PDF won't open in Firefox

Since the last automatic Firefox update, my Zotero PDFs no longer open in Firefox. They all open now in Preview (Mac). The Firefox preferences say "Preview in Firefox." But this doesn't happen. I had the same problem about a year ago when Firefox updated. I don't remember how I fixed it, but I think I found a link that explained that this was a bug and gave some steps to fix it. Can anyone help?
  • I tried deleting the mimeTypes.rdf file. That worked last time. I restarted Firefox. But now when I click on a file in the Zotero pane, nothing happens. It doesn't open at all.
  • does right-click --> Open in External Viewer still work?
  • Yes, the right-click --> Open in External Viewer still works.
  • And other PDF files still open in Firefox, too (opened from your harddisk or from the web)? Then I don't have a lot of ideas -- you can see if there's anything under preferences --> Applications that looks like you could tweak it.
  • But now when I click on a file in the Zotero pane, nothing happens.
    Sorry, what do you mean by this?
  • actually @Dan -- when I double-click on a PDF in Zotero for Firefox or I double-click on the parent item, it doesn't open in Firefox anymore (I think that used to work, but not 100% sure).
    That's Zotero 4.0.29.8 on FF 45.0.2 on Ubuntu, though haven't tried disabling add-ons yet.
    Right-click --> View File works just fine.
  • It still works for me with 4.0.29.8 in 45.0.2 on OS X.
  • When I click on the file in the Zotero pane, literally nothing happens. Normally, it opens the PDF in Firefox. Before I deleted the mimeTypes.rdf file, it was opening in Preview. I'm not near my computer now. Maybe I'll just try again: restart and reinstall Firefox and Zotero.
  • edited April 23, 2016
    I assume you mean double-click? When you "click" an item in Zotero, it just shows the info in the right-hand pane.
  • Correct, when I double click to open it. I use Zotero all the time and normally it works great--opens PDFs in Firefox. I can organize easily. It's just that problem I had a year ago (that resolved with your advice) and this problem now, which is similar, but doesn't seem to go away.
  • (OK, I have this working again -- was just a general double-click issue).

    @jolion -- does this still work for you with Snapshots (or any other attachments)?
  • Other PDFs still work. They open in Firefox. But still when I double click on a file in the Zotero window, nothing happens. Open in External Viewer works.
  • but it's not just PDFs, right? Other attachments (like Snapshots) don't work anymore either? Does double-clicking to open still work on your Desktop?
  • The snapshot seems to work. Double clicking in the Desktop works fine. It's just in the Zotero pane that it's a problem.
  • Figured it out! I deleted the mimeTypes.rdf file. Then I not only re-installed Firefox, I deleted and re-installed the Zotero add-on. Reinstalling the add-on was the key. Thanks for your help.
  • That's pretty unlikely, actually — reinstalling Zotero doesn't really do anything. Anyway, glad to hear it's working now.
  • It did seem unlikely, but I really think it was the causal step. Who knows? Thanks again.
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