Open files in chrome rather than downloading

If you click the dropdown arrow right next to the word "gif" in the image above you get 3 options:. By now, the file is already downloaded to the Downloads folder on your computer.

Clicking the dropdown menu only gives you additional options. This changes the default setting so instead of saving the file, it will open it in the default program, then let you choose whether or not to save the file. This is where it gets very tricky and can easily wreak havoc later. Show in folder - this opens the folder usually downloads folder containing the file, so you can then move it, open it, etc.

The file automatically opens So, if you click "Always open files of this type even once! Then, the file automatically opens instead of saving when I download in Chrome. When you click on the three small lines dots tools icon , you'll see a dropdown box appear.

Click on "Settings" and you'll see a new page pop up in your Chrome browser window. Next time you download an item, it will be saved instead of opened automatically. If you're more of a visual learner, we did create a brief video of how to set chrome to download links instead of opening them below.

Or more specifically, what happens when you click on a link in Chrome and it keeps opening instead of saving to your computer. What do I mean by that? I want to save this, I want to save this whole thing, how do I save this? So what is happening right now, is Chrome is using the settings that are going to allow you to preview any kind of item. So you just click on a link and it opens it. So, to get to that, all we have to do is in Chrome, we get to our settings. To get to settings go to the three little drop down and you go down to Settings, third from the bottom right there.

Then click on Advanced, and downloads. That is the option we want to go and have cleared. Or you can click show in folder.

Show in folder is great because it can show you where everything is downloaded to, and not only that, you can be able to make sure if you did download something one, two, three times whoops! You can have access to everything that did get downloaded to that location. You can get unlimited PowerPoint templates, animations, including custom text where you can change everything, customizable clip art images, video backgrounds including custom videos, a new slide clip video maker, and more.

Unlimited downloads all year long. Your Settings link for Chrome can be found here. And if you need additional support, Chrome has a help menu and search feature here. Thanks for searching for "My file automatically opens instead of saving when I download in Chrome". Is there a Google version of PowerPoint? PowerPoint Templates. PowerPoint Animations. Presentation Clipart. Video Backgrounds. Files downloading instead of opening in Chrome Ask Question. Asked 6 years, 6 months ago.

Active 1 year, 9 months ago. Viewed 65k times. Improve this question. Enilorac Enilorac 1, 5 5 gold badges 19 19 silver badges 43 43 bronze badges. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. DSpencer 3 3 3 bronze badges. Jim Stitzel Jim Stitzel 36 1 1 bronze badge. Naveen Naveen 1, 8 8 silver badges 12 12 bronze badges. This looks like it could work but I don't think I have the powers and it's for — Enilorac.

Elin Lovinda Elin Lovinda 21 1 1 bronze badge. Tekla Tekla 1. Did you mean "can't"? Grant Grant 1. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google. Danny B Danny B 7 7 silver badges 3 3 bronze badges. This won't prevent you from downloading the file.

It simply opens automatically a downloaded file. This doesn't quite answer the question because the question wants to prevent downloading. This does not prevent downloading, it just automatically opens the downloaded file. On Windows, this opens the file in Notepad. Would like to know how to read "any.

I agree with Larry. This does not prevent downloading and so does not answer the question. Guest's answer below does. Great question. It can be achieved via an extension: For Chrome, load undisposition If the file loading is ASCII then colour coding may be desirable, that can be done via the Syntaxtic extension btw, for Firefox load the InlineDisposition add-on. This is the most "correct" answer, as it's likely often caused by content-disposition: attachment.

Wow, Undisposition is really great! Looking for this for years, you're my savior! For "undisposition" This is perfect, exactly what I needed for those pages forcing links to be downloaded instead of viewed in a new tab! Works perfectly Using this in Edge btw just like I expected! Not the best solution, but it's an effective "patch" for now. Ricky Ricky 91 1 1 silver badge 1 1 bronze badge. No browser can open files without saving; that's basic computing.

It's just that some browsers delete it for you once you've used it. A browser should be able to open the file without saving if the file is already saved as in the case of this question - "The links are for local files. It'd be a mistake to assume that is the case for all programs that send or receive the file data or declare it as a core truth of computing. You could definitely 'download' any file straight to stdin of VIM, for example, no disk save at all.

You are technically correct -- the best kind of correct.