How do I disable inline PDFs in Safari 5.1?

Solution 1:

I don't know of any way to disable inline PDF viewing, but option-clicking on a link will force a download instead. Not exactly what you asked for, though...

What's interesting is that some PDFs actually get downloaded instead of previewed, so that could be a starting point for a hack: http://www.jbc.org/content/279/1/686.long (click on the link 'Full Text PDF').

Solution 2:

As cparnot mentions, this doesn't seem to be possible anymore, but you can work around it by option-clicking on PDF links. However, this doesn't always work; sometimes, links are opened with JavaScript code that ignores the option key.

In those cases, wait until the PDF's URL appears in the address bar, click into the address bar, hit option-return, and then hit back. That will start downloading the PDF and bring you back to the previous page.