Don't Download PDFs

Encourage PDFs to show in the browser instead of downloading. By Nick Semenkovich <[email protected]>.

What is Don't Download PDFs?

"Don't Download PDFs" is a Chrome extension that enables PDFs to display directly in the browser tab rather than downloading to your device. It modifies the 'Content-Disposition' header to allow inline viewing for PDF content, enhancing your browsing experience by eliminating unwanted downloads. Note that some links with the 'download' attribute may still prompt a download, but you can easily open them in a new tab.

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Extension stats

By: https://semenkovich.com

View on Chrome Web Store

Users: 5,000+

Rating: 3.94 (17)

Version: 2024.10.22 (Last updated: 2024-10-17)

Creation date: 2016-04-08

Risk impact: Moderate risk impact

Risk likelihood: Moderate risk likelihood

Manifest version: 3

Permissions:

declarativeNetRequest
declarativeNetRequestFeedback

Host permissions:

<all_urls>

Size: 13.49K

Email: se*****@alum.mit.edu

URLs: Website

Ranking

# 14646 ▼ 48

Other rankings

#10859 in Tools ▼ 146 #85 in force keyword 18 #205 in license keyword 3 ▼ 12 #220 in download keyword 74 ▲

Other platforms

Not available on Firefox

Not available on Edge

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Extension summary

Analyze keywords

Annoyed by PDFs that download and save instead of just showing in the tab?

This extension encourages PDFs to show in the browser rather than downloading.

That's it. Nothing else.

======== Details ========

This works by setting the "Content-Disposition: Inline" header under these conditions:

Content is displayed in the full window (main_frame) AND
The response contains "Content-type: application/pdf" OR

User reviews

These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews. Chrome Web Store does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate, spammy, or outdated.

Pros

Exactly what I was looking for.
Does what it says on the tin.
Helps avoid cluttering download folder with unnecessary PDFs.
Simple and efficient!

Cons

Not working on current versions of Chrome.
Sometimes fails due to conflicts with other extensions.
Aggressive PDF detection after the latest update.

Most mentioned

Not working on pc and not working on mobile.
Sometimes fails.
Extension solves the issue of automatic PDF downloads.

Recent reviews

Tara Semenkovich, 2024-10-21

Used to work really well, though the latest update made the PDF detection really aggressive and it tries to render PDFs out of zip files as well. Could you fix this real quick?

jk, 2024-10-06

Good feature idea! Sadly a of 2024-03-21 the extension in it lates released version 2016.4.7 is not working anymore in the current Chrome 122.0.6261.129. Tried it on https://www.bmf.gv.at/services/publikationen/das-steuerbuch.html where the PDFs use "Content-Disposition: attachment" and enforcing PDF inline display fails, instead the PDFs just trigger a download.