[WEB4LIB] Display/print problems with pdf's in Netscape 6

[Andrew I. Mutch]

Robert,

Copy this file:

nppdf32.dll

from here:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\Reader\Browser

to here:

C:\Program Files\Netscape\Netscape 6\Plugins

Once you've done that, Netscape should automatically load Adobe when you
try to open a PDF file. A quick way to check the status of plugins in
Netscape/Mozilla browsers is to enter:

about:plugins 

in the URL/Location bar.  In Netscape 6, it is also an option under the
Help menu. In the page that displays plugin info, you should see Adobe
Acrobat listed. 

With the plugin copied, the PDF files load in the browser. I noticed that
when I didn't have the plugin copied, the PDF's launched Reader outside
the browser. I have the same setup (Netscape 6.2.1/Windows2000) so it's
probably a file association issue why it works on some and not on others.  

Andrew Mutch
Library Systems Technician
Waterford Township Public Library
Waterford, MI





On Fri, 25 Jan 2002, VanderHart, Robert wrote:

> This may have been covered before, but I couldn't find anything in the list
> archives.  By the way, the search function for the Web4Lib archives has been
> enhanced and is a big improvement.
> 
> Our public machines (Windows 2000) have Netscape 6 and Acrobat Reader 5.
> When a patron clicks a pdf, a box pops up and says the file type is
> unrecognized by Mozilla.  I click the Save button and try to open up the
> file in AR 5, but it hasn't been saved as a pdf so I get an error message in
> AR as well. 
> 
> I can't add the application/pdf file type in the browser's Helper
> Applications, even when I'm logged in as an administrator.
> 
> To make things even stranger, the same machine a half hour later opened the
> same pdf with no problem.
> 
> FWIW, my machine (Netscape 6.2, Windows NT4) has no problems opening pdfs,
> and I noticed in the Helper Applications that there is nothing listed for
> application/pdf there either.
> 
> Other than posting signs and telling everyone to use IE as their browser
> (which was essentially the advice I got from the technician at our IS Help
> Desk), is there a workaround for this problem?
> 
> 
> 
> Robert J. Vander Hart
> Electronic Resources Librarian
> The Lamar Soutter Library
> University of Massachusetts Medical School
> 55 Lake Avenue N
> Worcester  MA  01655
> 
> Voice: (508) 856-3290
> Fax: (508) 856-5899
> Email: Robert.VanderHart at umassmed.edu
> Web: http://library.umassmed.edu
>