How can I stop PDF files opening in Edge

... the PDF Documents link is there, and the switch for "Always open PDF files externally" is not.

That's because the instructions you found were out of date. It's years since that setting was removed/renamed/revised. It's still not particularly helpful, but the one you want is Always download PDF files. This in itself is misleading; of course the document has to be downloaded before it can be read, whether in the browser or externally. The wording is trying to explain that if you choose to view a document in the browser, it will only be put into temporary storage after downloading.

You should also experiment with the options at Settings > Downloads. You may find it best to select Ask me what to do with each download; you will then be able to decide each time whether to open a downloaded file immediately or not.

None of the policies you found have any bearing on this. However, you can implement the functionality of the setting you were looking for by applying the policy Always open PDF files externally. I would suggest you try the built-in settings first and only apply the policy if you can't get comfortable with the settings.

OK, first off, I didn't read with sufficient care the very instructions that I quoted above. I skipped the "Site Permissions" part, and was looking for the PDF Documents part too soon. BUT...

Now that I've looked in the right place, the PDF Documents link is there, and the switch for "Always open PDF files externally" is not.

Some things are indeed managed by my organization, and are indicated by that little brief case icon. I expected to see the icon somewhere along the way, and that would tell me that my cause is hopeless, but no. The switch doesn't have the icon, the switch just isn't there.

Thanks for your help.

Hello!

So I tried doing this- didn’t work at all. I found that you have to go to your desktop’s settings and search “Choose default apps by file type”.

Scroll down and you’ll see .pdf and then you click the icon beside it and it’ll give you an option to choose which website or PDF reader you want to use to open your files.

For me I had to change mine from Microsoft Edge to Adobe Acrobat Reader.

That’s it- and then I was able to use Adobe as my PDF reader again!

Hopefully this is some of help, take care!

God bless,

Matthew 11:28

Ideally with one click, but I'd settle happily for two. But I haven't yet found a way to even do that.

The Acrobat addon was installed because I have one - count'm, one - web-based application that I'm required to use which includes an embedded image preview. It's the image of a receipt being submitted for an expense report. That preview works with many formats, including pdf, but only if the PDF addon is present. And the scanners here in the office only send scanned items in PDF.

So, I've decided I can live without those previews, and uninstalled the add-on. Yet nothing else I've tried has worked. There's a bunch of new information this morning, and I'll try some more then report back later in the day. But I'm growing to suspect that there is some company managed policy/setting that's blocking me but is not clearly stated as such.

What I'm really hoping for is the mythical setting that tells Edge not to try to be everything, not to stick its nose in where not wanted, to stay in its lane and just open HTML, XML, and the like, and open everything else in the default apps as specified at system level. But I guess I'll only find that setting in El Dorado or Shangri-La.

Hello ! I'm Aymeric, and I'm here to help !

Is your Edge browser managed by your organization ?

Try to use the direct link to Edge's PDF setting : edge://settings/content/pdfDocuments . Enter it in the Edge address bar. What happens when you're using the direct link ? Are the settings greyed out ?

Keep me updated !