Configuring Mozilla Firefox for Spectrum v14 Spectrum v14 runs in a browser window. As a result, there are a number of browser settings that impact how Spectrum will function. This document covers the recommended settings for using Spectrum v14 in Mozilla Firefox for the following functions: Setting Firefox as the Default Browser... 2 Setting Adobe Acrobat in Firefox as the Default PDF Viewer... 4 Printing a Previewed Report... 6 Enabling Browser Pop-ups... 7 Downloads Configuration... 9 Clearing the Browser Cache... 11 Revised: March 8 th, 2017 for Firefox 52.0
S e t t i n g F i r e f o x a s t h e D e f a u l t B r o w s e r Some functionality requires that the browser being used to access Spectrum be set as the default browser on the workstation. 1. In the Firefox menu, click the Settings icon and select Options. 2
2. On the General settings page, in the Startup section, click the Make Default button. 3
S e t t i n g A d o b e A c r o b a t a s t h e D e f a u l t P D F V i e w e r NOTE: Effective with Firefox v52 the Adobe Acrobat plug-in is no longer supported by Firefox. Users have the option of utilizing the built-in Firefox PDF viewer, or using Acrobat externally to preview reports. Users can access hyperlinked images with either option if using the built-in Firefox viewer they will need to right-click on the link and select Open in new Tab. When using the external Adobe Acrobat window a single click on the link will open the image in another Spectrum tab. Spectrum previews reports in a Spectrum tab as a PDF file. Dexter + Chaney recommends configuring Firefox to use Adobe Acrobat to display these report previews. 1. In the Firefox menu, click the Settings icon and select Options. 2. From the navigation pane on the left, select Applications. 4
3. Find the Content Type Portable Document Format (PDF) and change the setting to Use Adobe Acrobat. Note: Some workstations will not have an entry in Firefox for Portable Document Format (PDF) to edit. These workstations will instead have an entry for Adobe Acrobat Document that can be edited to achieve the same results. 5
P r i n t i n g a P r e v i e w e d R e p o r t To print from a previewed report, move the mouse near the bottom of the preview window display the print dialog, and click the Print button. Note: When printing for the first time users will need to set the print size to Actual Size. This setting will be remembered in future sessions. 6
E n a b l i n g B r o w s e r P op - ups Some Spectrum functionality requires the use of browser pop-ups, most notably saving external files such as NACHA auto-deposit files to send to your bank, or electronic W2 and 1099 forms for year-end tax reporting. Follow these steps to enable pop-ups for your Spectrum server. 1. In the Firefox menu, click the Settings icon and select Options. 2. On the navigation pane on the left, click Content and the in the Pop-ups section click the Exceptions button to add an exception for your Spectrum server. 7
3. Add the URL of your Spectrum server and click Allow. 8
D o w n l o a d s C o n f i g u r a t i o n Download settings will affect the browser s behavior when saving files such as NACHA auto-deposit files for your bank or electronic W-2 and 1099 files for year-end reporting. 1. In the Firefox menu, click the Settings icon and select Options. 9
2. On the General page, in the Downloads section select to either have Firefox save downloaded files to a specific folder, or to prompt the user each time for a location to save the file to. 10
C l e a r i n g t h e B r o w s e r C a c h e Firefox will cache certain content, including javascript, to speed up the loading of webpages. After installing a Spectrum service pack it is critical to clear the browser cache on all workstations accessing Spectrum in order to remove javascript that may have been superseded by newer programming. 1. In the Firefox menu, click the Settings icon and select Options. 11
2 On the navigation pane on the left, select Privacy, and in the History section click the clear your recent history link. 3 In the Clear All History dialog, select Everything as the time frame, and Cache and then click Clear Now. 12
Note: some user options such as column widths in certain screens are stored as cookies, so avoid clearing cookies unless absolutely necessary. Firefox may also be configured to automatically clear the browser cache each time you close the program. In the History section, select Use custom settings for history, check Clear history when Firefox closes, and then click Settings to select Cache as the item to be cleared. 13