I love it when readers write to ask a question and I can actually find an answer! A reader asked if I had heard of anyone having trouble when trying to view PDFs in Safari or Firefox.
I tried launching the URL for a PDF that he had trouble with first in Google Chrome, and the PDF loaded fine. Then I went to the URL in Safari and though the PDF opened, for a second or two, the screen was black.
With this info, I then searched for “Safari black screen PDF plugin” and with the power of the Internet, I found the solution. It turns out that there was an issue with Adobe Acrobat and the plugins that Safari had installed:
In Safari 4.0.4, the screen turns black when you try to view PDFs…
Solution:
- Make sure that in your Adobe Acrobat or whatever Adobe you are using under Adobe > Preferences > Internet “Display PDF in browser using:…” is NOT active
- Quit Safari
- Open Finder: Macintosh HD > Library > Internet Plug-Ins and delete any plugins related to PDF (at least two of them: AdobePDFViewer.plugin and PDF BrowserPlugin.plugin)
- Open Safari and ENJOY
It seems that this is quite a common problem, so if you have experienced the same, this will fix it!