Firefox Tip: How To Change “Do This Automatically For Files Like This From Now On” Option

By Angsuman Chakraborty, Gaea News Network
Saturday, July 14, 2007

FirefoxIn Firefox when you click on a file to download / view the browser comes up with a prompt which allows you to either open the file with a specified program or save it to disk. You are also given the option to “Do this automatically for files like this from now on”. Once you check that option Firefox automatically uses the same action for the same file type in future. Sometimes you check the box by mistake or down the road you may not want the automatic handling. Here’s how you can undo this preference.

1. Go to Preference option (normally under Edit menu) and click on Content tab.
2. In the Content tab look for File Types section and click on Manage button.

Here you can see all the file types and associated actions. You can click on a File Type and then choose either to change the current default action or remove the action. In change action popup you can either choose, as default action, to automatically save the file or choose a program to open the file type with.

The remove action removes the associated default action.

Sometimes you may find the remove action disabled. To enable it select change action and then after noting down the current action, change the current action to Save them on my computer. Click ok to go back to Download Actions popup. Now you will find the Remove Action button enabled.

Note: To switch back to the previous default action, click on Change Action again and change the action to the setting you saved earlier.

Discussion

nill
March 27, 2010: 9:07 am

The above info didn’t help at all

next please…


hassan
January 26, 2010: 2:27 pm

How To Change “Do This Automatically For Files Like This From Now On” Option
firefox said
1. Go to Preference option (normally under Edit menu) and click on Content tab.
2. In the Content tab look for File Types section and click on Manage button.

it did not work

can you solve the problem for me

regards
hassan


Mitur Binesderti
December 12, 2009: 10:44 am

I agree with Chris

It just goes to show you how useless articles like this are. The person clearly has never even used Firefox or they would know about this most annoying bug.

Epic fail.


milew
May 24, 2008: 11:33 pm

Thanks; I’d checked this off for MS Word, but was getting failures when it tried to open - it’s fine opening once saved to disk though.


dabomma
December 2, 2007: 2:25 pm

I have checked the box “Do this automatically for files like this from now on”. But each time a file like that is downloaded, the box comes up again - with the check in the box waiting for me to “OK”. I have gone to “Tools” and “Options”, but haven’t found a way to stop that from happening.
Can you help..?


cchris d
July 31, 2007: 7:09 am

Most people have the opposite problem. Setting the “Do this automatically for files like this from now on” is supposed to automate actions without prompting with a dialog box but it still pops up on many files types with the box already clicked. Its an old bug thats never gotten fixed and likely never will.

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=331259
vote to fix this issue.

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