So what are you using to create the the .pdf file? Sounds like the pdf is corrupted. Considering the reader can't read your pdf file something is wrong at that point.

Hi Stumppedweb, when you say "At .pdf upload" do you mean before you submit the PDF but after you select it for uploading (for example, using a Browse... button)? Or do you mean after the PDF was uploaded but before you submit the form?

Firefox has restrictions on previewing files directly from your computer (something some pages do before uploading). There are ways to work around this, but I don't know whether that site has updated their code or is trying to use an older method.

So for this site, once you enter all the claim information it brings to the final step of uploading a copy of your .pdf receipt. At that point, you get an error message that the site is unable to show you a preview of you .pdf file- would you like to download Adobe Acrobat? A small pop-up window appears to allow you to download Acrobat in a separate window (it doesn't close the FSA Feds website).

The first time I tried this, I thought that maybe it would ONLY work with acrobat, so I changed the settings in my FirFox browser to make Acrobat the default PDF viewer, hoping that would help.

I tired the site again with another entry, but got the same errors. The file itself uploads with no problem, but you have to be 100% sure you are sending the correct receipt for the claim because you can't "see" what you are sending before you hit upload. It's not a dealbreaker for the site, but you would think a government site would be able to handle someone using FireFox for access.

To create the PDF files, I am scanning them with an HP Officejet and saving them as a PDF using the software that HP provides for the printer. The software is up to date. Incidentally, the website works just fine if accessed with Microsoft Edge browser or Google Chrome browser. I'd rather use Firefox because I believe it is a superior product- but I swear some webmaster actively discourage people from using it the way they code things...

I can't tell what the site is doing to determine that there's no PDF viewer. Perhaps it is querying the plugins collection? The only plugin that appears when you do that in Firefox is Flash, but Chrome reports its viewer as a plugin so that could explain the difference:

Firefox navigator.plugins collection:

• Name (Version): Shockwave Flash (30.0.0.154)
  Description: Shockwave Flash 30.0 r0
  File name: NPSWF64_30_0_0_154.dll

Chrome navigator.plugins collection:

• Name (Version): Chrome PDF Plugin
  Description: Portable Document Format
  File name: internal-pdf-viewer
• Name (Version): Chrome PDF Viewer
  Description:
  File name: mhjfbmdgcfjbbpaeojofohoefgiehjai
• Name (Version): Native Client
  Description:
  File name: internal-nacl-plugin

I can't think of a quick way to persuade the site to trying to show the PDF. I'm comfortable tweaking a lot of pages, considering that money is at stake, but since you may have money at stake and I don't have hands-on access to confirm my suggestions, I think I can't help.

Does the site have contact information for help? Perhaps someone from Mozilla could reach out to the site to resolve the issue if they are amenable to talking with Mozilla about it.