External PDF Reader

Users and developers helping users with generic and technical Pale Moon issues on all operating systems.

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AkeBert

External PDF Reader

Unread post by AkeBert » 2018-06-03, 22:55

A simple but annoying problem for me. Pale Moon in its FAQ recommends using an external PDF reader, something I would myself prefer instead of defaulting to the built-in PDF reader in Firefox. However I find Pale Moon quite unhelpful when it gets to selecting an external reader. When choosing from Settings -- Programs -- PDF-files all that happens when selecting Choose another program is that Caja is launched from whatever folder I last used instead of PM actually suggesting another program for me. All I want to do is to select the PDF program that comes with my Ubuntu Mate installation, i.e. the Atril Document Viewer, but as I don't know the file name of that viewer it's difficult to find it.

To state some specifications: my Linux distribution is Ubuntu 14.04 with Mate 1.8.2 desktop. My Pale Moon version is 27.8.3 (64 bit).

I hope this question doesn't sound too silly, but as I'm used from other situations like this to actually get suggestions from to programs that I use I must say I find the unhelpfulness of PM quite annoying especially when PM recommends you to use an external PDF reader.

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ron_1
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Joined: 2012-06-28, 01:20

Re: External PDF Reader

Unread post by ron_1 » 2018-06-04, 00:40

When I go to Tools >> Preferences, Applications tab, and click the drop down menu for PDFs, I get the option to select Atril (see screenshot below). Have you checked there? Also, there is an add-on on Pale Moon's site to enable you to view PDFs in the browser, link here: https://addons.palemoon.org/addon/moon-pdf-viewer/
Untitled.jpg
EDIT
Do you know you're using an old, unsecure version? Newest version of PM is 27.9.2.
Last edited by ron_1 on 2018-06-04, 00:42, edited 1 time in total.

vannilla
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Re: External PDF Reader

Unread post by vannilla » 2018-06-04, 06:59

Since you are on Ubuntu, try opening a terminal and execute "atril" at the shell prompt.
If that opens the viewer, then run "which atril" to see the full path.
Then just navigate there when telling Pale Moon what program to use.
Alternatively, set Atril as the default choice system-wide when opening PDF files (however I don't know how to do this as I don't use Ubuntu).
Last edited by vannilla on 2018-06-04, 07:00, edited 1 time in total.

AkeBert

Re: External PDF Reader

Unread post by AkeBert » 2018-06-04, 17:40

vannilla wrote:Since you are on Ubuntu, try opening a terminal and execute "atril" at the shell prompt.
If that opens the viewer, then run "which atril" to see the full path.
Then just navigate there when telling Pale Moon what program to use.
Alternatively, set Atril as the default choice system-wide when opening PDF files (however I don't know how to do this as I don't use Ubuntu).
Thanks a lot, this (i.e. searching for Atril) solved my problem!

As for your other option I know the easy way to define which program should be connected to a file type in Windows, i.e. right-click on a file and the choose which program to open it with. Or at least I knew, that method doesn't work in Windows 10, I believe. I haven't tested whether the Windows method works in Ubuntu.
Last edited by AkeBert on 2018-06-04, 17:51, edited 1 time in total.

AkeBert

Re: External PDF Reader

Unread post by AkeBert » 2018-06-04, 17:50

helloimustbegoing wrote:When I go to Tools >> Preferences, Applications tab, and click the drop down menu for PDFs, I get the option to select Atril (see screenshot below). Have you checked there? Also, there is an add-on on Pale Moon's site to enable you to view PDFs in the browser, link here: https://addons.palemoon.org/addon/moon-pdf-viewer/

Untitled.jpg

EDIT
Do you know you're using an old, unsecure version? Newest version of PM is 27.9.2.
Thanks for your reply and suggestion. However what I get when I come to this same point as shown by your screenshot the only option I get is to use Firefox (the default option) and the alternative to use Atril is nowhere to be seen. I now suspect that the reason for this might be that when I installed Pale Moon on my PC I must have imported the settings from Firefox including that particular one. Not so strange after all as FF has a built-in PDF reader.

Anyway, as noted in my previous reply I have now solved the problem by using the method suggested by vannilla.

Will update my PM. Get a bit lazy about checking for updates as I'm so used to the automatic updates in all other programs.

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