[WEB4LIB] IE and pdf

[Thomas Dowling]

> I've encountered a problem viewing electronic database articles in pdf
> format when using Internet Explorer (specifically, with Ebsco
databases). IE
> does work with pdf when viewing documents on a general web site. Can
anyone
> help me correctly configure IE? I am using IE 5.0 on a Windows 98
platform
> with Acrobat Reader 4.0.
>

You don't actually say what the problem is, but the most likely bet is
that IE displays a blank window.  If so, this has been a known and
apparently insoluble problem in IE for several versions, including 6.0b1.

MS Knowledge Base article Q177321 attributes this to PDFs retrieved by
POST requests in IE versions before 5.5.  Article Q247663 attributes it to
IE 5.01 receiving a PDF after a redirect and suggests installing IE5.01
service pack 1.

In my experience, there is a more substantial problem with IE handling any
PDF file when the HTTP request is not simply "GET
http://somewhere.org/filename.pdf".  Sometimes it works, sometimes it
doesn't.  Also IME, IE has problems restarting the Acrobat plugin if
you've opened and closed Acrobat standalone in the meantime.

Upgrading or reinstalling the browser or the plugin may help, at least for
a while.  This might be a good reason to upgrade to Acrobat Reader 5.0 and
IE 5.5.

In all cases, you should be able to right-click on the link to the PDF
file and select "Save Target As..." to save the PDF file for later
standalone viewing.


Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu