Share via

How to open a PDF file in directly in PDF Viewer instead of in SharePoint?

helloworldfromed 46 Reputation points
2020-09-23T23:26:09.01+00:00

Hello, i apologize if the title is confusing.

So, whenever users open a PDF file, it's opened in SharePoint first regardless of the 'Site Collection Features' setting for 'Open in Browser'.

When a user selects a file, only way that person can open in PDF Viewer on Chrome is if they select the below 'Open in Browser' button after the file is opened in SharePoint.

27704-image.png

Is there anyway to change this so whenever a user opens a PDF file uploaded in SharePoint, it will opened up in PDF Viewer in Chrome directly?

Thank you

SharePoint
SharePoint
A group of Microsoft Products and technologies used for sharing and managing content, knowledge, and applications.
10,300 questions
Accepted answer
  1. Trevor Seward 11,696 Reputation points
    2020-09-24T01:32:17.283+00:00

    You would need to develop your own file handler. Otherwise, it will be handled by SharePoint or if you integrate something like Adobe Document Cloud, opened by Doc Cloud (which is still in the browser, but Adobe's service instead).

    In essence, no PDF application out there (such as Adobe Reader) implements a Chrome plugin to automatically open in the desktop application. Chromium-based browsers will always have the PDF open in the browsers' renderer. Adobe provides a plugin for Chromium browsers that allows you to then click and open it in the desktop, but that's not quite applicable in this case.

    So, until a company like Adobe, Foxit, etc. produce a handler that allows for registration and opening in the desktop application, we're a bit out of luck here.

    3 people found this answer helpful.

8 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Adrian Quintanilla 6 Reputation points
    2020-12-04T00:43:37.283+00:00

    But when you are searching you get a different ribbon altogether.

    There should be an option to change the default option to always open PDF's in Browser vs SharePoint viewer. 44974-capture.jpg

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. JT 6 Reputation points
    2022-09-21T18:26:34.763+00:00

    Link your Sharepoint library to your OneDrive. Sync; this will stay up to date. Then point your Acrobat application to your local OneDrive. This gives you edit, search and other capabilities as if you were on-prem with the benefits of having the documents in the cloud.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Wendy Li_MSFT 1,711 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2020-09-24T07:27:17.203+00:00

    @EdwardKim-1648 I could reproduce this issue on my SharePoint environment, and it seems to be by default.

    Except the method you mentioned above (“open in browser” from the SharePoint PDF Viewer Page), here are other suggestions for you:

    1. Select the PDF file and select “Open in browser” in the ribbon:
      27909-microsoftteams-image.png
    2. Select ellipsis next to the file name and Select “Open”->”Open in browser”:
      27890-microsoftteams-image-1.png

    If an Answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

  4. Rumi 156 Reputation points
    2020-09-24T16:22:47.627+00:00

    Yes, I have been chasing for a solution for this for a long time. As Trevor indicates, you have to create your own custom solution or integrate with Adobe Document Cloud. But, as a workaround, I implemented this for one of my clients and they are happy with it so far:

    https://www.bonzai-intranet.com/blog/checkout-and-open-pdf-files-from-sharepoint-document-libraries/

    0 comments