropbox a clue as to where the problem lies. If that fixes the problem then you could use Automator in OS X to automate the process of reprinting them all. Less than ideal work-around, but might get you back to your ideal workflow. 

Good luck!

Thanks again for your help . . . 

I won't be able to optimize these pdfs as much as I would like as they are mostly 3000+ page legal tomes.  

Yes, I'm pretty irritated by Dropbox's 80MB limit . . . Chrome's native pdf viewer has no such limit.  I'm pretty sure I can go ahead and take my 15,000+ documents and work towards printing and optimizing each one, and Dropbox would most certainly appreciate the years of effort I put into doing so, 

Ultimately, I have been using Chrome's native pdf viewer without issue at all . . . Even the Acrobat app on iOS gives me no issue with very large pdfs.  

It would be awesome if I could simply open my pdfs in Chrome's native pdf viewer.  Again, this used to be allowed in my Dropbox account, and when they took away this functionality on March 15, 2016, they inserted a fix that allowed us to force open the pdfs in the native viewer.  Now, for some reason, they have removed this fix.  

So once again, thanks so much for your help, I am hoping that Dropbox finds (or makes) a way that will allow us to bypass their viewer. 

Best,  

Hi jaidgossamer

Completely unrelated but somehow related :D

You asked about the option to 'unmark' a post that was marked as a solution. You can do that (as long as you're the original poster (OP) or the author of the solution) by clicking on the ". . ." menu on the right of the post that was marked as a solution.

Just click on it and then select 'Not the Solution' :

Thanks!

Years? Nah. Given a simple workflow of "open PDF, print PDF" Automator can do thousands of PDFs an hour.

But it sounds like your issue isn't that the PDFs don't open in Dropbox's web UI, but that you want their web UI to use Chrome's renderer, which adds an attack point which Dropbox cannot control or patch. Dropbox likely prefers their own viewer because it is under their control.

I would suggest you click "Download" instead. Whether the file is being downloaded to open in Chrome, or downloaded to be previewed in Dropbox's viewer, either way it has to download to the local machine before you can see it. When the Downloads bar appears in the bottom of Chrome you can click the file and it will open in the Chrome PDF handler. 

Ed!  Thank you so much for this!  This was so helpful!

Hi Jane:

Thank you, this really works, and is totally awesome!

The steps to do this are: 

(1) Click Ctrl + [file] - (or Cmd + [file] - to open the pdf in a new tab.

(2) In the dropbox viewer, go to the menu that appears in the bottom center of the page to select the "print" icon.  

(3) After selecting this icon, the pdf will open in yet another page, with the print document menu overlay.  Just select "Cancel" to get rid of the overlay.  

Just as a note, you must select the "print" icon in the bottom center of the page while in Dropbox viewer.  If you click Ctrl+P, then it will take you through a different print process.  

Also, this fix only works for those pdf documents that can be seen in Dropbox preview . . . so if the file is too large, it cannot be seen in Dropbox preview, and it cannot be seen after applying this fix.  

This fix also only works for Chrome . . . I have not been able to get it to work on Opera, Safari, Firefox, Chromium, or the Tor Browser.  

Thank you once again, Jane, this was amazingly helpful!

Best, 

Thank you so much for this fix, Jane, it worked really well!

Here are the steps:

(1) Select file to open in new tab (press Ctrl + file or Cmd + file). 

(2) You are now in Dropbox viewer, so navigate to the bottom center of the page and press the "Print" icon.  

(3) You will be taken to yet another new tab, with a print dialog box overlay.  Simply press "Cancel" to get out of the print dialog box overlay and you will now be in Chrome's native pdf viewer.  

Note that you can only press the "Print" icon in the bottom center of the page . . . pressing Ctrl + P will take you through a completely different print process.  

Please also note that this fix will only allow you to see those pdfs that can already be viewed in Dropbox viewer.  If the pdf is too large to be viewed in Dropbox viewer, then it also cannot be viewed using this fix.  

Also note that this fix only works in Chrome - I have confirmed that it does not work in Firefox, Safari, Chromium, Opera, or the Tor Browser.  

Once again, thanks so much for all of your help with this, Jane, it was really helpful!

Nice one Jane ! Solving this thread!

Hey all,