Issue Opening PDFs Directly in Adobe from SharePoint Site

Oussama Kebbouche 30 Reputation points
2025-01-09T19:17:23.34+00:00

I would like the default application for opening PDF files in SharePoint Online to be Adobe Acrobat Reader. However, even after selecting the "Open with the client application" option in the library settings, the PDFs still do not open directly in Acrobat Reader. Instead, they either download or open in the browser.

This issue disrupts the workflow, and I am looking for a solution to ensure that PDFs open directly in Adobe Acrobat Reader as the default application when accessed from SharePoint Online. Any help in resolving this would be greatly appreciated.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For business | Windows
Microsoft 365 and Office | SharePoint | For business | Windows

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  1. .Giancarlo7 5 Reputation points
    2025-06-05T09:47:08.9+00:00

    May I add that in the Sharepoint site's Advanced Settings under "Offline and sync" you also need to enable this "Allow people to sync this document library to their computers with Microsoft OneDrive and access it offline"

    This is enabled by default by some admins might have it disabled

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  2. Toky Tajwar 5 Reputation points
    2026-09-10T14:31:09.7133333+00:00

    Hi,

    If you are still having this issue I may have a solution. We had this issue with our engineering department and turns out that the reason Adobe wasn't able to open the files directly from SharePoint was that the file names had too many characters/too long. We figured it out when some files were opening and others weren't in the same file library and the ones opening had shorter names. I shortened the names of the files that were not opening and it worked immediately.

    Hope this helps!

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  3. Vextronaut1629 0 Reputation points
    2025-10-03T21:17:21.76+00:00

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    What does this setting above truly mean and do? Does it mean the pdf will open in the desktop Adobe app? That is the result I am seeking. Does it mean something else? Are there any other settings than the 3 discussed above that prevent the pdf from opening in the native app without using the dropdown list to select "Open in App"?

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  4. Alex Cellarius 0 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2025-02-10T03:10:40.41+00:00

    I gave a long answer, did it go through? I don't see it here..

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  5. Yanli Jiang - MSFT 31,701 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff
    2025-01-10T08:45:03.9933333+00:00

    Hi @Oussama Kebbouche ，

    welcome to Q&A forum!

    There are many reasons for this situation. You can try the following steps to see if it can solve the problem:

    1. Activate the feature called Open Documents in Client Applications by Default in Site collection features.
    2. Ensure that Adobe Acrobat Reader is installed on your machine and set as the default PDF viewer.
      • On your computer, navigate to "Settings" > "Apps" > "Default apps."
      • Scroll down and click on "Choose default apps by file type."
      • Find the ".pdf" file type and ensure that Adobe Acrobat Reader is set as the default app.
    3. For some end users, the issue might be related to individual browser settings. Here are steps for common browsers:

    Google Chrome:

    • Go to Chrome settings by clicking the three dots in the upper right corner and selecting Settings.
    • Scroll down and click on Advanced.
    • Under Privacy and security, click Site Settings.
    • Scroll down to PDF documents and ensure the option Download PDFs instead of automatically opening them in Chrome is turned on.

    Mozilla Firefox:

    • Open Firefox menu and select Options.
    • Go to the Applications section.
    • Find Portable Document Format (PDF) in the list, and change the action to Open with Adobe Acrobat Reader.

    Microsoft Edge:

    • Open Edge settings by clicking on the three dots in the upper right corner and selecting Settings.
    • Go to Cookies and site permissions.
    • Scroll down to PDF documents and turn on Always open PDF files externally.
    1. Ensure that Adobe Acrobat Reader is set as the default PDF handler on the desktop:
    • Open Adobe Acrobat Reader.
    • Go to Edit > Preferences.
    • Select General.
    • Click on Select as Default PDF Handler.
    1. Please confirm whether this happens to all libraries and users.

    Hope these can help.

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