viewer not working in firefox

astro46 · Post by **astro46** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 3:27 pm

firefox 3.x, pdfxchange 2.0.42.2
all pdf's still open with adobe reader.
i checked the box for firefox when installilng.
no pdfxchange listed in firefox addons.
i tried the about:config fix. the mentioned listing doesn't exist.
pdf's outside of firefox do open in pdfxchange.

i had emailed with someone in support about this problem a couple of months ago. he suggested the about:config fix. after that, he stopped responding.

pbcd2000 · Post by **pbcd2000** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 4:23 pm

I am having a problem opening adobe files in firefox tabs. If I use a firefox tab I just get the viewer icon in the middle of a page. If I choose to open in an IE tab I get the acrobat file displayed using Adobe Acrobat and not pdf exchange viewer? A solution would be appreciated to get pdf exchange viewer to open all acrobat files in eitehr type of tab.

ZekeBlue · Post by **ZekeBlue** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 5:01 pm

I'm using the firefox addin "pdf Download" (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/636). It may not help every situation, but it does help with the open in browser vs open in viewer issue. It also gives some choice and flexibility to the process.

astro46 · Post by **astro46** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 8:55 pm

my guess is that firefox not showing a pdfxhange viewer in the addons is the main issue.

pbcd2000 · Post by **pbcd2000** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:58 am

The PDF Exchange viewer is installed in addons and not disabled, and as I say the 'pdf xhange viewer' icon comes up static in the middle of the screen, it is frustrating.

Cadillakin · Post by **Cadillakin** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 6:10 am

pbcd2000 wrote:The PDF Exchange viewer is installed in addons and not disabled, and as I say the 'pdf xhange viewer' icon comes up static in the middle of the screen, it is frustrating.

I'd uninstall the viewer, then reboot.. I would then create a new profile for Firefox. I'd reinstall the viewer afterwards to see if there is something in my previous FF profile that somehow interfered with the Xchange Viewer..

If the behavior still exists, you can be reasonably certain that it's a Windows issue, not a FF issue. That being the case, I'd then work with clearing my pdf associations... I always reboot when making significant changes with these kind of issues so I have assurances that I'm working in a "clean environment." Clear pdf associations in registry, clear Xchange Viewer in registry, reboot, go to clean profile and reinstall Xchange Viewer.

Some combination of those above will probably get you where you want to be..

Post by **Tracker Supp-Stefan** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 1:08 pm

Cadillakin,

thanks for the advices.

And pbcd2000, can you please let us know how it is going?

I myself am an Opera fan, and could not help much here but it appears other people in the forum are using our Viewer inside FF without problems and could give good suggestions - thanks to all of you guys!!

Regards,
Stefan

astro46 · Post by **astro46** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 2:37 pm

again, for me, pdfxchange, does Not appear in ff addons. this is through several uninstalls, reinstalls, and firefox versions.

Cadillakin · Post by **Cadillakin** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 4:22 pm

astro46 wrote:again, for me, pdfxchange, does Not appear in ff addons. this is through several uninstalls, reinstalls, and firefox versions.

Did you try working with a newly created profile? That's the first step in the troubleshooting process to ascertain if the primary problem is Xchange with Firefox, or Xchange with Windows, or both. A re-installation of FF without a complete removal of the previous profile will not be useful for your purposes. A new profile will also reset about:config to it's original settings.. and if you have been changing things there, that might help.

To create a new profile, close all instances of Firefox, then go to the profile folder at "C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles and create a new subfolder.. Name it whatever you want.. ie Troubleshoot. Then use this command from start-run; "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -profilemanager. Choose "create", go forward, then choose the folder you created. A new instance of Firefox will start upon completion and it will not use any of your previously installed extensions and about:config will be clean.

Then, try uninstalling and reinstalling the Xchange Viewer with the new, active profile. Just so you know, you can go back to your previous setup and profile without any issue by using that same "profile manager" command, and choosing the name of the profile you were previously using from the list... So, nothing will be lost...

The reason that I'm posting to you here is I too had similar issues with Firefox and the Xchange plugin.. I did not mention it in the postings I made about "trouble with installations" but I found on investigating, that some parts of the installation were not installing properly, including the plugin...

I overcame it.. I too was frustrated.. I'm not a programmer, but I've come to realize over these many years that the interaction of programs/profiles/plugins and such, with each other, or with Windows native programs, sometimes causes unique circumstances that others cannot reproduce. So, it's mostly up to you... It's your system. As you are aware, the rest of us do not have your issue... In theory, a new install of Windows and Firefox, then Xchange will work.. as all of us here are using the same tools you are.. But we don't want to go that far... So, simulate a new environment, by first creating a new profile for FF.. See if things improve when you install Xchange into a new profile...If that doesn't work and the plugin does not install.. Then the issue is between Xchange and the pdf association. That's where you would go next.

Your issue CAN be fixed.

Post by **Paul - Tracker Supp** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 4:36 pm

Thanks for the input Cadillakin,

as usual first rate stuff. I'm seeing the same issue in my FF and will try your fix and report back with how that goes for me.

pbcd2000 · Post by **pbcd2000** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 6:40 pm

I uninstalled PDF Tools and viewer completely. Re-installed and the pdf files downloaded and opened in pdf viewer. I have made sure it was default viewer. In addition I have also ticked the 'open in browser' option and it opens in Firefox tabs fine now, so all sorted after re-install.

Post by **Paul - Tracker Supp** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:08 pm

Most excellent to hear! here's hoping mine will fix as readily.

pbcd2000 · Post by **pbcd2000** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 9:10 pm

Hmm, think I may have been a bit hasty. FIle displays fine, but I have edited the .pdf file with another package and added form fields that can be used to fill in the fom online before printing. If I view the form in a firefox tab - fields are not available to fill in. If I view the same document in an IE tab, still within firefox the fields are available for filling. Clearly there is something about FF that PDF viewer does not like. It's not a great problem for me as most people (sadly I guess) use the Adobe Viewer and it all works fine in that.

astro46 · Post by **astro46** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 9:12 pm

Cadillakin, thanks for the detailed post. so... if i set up a new profile and pdfxchange installs the addon and works, then i have to figure which other addon or what else in ff, pdfxchange is conflicting with. if it doesn't work, i have to figure out what other programs, in some other part of the system, pdfxchange is conflicting with.

in either instance, this sounds like a lot of time invested in trial and error troubleshooting. looks like i will be staying with adobe reader.

Cadillakin · Post by **Cadillakin** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 1:15 am

astro46 wrote:Cadillakin, thanks for the detailed post. so... if i set up a new profile and pdfxchange installs the addon and works, then i have to figure which other addon or what else in ff, pdfxchange is conflicting with. if it doesn't work, i have to figure out what other programs, in some other part of the system, pdfxchange is conflicting with.

in either instance, this sounds like a lot of time invested in trial and error troubleshooting. looks like i will be staying with adobe reader.

You're welcome...

Yeah, it can be a lot of work.. and sometimes it's not worth it.. But in the case of Xchange, I feel it is... You'll make your own decisions about what's good for you, of course.. I'd remind you that Adobe has had some huge vulnerabilities that have left our computers wide open for exploit. A person browsing the net with an exploitable product can in a matter of moments have their computer infected beyond repair, and/or have their most important information such as passwords and banking information stolen and relayed outside. There are called drive by attacks, or drive by downloads... Get one of these infections and you'll likely shy away from products that are prone to them, such as the Adobe family... Occasionally, I hang out on security boards, so I'm aware of many of the products that are problematic or harbor vulnerabilities... Search on Adobe, vulnerability, 2009. Read some of those and you'll understand why I gladly left the Adobe bloatware behind and paid for Xchange Pro..

Further, I'm amazed that Xchange has the ability to use an alternative pdf viewer, both in the viewer and within the plugin. That is to say, anytime you load a pdf file within Xchange, you can alternatively load it into a competitive product in just a second, by utilizing that function in the lower right corner of the plugin or the viewer. How many products are built to accommodate a competitors product? Not many, I know that much...

But that's just my decision.. I love Xchange, even with the installation problems I have had.. It's elegant and very fast.. and it's feature list is impressive... And perhaps more importantly, we in the user base can interact with the developers when something is not right.. and they will do their very best to fix it in a very short time..

Cadillakin · Post by **Cadillakin** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 1:24 am

pbcd2000 wrote:Hmm, think I may have been a bit hasty. FIle displays fine, but I have edited the .pdf file with another package and added form fields that can be used to fill in the fom online before printing. If I view the form in a firefox tab - fields are not available to fill in. If I view the same document in an IE tab, still within firefox the fields are available for filling. Clearly there is something about FF that PDF viewer does not like. It's not a great problem for me as most people (sadly I guess) use the Adobe Viewer and it all works fine in that.

If it's not private, why don't you zip that file and post it here for others to take a look.. and see if it works on our system. At the very least, the developers should know if there is something about the FF plugin that is not functional. If others can examine and display your file and we too have the issues, then we will be able to confirm that it's an Xchange problem that needs to be addressed..

astro46 · Post by **astro46** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 2:07 am

Cadillakin wrote:
astro46 wrote:Cadillakin, thanks for the detailed post. so... if i set up a new profile and pdfxchange installs the addon and works, then i have to figure which other addon or what else in ff, pdfxchange is conflicting with. if it doesn't work, i have to figure out what other programs, in some other part of the system, pdfxchange is conflicting with.

in either instance, this sounds like a lot of time invested in trial and error troubleshooting. looks like i will be staying with adobe reader.
You're welcome...

Yeah, it can be a lot of work.. and sometimes it's not worth it.. But in the case of Xchange, I feel it is... You'll make your own decisions about what's good for you, of course.. I'd remind you that Adobe has had some huge vulnerabilities that have left our computers wide open for exploit. A person browsing the net with an exploitable product can in a matter of moments have their computer infected beyond repair, and/or have their most important information such as passwords and banking information stolen and relayed outside. There are called drive by attacks, or drive by downloads... Get one of these infections and you'll likely shy away from products that are prone to them, such as the Adobe family... Occasionally, I hang out on security boards, so I'm aware of many of the products that are problematic or harbor vulnerabilities... Search on Adobe, vulnerability, 2009. Read some of those and you'll understand why I gladly left the Adobe bloatware behind and paid for Xchange Pro..

snip

i agree with all that. it is part of the reason that i wanted to use pdfxchange. and there was a time when i would have spent the hours necessary to straighten out the problems. now, however i just can't take the time. too many other projects to deal with. so, if the pdfxchange folks can figure out what the problem may be, and straighten it out, i am happy to use it in firefox. i do use it outside of firefox.

Post by **Paul - Tracker Supp** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 6:15 pm

snip

Cadillakin wrote:
pbcd2000 wrote:If I view the same document in an IE tab, still within firefox the fields are available for filling.

Hi Astro46,

I'm not clear on the meaning of the above quote - how does one open a document in an IE tab within Firefox? I must be misreading this.

I'd like to take this opportunity to say that we at Tracker Sopftware products do place a high priority on support, and in particular will be looking into this issue. As both you and Cadillakin rightly point out, this trouble shooting is time intensive. rest assured that this will be attended to, it may however take a few days.

pbcd2000 · Post by **pbcd2000** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 9:03 pm

I use an addon within Firefox called IE Tab. When you click the tab it switches the rendering engine for the page between IE and Firefox. It's not a show stopper for me, its just a peculiar behaviour. Its as if firefox is not picking up the forms overlay.

Thu Aug 06, 2009 12:05 am

Hi pbcd2000,

Please zip and attach the offending PDF so we can test it in house and see what is goin gon with it.

Thanks,
Chris

astro46 · Post by **astro46** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 1:55 am

Paul - Tracker Supp wrote:snip
Cadillakin wrote:
pbcd2000 wrote:If I view the same document in an IE tab, still within firefox the fields are available for filling.
Hi Astro46,

I'm not clear on the meaning of the above quote - how does one open a document in an IE tab within Firefox? I must be misreading this.

I'd like to take this opportunity to say that we at Tracker Sopftware products do place a high priority on support, and in particular will be looking into this issue. As both you and Cadillakin rightly point out, this trouble shooting is time intensive. rest assured that this will be attended to, it may however take a few days.

Chris, just to be clear: i didn't make the comment about IE tab. apparently my problem, and pbcd2000's are not the same. i started the thread, to discuss pdfxchange viewer not installing the ff addon. I am assuming that it would work if the addon was installed. pbcd2000 seems to be discussing a different issue, where the addon installed but isn't functioning properly.

Cadillakin · Post by **Cadillakin** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 6:16 am

Deleted.

Post by **Paul - Tracker Supp** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 5:55 pm

Sorry Astro 46 for mixing up the quotes there. I will still be doing what I can to text the FF functionality over the next couple of days.

Thanks for your understanding and clarification.

pbcd2000 · Post by **pbcd2000** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 6:31 pm

Chris - Tracker Supp wrote:Hi pbcd2000,

Please zip and attach the offending PDF so we can test it in house and see what is goin gon with it.

Thanks,
Chris

Chris, thanks for the offer but what I have done is re-edited the forms layer from scratch using the other software and applied it from scratch to the pdf. The form now seems to work in both sorts of tabs so I can only assume that the other one i created in some way was corrupted.

Thu Aug 06, 2009 6:32 pm

Not a problem, I am glad that your process corrected the behaviour. Good Job

cyraxote · Post by **cyraxote** » Sun Aug 09, 2009 5:08 pm

It seems to me that the simplest solution would be to post the Firefox addon as a separate download. Then, we would be able to determine whether it's indeed a Firefox issue without having to jump through so many hoops. There should be no reason that an addon needs to be installed by some special means. If it can be made into an XPI file, it doesn't need to be included only in the installation package.

Cadillakin · Post by **Cadillakin** » Sun Aug 09, 2009 8:46 pm

cyraxote wrote:It seems to me that the simplest solution would be to post the Firefox addon as a separate download. Then, we would be able to determine whether it's indeed a Firefox issue without having to jump through so many hoops. There should be no reason that an addon needs to be installed by some special means. If it can be made into an XPI file, it doesn't need to be included only in the installation package.

I agree. The software has some installation issues which they continue to work on. The problem is not only with the FF plugin.. I'm satisfied they are working things out. Currently, I have a very stable installation of Xchange Pro and the viewer.. but I've had some issues in the past.

Schilo · Post by **Schilo** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 8:22 am

Hi, it's not working for me either. I have the paid Pro version (v.4.0165) and the plugin does NOT work in FireFox 3.5.2 (the latest at the moment). Going to Tools/Add-ons/Plugins in FireFox I see that the PDF-XChange Viewer v.2.0422 plugin is installed. PDF files do not open in a FF tab, however. I only get the static PDF icon in the center of the screen.

Please note that I freshly installed FireFox into two PCs with XP+SP3. I mean, formatted hard disks, freshly installed XP+SP3, freshly installed FireFox, freshly installed PDF-XChange 4 PRO. So the argument of messed-up profiles does not apply. PDF-XChange was working fine in my laptop with Vista before the downgrade to XP+SP3. But I had an older version of PDF-XChange 4 PRO (viewer + shell extension + tools, in 3 separate installations) I had installed when I bought it.

So, IMHO, newer versions are getting worse, as far as compatibility and functionality are concerned... By the way, I also have the LiveUpdate issue mentioned in another thread (i.e. the shell extension which consistently needs to be updated).......

Post by **Tracker Supp-Stefan** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 2:00 pm

Hello everyone,

Just an update, we are investigating the problem and I hope for a resolution shortly. In any case we will keep you updated.

Regards,
Stefan

gbeckerman · Post by **gbeckerman** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 4:42 pm

I had same problem with updates to Pro 4.0 and Viewer in Firefox. Works fine in Safari for Windows. Not in IE8.

Just poking around I found this to work in my first few tries.

In viewer, Edit>Preferences>File Associations> Be sure Display PDF in Browser is NOT checked.

Wed Aug 12, 2009 5:31 pm

To Schilo:

1. Can you try if PDF files can be opened inside IE?
2. Please try to run PDFXCview.exe with command line /RegServer, and check if the problem still here (in FF).

P.S. Please let me know which installer did you use: .exe or .msi

gbeckerman · Post by **gbeckerman** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 6:09 pm

Interesting. Today IE 8 works. Did you tweak something?

Do you still want me to try the command line stuff?

Post by **Paul - Tracker Supp** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 6:16 pm

Yes please as it should correct the Firefox issue I believe.

gbeckerman · Post by **gbeckerman** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 7:31 pm

My problem seems to have been resolved in Firefox by unchecking the "Display PDF in Browser" box in Viewer Preferences. Seems to be ok now. I go to a web site, click on a PDF link and it shows up fine with the box unchecked.

Do you still want me to do the command line stuff. Will be happy to do it.

Post by **Paul - Tracker Supp** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:07 pm

I'd be interested to know what happens, if you don't mind then...

please and thanks

gbeckerman · Post by **gbeckerman** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:55 pm

i ran pdfxcview.exe/regserver from the start>run line.

I also browsed to the Program Files/Tracker/PDXViewer directory, found pdfxview.exe and added /regserver to the end.

Got a Cannot find. Wierd because i browsed to the file. Must be doing something wrong.

astro46 · Post by **astro46** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:55 pm

all the talk about checking and unchecking "display pdf in browser" inspired to look for this setting. i found it in viewer>file association. i checked it, restarted firefox, and went to a .pdf online. it opened in pdfxchange viewer. also, the viewer now exists in the ff plugins list. it wasn't there before.

i had seen that setting previously, and interpreted it to mean that pdf's on my computer would open within a browser. so, if checking it is necessary to make viewer work in ff, then a notice would be nice, or, better, having it checked by default if i install the viewer asking to work in firefox. (a current install option). if it shouldn't need to be checked, then there is a problem.

though, actually, there still is a problem: when looking at a pdf, with viewer, in ff, i don't see the main toolbar (file, edit, etc.). however, it looks like every other possible toolbar is open. and i can't remove them. right clicking brings up the toolbar menu, for half a second, then it disappears.

the options button, on bottom of screen, has the same momentary behavior.

gbeckerman · Post by **gbeckerman** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:57 pm

used the .exe that came in the .zip

gbeckerman · Post by **gbeckerman** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:46 pm

I still have all the toolbars - main, stumbleupon and a couple of others - all there.

I know that I have some FF plug-ins such as ruler but do not know how to find a list. Can someone tell me how

astro46 · Post by **astro46** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 10:14 pm

gbeckerman wrote:I still have all the toolbars - main, stumbleupon and a couple of others - all there.

I know that I have some FF plug-ins such as ruler but do not know how to find a list. Can someone tell me how

in firefox: tools>add-ons . viewer should be in the plugins tab. other stuff is in the extensions tab.

gbeckerman · Post by **gbeckerman** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:10 pm

gotcha. thx

gbeckerman · Post by **gbeckerman** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:34 am

Sorry. Do not understand how to run pdfcview.exe and regserver. Please explain.

Schilo · Post by **Schilo** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 8:04 am

Ivan - Tracker Software wrote:To Schilo:

1. Can you try if PDF files can be opened inside IE?
2. Please try to run PDFXCview.exe with command line /RegServer, and check if the problem still here (in FF).

P.S. Please let me know which installer did you use: .exe or .msi

YES!!! It works! Now the problem is gone in both FF 3.5.2 and IE8. I'd used the exe installer (inside the zip).
The only minor problem is that FF ignores the setting in Tools/Options/Applications: I set it to "Always ask" but it nevertheless opens the PDF file in the tab directly, without asking.

Thank you for the solution.

Thu Aug 13, 2009 8:45 am

gbeckerman wrote:Sorry. Do not understand how to run pdfcview.exe and regserver. Please explain.

1. Press "Start" button and choose "Run" item.
2. Enter command string into edit-box, for example:
"C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDFViewer\PDFXCview.exe" /RegServer
i.e:
"<Install Path>\PDFXCview.exe" /RegServer
3. Press "Enter" key

Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:26 pm

Bug found and will be fixed into the next release.
Running the viewer with /RegServer command line is a current workaround.

astro46 · Post by **astro46** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:52 pm

astro46 wrote: there still is a problem: when looking at a pdf, with viewer, in ff, i don't see the main toolbar (file, edit, etc.). however, it looks like every other possible toolbar is open. and i can't remove them. right clicking brings up the toolbar menu, for half a second, then it disappears.

the options button, on bottom of screen, has the same momentary behavior.

after restarting the computer today these problems are now gone. viewer, toolbars and customize are working ok.

cyraxote · Post by **cyraxote** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:07 am

Is it possible to have a the Firefox add-on as a stand-alone download, please?

The only reason I'm able to view PDFs in Firefox is the add-on "PDF Download" and because I've changed my default PDF handler in Firefox (Tools | Options | Applications).

Thanks.