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[SOLVED] cannot save page/file to local drive

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Hi, I'm using version 101.0.1 (64 bit) for Ubuntu 22.04. When I open a link of a pdf file, the file is displayed in the built-in viewer, since I chose "Open in Firefox" in my settings. But then if I click the download icon nothing happens. If I click the print icon and choose "print to pdf" in the popup, then clicking on "save" does nothing and I have to click "cancel" to dismiss the popup.

Actually there is no way to save a pdf file but setting PDF app to "Ask always" and then open it with "System handler", but then the file is saved into the default download folder, even though I selected the checkbox "Always ask me where to save files" in my settings.

EDIT: the issue was solved by installing the following packages, as shown in this question :

xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-gtk

Hi, I'm using version 101.0.1 (64 bit) for Ubuntu 22.04. When I open a link of a pdf file, the file is displayed in the built-in viewer, since I chose "Open in Firefox" in my settings. But then if I click the download icon nothing happens. If I click the print icon and choose "print to pdf" in the popup, then clicking on "save" does nothing and I have to click "cancel" to dismiss the popup. Actually there is no way to save a pdf file but setting PDF app to "Ask always" and then open it with "System handler", but then the file is saved into the default download folder, even though I selected the checkbox "Always ask me where to save files" in my settings. EDIT: the issue was solved by installing the following packages, as shown in [https://askubuntu.com/questions/1404941/no-file-save-dialog-for-snap-applications this question] : ''xdg-desktop-portal'' ''xdg-desktop-portal-gtk''

Athraithe ag gi4c0ph ar

Réiteach roghnaithe

gi4c0ph said

When I open a link of a pdf file, the file is displayed in the built-in viewer, since I chose "Open in Firefox" in my settings. But then if I click the download icon nothing happens. If I click the print icon and choose "print to pdf" in the popup, then clicking on "save" does nothing and I have to click "cancel" to dismiss the popup.

Hmm, that's definitely not what should happen. Do other system file browsing integrations work? Those include:

  • Save Page As (Ctrl+S)
  • right-click on an image > Save Image As
  • the Browse... button below this text box to attach an image

If those don't work either, check out this thread about installing a portal package (as a Windows user, I trust this will mean more to you than it does to me):

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1380807

Actually there is no way to save a pdf file but setting PDF app to "Ask always" and then open it with "System handler", but then the file is saved into the default download folder, even though I selected the checkbox "Always ask me where to save files" in my settings.

Actually, it's normal in Firefox 98+ that when you use either

  • Settings page: "Use [relevant application]"
  • Settings page: "Always ask", Download dialog: "Open with [relevant application]"

that Firefox stores the file in the "Save files to" folder on the Settings/Preferences page rather than the /tmp folder as it used to do before Firefox 98. Firefox 102 has a hidden preference to use the /tmp folder instead if that would be of interest.

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All Replies (11)

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Can you try the same steps in Firefox from Mozilla? https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/#product-desktop-release

Athraithe ag jonzn4SUSE ar

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Réiteach Roghnaithe

gi4c0ph said

When I open a link of a pdf file, the file is displayed in the built-in viewer, since I chose "Open in Firefox" in my settings. But then if I click the download icon nothing happens. If I click the print icon and choose "print to pdf" in the popup, then clicking on "save" does nothing and I have to click "cancel" to dismiss the popup.

Hmm, that's definitely not what should happen. Do other system file browsing integrations work? Those include:

  • Save Page As (Ctrl+S)
  • right-click on an image > Save Image As
  • the Browse... button below this text box to attach an image

If those don't work either, check out this thread about installing a portal package (as a Windows user, I trust this will mean more to you than it does to me):

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1380807

Actually there is no way to save a pdf file but setting PDF app to "Ask always" and then open it with "System handler", but then the file is saved into the default download folder, even though I selected the checkbox "Always ask me where to save files" in my settings.

Actually, it's normal in Firefox 98+ that when you use either

  • Settings page: "Use [relevant application]"
  • Settings page: "Always ask", Download dialog: "Open with [relevant application]"

that Firefox stores the file in the "Save files to" folder on the Settings/Preferences page rather than the /tmp folder as it used to do before Firefox 98. Firefox 102 has a hidden preference to use the /tmp folder instead if that would be of interest.

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jscher2000 - Support Volunteer said

Hmm, that's definitely not what should happen. Do other system file browsing integrations work? Those include:
  • Save Page As (Ctrl+S)
  • right-click on an image > Save Image As

neither work, I didn't even realize it. Then the issue doesn't seem to be related to the pdf viewer

If those don't work either, check out this thread about installing a portal package (as a Windows user, I trust this will mean more to you than it does to me): https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1380807

Thank you, I've read that thread but in the end it's resolved by installing the xdg-desktop-portal-gnome package. I'm using Xfce though, instead of Gnome.

jonzn4SUSE said

Can you try the same steps in Firefox from Mozilla? https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/#product-desktop-release

All right, I've just downloaded the archive from Mozilla and confirm it works flawlessly. Then I suppose I have to report the issue to the devs who maintain the Ubuntu snap package.

Many thanks!

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That's a good question... I would love to know what changes the distros make to Firefox. Glad to hear MoZilla version works for you. Just run both and this way you can always compare when one browser has an issue.

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I would also run sync so that both browsers have your data. You can see in the forum how many users loose data because they have it all in one browser. See my screenshot... My data is everywhere.  ;-))

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jonzn4SUSE said

I would also run sync so that both browsers have your data. You can see in the forum how many users loose data because they have it all in one browser. See my screenshot... My data is everywhere.  ;-))

I actually did some sort of "manual sync" by copy-paste of the entire content of my profile from the snap folder into the .mozilla one, and the latter is still working.

I'm still investigating the issue and found out some snap packages, including firefox, might be blocked by apparmor when attempting to write to the local file system, yet I'm not sure if that's related.

EDIT: I found this entry in the .xsession-errors file:

(firefox:104707): Gtk-WARNING **: 17:47:59.222: Can't open portal file chooser: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: No such interface “org.freedesktop.portal.FileChooser” on object at path /org/freedesktop/portal/desktop Still trying to figure out how to fix it.

Athraithe ag gi4c0ph ar

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gi4c0ph said

I found this entry in the .xsession-errors file: (firefox:104707): Gtk-WARNING **: 17:47:59.222: Can't open portal file chooser: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: No such interface “org.freedesktop.portal.FileChooser” on object at path /org/freedesktop/portal/desktop Still trying to figure out how to fix it.

Similar to the earlier thread I mentioned:

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1380807

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jscher2000 - Support Volunteer said

gi4c0ph said

I found this entry in the .xsession-errors file: (firefox:104707): Gtk-WARNING **: 17:47:59.222: Can't open portal file chooser: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: No such interface “org.freedesktop.portal.FileChooser” on object at path /org/freedesktop/portal/desktop Still trying to figure out how to fix it.

Similar to the earlier thread I mentioned:

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1380807

Right, but the proposed solution was about the gnome package. The question I reported above gives a more general solution, which consists of installing the package xdg-desktop-portal-gtk, and fixes the issue in my case.

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Sorry, I didn't realize you found a solution. Could you explain your solution and mark it as the solution to this thread?

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jscher2000 - Support Volunteer ha detto

Sorry, I didn't realize you found a solution. Could you explain your solution and mark it as the solution to this thread?

Yes, I edited OP and explained the solution there. I still marked your answer as the solution, since it got very close by mentioning the xdg-desktop-portal-gnome package (it was xdg-desktop-portal-gtk, actually) and pointed me in the right direction. Many thanks!

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Thank you for clarifying that. My eyes glazed over by the end of the package name and I missed the difference earlier.