PACER.gov and non-Adobe PDF VIewer

Question

We use pacer.gov to get documents, the first one is free, any other views costs money. We recently switched our PDF software from Acrobat to eCopy PDF Pro and we're seeing an issue when downloading documents from their site. Instead of producing a PDF file, it presents a show_temp.pl file. The only info I found was on github, but without constantly paying for documents we can't test it. Also, I'm not 100% I understand the instructions. From what I found HERE, this is what I created. I haven't tested it yet. Hoping someone else here has gone through this and could help with a resolution.

Image: https://content.spiceworksstatic.com/service.community/p/post_images/0000256380/59540ef4/attached_image/pacer_issue.png

These are the suggestions I got directly from PACER:

"Try saving the document to your computer by adding a .pdf extension to the file name. Then right click the saved file, select "Open with" and select your pdf reader."
"We suggest you change your PDF reader settings to open PDF's outside the browser window, then restart the browser and try opening the document again."

"Try saving the
document to your computer by adding a .pdf extension to the file name. Then
right click the saved file, select "Open with" and select your pdf
reader."

"We suggest you change
your PDF reader settings to open PDF's outside the browser window, then restart
the browser and try opening the document again."

gilnov · Accepted Answer

We use PACER with a non-Adobe PDF viewer (not the same one you use) and the best way I have found to avoid this problem is to not open PDF's in the IE window (PACER, last time I checked, still only works with IE 9 or 10...no IE 11, no Edge, no Chrome, no Firefox). In my case, this setting is controlled in the 
PDF software. If configured correctly, clicking a link on the PACER site or in one of the emails they send will hand the link off directly to the PDF viewer and won't confuse IE 10. I've also found that if you choose to save the temp file (rather than selecting open it) you can just change the file extension to PDF and it will open. Clunky but it's a workaround to keep in your hip pocket to save a few bucks.