Skipping the download dialog in Firefox

Question

In Firefox's options, you can either set that you want to be asked where to save every file, or you want it to be in place your favourite directory here, I've noticed that most of the stuff I save I put in one directory, usually something called Downloads (inspiring, isn't it?).

But FF still asks, and pops up with the download dialog. It is(!) by default in that directory, but I was wondering is there a way to avoid it alltogether. I.e., when I click on Save image or Save page as or whatever, that it directly just saves it - without asking for OK?

Anyone know how this can be accomplished?

Edit: Although I appreciate the posted answers so far, I should clarify that I'm not looking for an organizer of downloads, nor for download managers. I just need something that will minimize the number of clicks I have to make to get the file from the Internet to my disc.

Answer 1

1. Tools > Options > Applications
2. Go to the line of the Content Type of whatever file you no longer want to bother with
   • If you want all future text files to just download, look for the line that says Text Document
   • For PDFs, look for Adobe Acrobat Document, etc.
3. Set the action to Save File
   • Or just set all file and content types as Save File and be done with it.
4. Click OK

Now, whenever you hit a file that is on this list and set as Save File, it will just download in the background. When it's done it will show a little pop-up in the lower right corner that the thing has completed its train ride to your computer.

If you come across a file type that was not in the Applications list section previously, you will still be prompted.

In which case you should:

1. Select Save File
2. Check Do this automatically for files like this from now on
   • In some cases, this may be greyed out
3. Click OK

For future files of the same type, go back to the first set of instructions and make sure it's set.

And if you don't want to see that dialog window pop up showing the progress of file downloads:

1. Tools > Options > General
2. In the Downloads section, uncheck Show the Downloads window when downloading a file
3. Click OK

No need to download or slap on any extensions.

Answer 2

Simply Alt+Click on the link and it will download to your default directory without any dialogs/prompts.

The Alt+Click may be disabled on your Firefox, in which case, follow these steps:

1. Type about:config into the address bar, press enter. (Firefox may ask you to "promise that you're careful". Just click yes.)
2. Look for the preference browser.altClickSave and toggle the Value from false to true.

Answer 3

Setting the preference "browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk" to "application/octet-stream" appears to give the desired behavior for unknown MIME types: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2430485

For known MIME types, use random♦'s solution above.

These two approaches combined should give you the behavior you're looking for.

Answer 4

The save dialog and download dialog are two completely separate things. Selecting a default save directory will not stop Firefox from asking you if you want to download a file.

You may be interested in the Save File To add-on which allows you to select a save location from the context menu, skipping the download and save dialogs altogether.

You can customize the menu so items are nested as deep as you want.

Answer 5

I just need something that will minimize the number of clicks I have to make to get the file from the Internet to my disc.

Try the iMacros Firefox addon. You can record a so-called macro that handles the website navigation and download for you. Once you have done that, the whole process needs only one mouse-click or keystroke to run automatically.

Answer 6

If you are doing a lot of image browsing and saving, get Bazzacuda Image Saver. You can set a save directory, and then with a single click it will, for all tabs that have just an image, save those images in that directory.

Answer 7

Use the Image Toolbar addon

Answer 8

I will partially copy this answer here:

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From the about:Config list, try

browser.download.useDownloadDir Set this to true.

This finally allows the downloaded file to silently be added to the WaterFox browser download list without any Save As prompt.

I tried many other answers from older posts, and none of them seemed to work. I was able to get rid of the initial dialog box (Open With or Save) by getting the MIME type listed with the help of a tool Content-Type Fixer. But the Save As dialog box just kept showing up...Which is very annoying when you are downloading a lot of known files within the browser

And no, I did not want to use download manager for these files, although those are helpful for other files.

Interestingly enough, the silent add to the download list was default behavior until about 4 months ago in WaterFox (Based on Mozilla browser).

Hope this helps someone. It was driving me crazy and the browser developers certainly do not make it intuitive to figure this all out.