How to fix saving and downloading problems in Firefox
Apr
Today I had the strangest problem.
Normally, I don’t have problems with Firefox, my web browser. (Which happens to be much better than Internet Explorer, by the way. Please switch to Firefox.)
So, I was very surprised when I found my Download Statusbar extension wasn’t appearing when I downloaded stuff. Then I tried to save an image to my Desktop, and it just wouldn’t save. I thought I was going crazy.
So I googled my problem, and the first few hits were quite unhelpful. Most were from forums where the person asking the question was treated like an idiot by the resident geeks. Or they suggested drastic actions like deleting your Profile and creating a new one. That means that all your customizations get flushed down the drain, and I have a heavily customized Firefox installation.
Then I struck gold – I wasn’t going crazy. It turns out that just one file needed to be deleted because it had been corrupted.
That file is called downloads.rdf and it is in your Profile folder.
If you have this same problem I had, just close Firefox, find your Profile folder, delete that single file, and when you open Firefox up next, it will create a new, uncorrupted version of that file.
My Download Statusbar is working fine again and saving images works properly. I’m a happy web surfer again.
More info:
Good to know. I vaguely remember having problems with adding add-ons before, and I had to delete extensions.rdf to fix it.
@Willy Roparta: That’s right.
And after a bit of googling I’ve discovered that if you have problems with your bookmarks, toolbars and window sizes, it may help to delete localstore.rdf.
And if you have problems with file types, it could be a corrupt mimeTypes.rdf in your Profle folder (not your installation folder).
Just be sure to google your problem first, before deleting anything. And don’t forget the Mozilla Firefox Support Forums.
Thanks for letting me know about the Firefox support forums. I learned something new.
@Willy Roparta: Glad I helped. I used Firefox for a long time before I found out about the support forums.
Do you often have problems with Firefox?
I’ve used it for years with no problem at all. By the way, where did you get that Firefox Puzzle graphic?
@Francis Fischer: I’ve rarely had issues. And the few that I’ve had I put down to being a power user with over 50 extensions installed.
@Jeremy Gardner: I created it myself using the official Firefox logo that’s freely available online, added the blue background, and ran a Photoshop action to create the jigsaw pieces from Panosfx.
I really like the puzzle effect. Wish I had my own copy of Photoshop, so I could make a puzzle out of my own photos. I’ll be in contact with you by email.
Sure. You can contact me at trishacupra911 at gmail dot com. I’m travelling around Australia at the moment, but I’ll respond as soon as I can – normally within a week.