SprayflyLanguages, Linux, Life

When using Firefox on Ubuntu, PDF files are opened in a separate PDF viewer rather than being displayed within the browser window itself.

If you follow this guide, you should be able to get PDF files to open inline, embedded within the Firefox window as in the screenshot below:

To allow PDF files to be opened inline within the browser window, you need to do the following:

Install Mozplugger and Evince:

sudo apt-get install evince mozplugger

Edit the Mozplugger config file:

gksudo gedit /etc/mozpluggerrc

Find the following block of text (or something very similar):

application/pdf:pdf:PDF file
application/x-pdf:pdf:PDF file
text/pdf:pdf:PDF file
text/x-pdf:pdf:PDF file
        ACROREAD()
        repeat noisy swallow(kpdf) fill: kpdf "$file"
        repeat noisy swallow(Xpdf) fill: xpdf -g +9000+9000 "$file"
        repeat noisy swallow(okular) fill: okular "$file"
        GV()
        repeat noisy fill exits: evince "$file"

If you prefer to use the Evince PDF viewer replace the above code with the following:

application/pdf:pdf:PDF file
application/x-pdf:pdf:PDF file
text/pdf:pdf:PDF file
text/x-pdf:pdf:PDF file
	repeat noisy swallow(evince) fill: evince "$file"
	ACROREAD()
	repeat noisy swallow(kpdf) fill: kpdf "$file"
	repeat noisy swallow(Xpdf) fill: xpdf -g +9000+9000 "$file"
	repeat noisy swallow(okular) fill: okular "$file"
	GV()
	repeat noisy fill exits: evince "$file"

Or if you prefer to use the xpdf PDF viewer, you can use the following lines (make sure you if not already installed that you install xpdf using the command sudo apt-get install xpdf):

application/pdf:pdf:PDF file
application/x-pdf:pdf:PDF file
text/pdf:pdf:PDF file
text/x-pdf:pdf:PDF file
	repeat noisy swallow(Xpdf) fill: xpdf "$file"
	ACROREAD()
	repeat noisy swallow(kpdf) fill: kpdf "$file"
	repeat noisy swallow(okular) fill: okular "$file"
	GV()
	repeat noisy fill exits: xpdf "$file"

Save changes, close all instances of Firefox and Evince/Xpdf and then open firefox and try viewing a PDF file. Everything should now function as you want it to.