Troubleshooting: Pop-Up Blockers

What's in this article:

• How to disable your browser's pop-up blocker if your PDFs aren't downloading properly.

Who cares:

• Anyone who can't download a PDF on JSTOR and can't figure out why.

Have you ever found the perfect article on JSTOR only to click "Download PDF" and watch helplessly as nothing happens? We imagine it left you feeling a little irritable.

Web browsers generally have a default setting that blocks all pop-ups. While this is mostly good for the health of your computer pop-up blockers sometimes can’t differentiate between ads and PDFs of scholarly articles. This is something that users have to manually change within their browser settings. 

Each browser has a slightly different way of changing these settings, so we’re going to walk you through the most common. Furthermore, some browsers act differently on Macs and PCs, but we’ll cover the differences when we get to those.

IE has their pop-up blocker on by default. You can choose to permanently disable the blocker, or temporarily allow a download for the article you’re trying to access RIGHT NOW. As an important aside, these instructions work on both Macs and PCs.

Here’s how to accomplish the first option (permanently disabling the pop-up blocker in IE):

• Open Internet Explorer.
• Select "Tools" from the main menu in the upper right corner. It's the icon that looks like a cog.

• Select "Internet Options" from the Tools menu.
• Select the “Privacy” tab, and then uncheck “turn on pop-up blocker” to turn it off.

If your Pop-up Blocker is enabled and a pop-up is blocked, you'll see a small information bar beneath the address bar. Select the information bar so that you can choose one of the three options. Clicking this bar will allow you to temporarily allow pop-ups, add the site to the exceptions list, or adjust your blocking settings. These options should be listed as: 

• Temporarily allow pop-ups (from this site only).
• Always allow pop-ups from this site.
• Adjust the pop-up blocker settings.

Adding JSTOR to your exceptions list will allow pop-ups from JSTOR at all times. If you return to "Internet Options" choose the "Settings" button to the right of the Pop-up Blocker box. 

All you need to do is put the website address in the bar at the top of the "Pop-up Blocker Settings" page and press the "Add" button to the right hand side. And BOOM you never need worry about missing your precious PDFs. 

Like Internet Explorer, Chrome will automatically have its pop-blocker enabled. Just like IE, these instructions will work for Macs and PCs. To make exceptions or to permanently disable the pop-blocker, follow these instructions, but first please make sure you have the most up-to-date version of Chrome:

If you want to permanently disable pop-up blocking in Chrome:

• Open Google Chrome.
• Select "Settings" from the Chrome menu.

• Select the "Advanced" link at the bottom of that page.

• Select "Content settings..." from the Privacy section.

• Under "Content settings," select the "Pop-ups" section.

• Once you have selected "Popups," click the "add button" under "allow" and add JSTOR.

• Again, if this doesn't work, please make sure you have the most up-to-date version of Chrome.

For Firefox, there are slightly different instructions depending on whether you are using a Mac or a PC. 

For PC:

• Click the menu button and choose "Options".

• Select the Content panel.

• In the Content Panel: Block pop-up windows: Uncheck this to disable the pop-up blocker altogether.
• Exceptions: This is a list of sites that you want to allow to display pop-ups. Once you add the URL of the website you want, you'll have the following choices.  Allow: Click this button to add a website to the exceptions list. Remove Site: Click this button to remove a website from the exceptions list. Remove All Sites: Click this button to remove all of the websites in the exceptions list. 

For Mac:

• Select “Preferences” in lieu of "Options" in the menu button.

• Select “Content.”

• In the box next to “Block Pop-up windows,” uncheck the box to complete the appropriate setting.
• Exceptions: This is a list of sites that you want to allow to display pop-ups. Once you add the URL of the website you want, you'll have the following choices.  Allow: Click this button to add a website to the exceptions list. Remove Site: Click this button to remove a website from the exceptions list. Remove All Sites: Click this button to remove all of the websites in the exceptions list. 

These instructions are for Apple devices as they are (generally speaking) the heaviest users of Safari. 

• Once you have Safari open, click on a window and go to the "Safari" menu in the upper left hand portion of your screen. Choose "Preferences."

• You'll be presented with a menu of options. Go to the "Security" tab and from there, choose the section marked "Web content". Uncheck the "Block pop-up windows" option. 

• When you're finished, the "Block pop-up windows" should be the only unchecked option. 

• Find the "Settings" icon on your screen.

• Once in your settings, find the "Safari" section in the list.

• In the list of Safari settings find the button that says "Block Pop-ups." The button next to it should be partially green. Slide it to the left. The button will then be completely white. This will allow you to get your PDF.

And that, my friends, is how you turn off your pop-up blocker.