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Open PDF files in Adobe Acrobat Reader instead of browser

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Anonymous
2023-02-28T14:10:10+00:00

I have set Acrobat Reader as default application to open PDF files.

When I double-click a PDF file in Windows explorer this works. It also works when I open PDF file in my OneDrive folder using Windows Explorer.

However: when I go online to my OneDrive folder and click it, it opens in the browser, thus disregarding the Windows setting to use Acrobat Reader as default application. This is in Microsft Edge, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. The same goes for PDF files in Sharepoint sites: they always open in the browser, not in Acrobat Reader.

How can I configure my computer so that it always opens PDF files in Acrobat Reader, and not in a web browser?

I hope you can help me out with this.

Kind regards,

Axel van Moorsel

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Settings

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-03-15T18:22:46+00:00

    Sure, I can help you with that!

    To open PDF files in Adobe Acrobat Reader instead of a browser, you can follow these steps:

    1. Right-click on the PDF file that you want to open.
    2. Select "Open With" and then select "Adobe Acrobat Reader" from the list of options.
    3. If Adobe Acrobat Reader is not listed, select "Choose Another App" and then select Adobe Acrobat Reader from the list of installed programs.

    Once you have opened the PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can use the search function to find instances of specific words or phrases, such as "patrol security." To do this, simply press "Ctrl+F" on your keyboard and type in the word or phrase you are looking for. Adobe Acrobat Reader will highlight all instances of the word or phrase in the document, making it easy to find and navigate to relevant information.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-05-28T16:16:13+00:00

    Thank you! There are so many settings to check, I appreciate you providing multiple things to check. Apparently, I had Chrome set to automatically open up the files.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-05-01T14:57:30+00:00

    I'm also having the same issue. Adobe is set as the default to open pdf documents, but when I open a PDF from Outlook, it automatically opens in Edge. I followed the instructions from Kelly, but the options don't match her steps. How the heck do we fix this?!

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-03-15T16:48:53+00:00

    Hello Kelly,

    Sorry it took so long for me to reply, but I wanted to test this issue thoroughly, and had also several other issues that needed my attention.

    To be able to do a clean testing, I did the following:

    • On a HyperVisor (Microsoft Hyper-V) I created a clean virtual Windows 10 machine with the latest Windows 10 updates.
    • In MS Edge I configured the followin settings:
      • Settings ⇒ Cookies and site permissions:
        ⇒ enabled: “Always download PDF files”.
        ⇒ enabled: “PDF view settings”.
    • I did a clean install of Google Chrome and configured the following settings:
      • chrome://settings/content/pdfDocuments ⇒ enable “Download PDFs”.
    • I did a clean install of Mozilla Firefox and configured the following settings:
      • about:preferences ⇒ Portable Document Format ⇒ “Use Windows default application”.
    • I did a clean install of Adobe Acrobat Reader and configured the following settings:
      • Internet:
        Disabled: “Display in Read Mode by default”. Disabled: “.Allow fast web view”
        Disabled: “Allow speculative downloading in the background”.
    • I configured Adobe Acrobat Reader as the default application to open PDF files.
    • In OneDrive I configured the following settings:
      • Open “My files”.
      • “Settings” ⇒ “OneDrive settings” ⇒ “More settings” ⇒ “Site collection features”.
      • “Settings” ⇒ “Site settings”
      • Under “Site Administration” ⇒ “Site libraries and lists”.
      • ‘Customize “Documents”
      • “Advanced settings”
      • Default open behavior for browser enabled documents ⇒ “Open in the client application”.

    The results are (in all browsers):

    • When I go to my OneDrive files and click on a PDF document it opens in the browser. When I do the same on a Word document it opens in the desktop app.
    • When I click (in the browser) on the 3 dots next to a PDF file I only have the option to "Open"", which opens the file in the browser. When I do the same on a Word document I have 3 options: "Open" (which opens in the browser), "Open in app" which opens the document in MS Word. and "Open in Immersive Reader".

    So all in all it still not possible to open PDF files that are in Sharepoint directly in Acrobat Reader. I have now idea what else I can do.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-02-28T15:28:48+00:00

    If you have already tried all the steps I provided and the issue persists, you may want to try the following:

    Uninstall and reinstall Adobe Acrobat Reader to ensure that it is properly installed.

    Check if there are any updates available for your web browser and Adobe Acrobat Reader, and make sure that both are up to date.

    Try using a different web browser to see if the issue is specific to one browser.

    Disable any browser extensions that could be causing conflicts with Adobe Acrobat Reader.

    Check if there are any third-party PDF viewers or plugins installed on your computer that could be interfering with Adobe Acrobat Reader. If there are, try disabling or uninstalling them.

    If none of these steps work, you may want to contact Adobe support or your web browser's support for further assistance.

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