1506416 - Enable setting Firefox as default PDF reader on Windows

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: Installer, enhancement, P1)

Description

[Horacio Dalla Valle]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:63.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/63.0

Steps to reproduce:

I tried to choose Firefox as my default program to open PDF files by these three ways:
- First, through the window Properties of a test PDF file, in the "Open with" option.
- Second, through the Windows Configuration in Apps > Default Apps > Choose default apps by file type.
- Third, through the File Explorer, clicking in the test PDF file, choosing in Home > Open, through the "Open" menu (by clicking on the arrow on the right), "Choose another app". There I chose Firefox and check the box "Always use this app to open .pdf files".


Actual results:

I could not be able to choose Firefox as my default PDF reader.

To make sure that it was not a problem of my PC, I formatted it via Windows Configuration > Update & Security > Recovery > Reset this PC > Remove everything > Just remove my files. I could also check after formatting I could choose as my default PDF reader program other software such as Acrobat Reader DC and Microsoft Edge.


Expected results:

I had to have been able to choose Firefox as my default PDF reader.

Comment 1

[Horacio Dalla Valle]

I could verify that I am not the only one with this problem when I saw this post on Reddit, https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/9ug7mc/cant_set_default_pdf_viewer_to_firefox_in_windows/.

If you need more information about my system I am available.

Comment 2

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

dupe of bug 787674 ?

Comment 3

[Horacio Dalla Valle]

(In reply to Matthias Versen [:Matti] from comment #2)
> dupe of bug 787674 ?

I do not think so because I can choose Firefox as the program to open my PDFs (when I use the "Open with" option in the contextual menu of the file). If I can do that I do not see the reason why I could not choose it as my default PDF reader.

Comment 5

[Molly Howell (she/her) (no longer active)]

The installer is responsible for registering support for default file associations on Windows. We've always intentionally left PDF out of that list, but that decision may be changing soon, so I'm moving this bug so that it can find its way into the installer team's planning.

Comment 6

[Nick Alexander :nalexander [he/him]]

Attachment: Bug 1506416 - Enable setting Firefox as default PDF reader on Windows. r?mhowell

Comparing to .webp, we already do two of three things needed. This
arranges the last thing: registering the file association.

Comment 7

[Nick Alexander :nalexander [he/him]]

For QA: I tested this by running helper.exe /PostUpdate, as in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1629636#c2. That adds the new PDF file association. Verify by running "Settings > Choose file types and protocols opened by each app" before and after; witness ".pdf" can now be handled. Set Firefox as the default for .pdf, close the program, and verifying that opening a .pdf from Explorer launches Firefox.

Comment 8

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/313152f639d8
Enable setting Firefox as default PDF reader on Windows. r=mhowell

Comment 9

[Atila Butkovits]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/313152f639d8

Comment 10

[Nick Alexander :nalexander [he/him]]

Comment on attachment 9150618 [details]
Bug 1506416 - Enable setting Firefox as default PDF reader on Windows. r?mhowell

Beta/Release Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined: Continued inability to set Firefox as default PDF reader on Windows.
• Is this code covered by automated tests?: No
• Has the fix been verified in Nightly?: No
• Needs manual test from QE?: Yes
• If yes, steps to reproduce: Install a fresh Nightly on Windows using the Windows installer. Verify that it's possible to set Firefox as default PDF reader following https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1506416#c7.
• List of other uplifts needed: None
• Risk to taking this patch: Low
• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): This only applies to new users who install via the Windows installer. They can now manually set Firefox as their default PDF reader. We continue to not register Firefox as the default PDF reader automatically in any circumstance.
• String changes made/needed: None.

Comment 11

[Nick Alexander :nalexander [he/him]]

• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): This only applies to new users who install via the Windows installer.

I realize this is not correct. Users who are automatically upgraded will also be able to register Firefox as the default PDF reader.

They can now manually set Firefox as their default PDF reader. We continue to not register Firefox as the default PDF reader automatically in any circumstance.

Comment 12

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc]

Comment on attachment 9150618 [details]
Bug 1506416 - Enable setting Firefox as default PDF reader on Windows. r?mhowell

Sorry, it doesn't seem crucial for an RC build, let's have it ride the trains

Comment 13

[Bogdan Maris, Desktop QA]

Reproduced the initial state using an old nightly before this fix, verified that latest Nightly 78.0a1 from today is now detected as a default option for pdf files and is successfully used as such, in Windows 10 and 7.