Fireday - Firefox extension reviews for October 12, 2007

Friday, October 12, 2007 4:00 AM

Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Fireday | Comments: 0 | View blog reactions

This week: PDF Downloader

I talked about the PDF Downloader briefly back in April of last year, but since I wasn't doing full-blown reviews at that time, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the extension.

PDF Downloader

Rating: 5/5

I've been a PDF junkie for a long time and absolutely hoard every type of eBook, especially if its a PDF file.

Anyone else feel like I do or am I from a different planet?

Different planet?

Thought so. :-) Anyway...

Overview

I'm surprised I never fully reviewed this Firefox extension before. It's been out for a long time and it must've snuck under my radar. The PDF Downloader is activated when you download a PDF and asks you how you want to handle your PDF file.

It may seem simple and not worth it...until you find a PDF.

Installation

Even though the PDF Downloader is a small extension, it definitely comes in handy when handling PDFs. The installation was quick and painless and a restart of Firefox, of course, was necessary.

Along with the PDF Downloader, this extension will require an installation of Adobe Acrobat or FoxIt Plugin for the PDF Downloader to view the PDFs properly in the browser.

Features

Select a PDF to see the extension in action (anybody need a 2007 W-4 form?). A dialog box will appear with five options.

PDF Downloader dialog box

  • Download PDF - The PDF will download to your PC without you viewing it. If you have a download directory setup in Firefox, it'll download it to that directory.
  • Open PDF - In this case, you may have the PDF open inside Firefox or if you don't have a plugin for PDFs, the operating system will open it with the default application.
  • View as HTML - If don't have an Acrobat plugin installed at all, then this option allows you to view the PDF as a web page.
  • Bypass PDF Download - Selecting this option will act as if the PDF Downloader wasn't even installed. The browser will handle the file as it sees fit.
  • Cancel - Close the dialog box with no action.

Even though there isn't a lot of features to this extension, it only does one thing...and it does it well.

Configuration

With that said and moving on to the configuration, I never expected so many options for such a simple extension.

The configuration of PDF Downloader has a total of 4 tabs (minus the about/update panel) for configuring how you want your PDFs to download. <Borat>Niiiiiice.</Borat>

PDF Downloader Options dialog box

The options included in the configuration dialog box takes it a step further. For example, if you want PDF Downloader to have a default action, select the option through the radio buttons and it won't ask you ever again (or until you head over to the options).

Conclusion

PDF Downloader is a very easy to use extension that assists users who have a basic understanding of PDFs, but not enough of knowing what to do when they receive an intimidating dialog box.

If you downloaded PDFs, then this extension is definitely for you.

Easily, this extension receives a 5 out of 5.

See ya next week.

If you want your Firefox add-on reviewed, please contact me with the URL and we'll let you know when it's reviewed.

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