[Macpartners] Fwd: How to make Safari in Tiger not display PDF files

[Albert Willis]

For those of you who do not want Safari to display PDFs by default  
and would rather have them downloaded instead (like in the Panther  
days), here are the directions.

   -- Al

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Matt Deatherage <mattd at macjournals.com>
> Date: December 27, 2005 5:22:21 PM EST
> To: macjournals-talk at macjournals.com
> Subject: How to make Safari in Tiger not display PDF files
> Reply-To: "MacJournals-Talk" <MacJournals-Talk at lists.macjournals.com>
>
> I mean at all - to force it to download them instead of viewing them.
>
> 1.  Quit Safari.
> 2.  Launch Terminal.
> 3.  Type (this is case-sensitive, so use upper-lower correctly):
>
>     defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitOmitPDFSupport -bool YES
>
>     (or:
>
>       defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitOmitPDFSupport 1
>
>     note that if you use the -bool notation, the correct key is "YES"
>     because you're asking Safari to OMIT its PDF support)
>
> 5.  Open the QuickTime preference pane in System Preferences
> 6.  Click the "Advanced" tab, and then "MIME Settings..."
> 7.  Under the "Images" list, make sure "PDF Image" is *not*  
> checked, or
>     Safari will treat a PDF file as a QuickTime movie and let the
>     QuickTime plug-in display it.
>
> 8.  Close System Preferences, launch Safari, use a PDF URL like
>     <http://www.macjournals.com/special/AppleSingle-Double.pdf>.
>     Notice it downloading instead of displaying.
>
> Now, as it turns out, this information was all over the Web, but  
> nowhere you'd actually *find* it if you were searching for common  
> words like "Safari Download PDF" and so on.  If you search for the  
> actual key "WebKitOmitPDFSupport", though, you get lots of pages  
> with this tip.
>
> I didn't know it; I found it by checking out WebKit sources and  
> searching for "PDF" and using some common sense.  (File WebKit/ 
> WebKitView.subproj/WebDataSource.m, line 672, in case you care.   
> The comment above it notes that this is a "secret default",  
> complete with quotation marks.)
>
> To turn it back on, either delete the setting with:
>
>     defaults delete com.apple.Safari WebKitOmitPDFSupport
>
> Or just turn it off with one of these:
>
>     defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitOmitPDFSupport -bool NO
>     defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitOmigPDFSupport 0
>
> Yes, we all do slightly different things with a little bit of down  
> time.  This is my last day of it until after Q1 results (not  
> counting weekends), so I had geeky fun.  Keeps my mind off the  
> Power 25.
>
> I looked this up to post it on a blog I read, but since it's  
> obviously both open source and public knowledge, feel free to  
> spread as you see fit.
>
> --Matt
> --
> Matt Deatherage                              <mattd at macjournals.com>
> GCSF, Incorporated                      <http://www.macjournals.com>
>
> "What kind of apple is my head, anyway?"  -- Martha Stewart,  
> 2005.10.05


______________________________
Albert Willis
Macintosh Platform Coordinator - Software Release Team
Client Support Services
Information Services and Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
awillis at mit.edu