Edge opens PDF from web even if you have Acrobat as the default

Question

There is so much wrong info on this on the web. The real solution to this if you don't want Edge to open PDFs from the web, but rather simply download them (say you are downloading an important document that you don't want to pop up on your screen as soon as you click the link). the setting is buried in an unlikely place:

In edge, settings, cookies and site permissions, PDF documents

Now is that a dumb place for the setting or what?

Answer 1

Hi,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

We understand the concern as you would like to change the default app for PDF file from Edge to Adobe.

In this scenario, we would suggest you to perform these methods and check.

---

Method 1: Change the setting for PDF files

Refer this article from Adobe Reader:****Make Reader or Acrobat the default program for opening PDF files on Windows 10

Method 2: Stop opening PDF file if you are using New Edge Chromium.

1. Open Microsoft Edge
2. Click on the three dots (…) from the right top corner.
3. Select Settings from the drop down and click on Site permissions from the left pane.
4. Scroll down and click on PDF documents, Toggle the switch to On for Always open PDF files externally.

Notes: If the Always open PDF files externally is on then if you try to open any online PDF document, it will prompt you to download and later you can use Adobe Reader to view.

Also refer the steps from this article: Change default programs in Windows 10

Let us know the results. If the issue persists, we will certainly assist you further.

Aditya Roy

Microsoft Community – Moderator