How do I stop Edge from opening PDF files?

Anonymous
2020-04-16T12:40:17+00:00

How do I stop Microsoft edge from opening? everytime I do the system performance check from dell it sets up Microsoft edge to open PDF files and I have my own program I use, however I cant set it as my default program.... 

* Original title: Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge | Read PDFs | Windows 10

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Anonymous
2020-04-17T08:41:58+00:00

Hi,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

We understand your 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 Apps

  1. Press Windows + I key to launch Windows Settings.
  2. Click on Apps and select Default apps from the left pane.
  3. Now scroll down and click on Choose default apps by file type.
  4. Scroll and look for .pdf, .pdxml, and .pdx file type, then click on the + sign to change it to Adobe Reader.

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.

Regards,

Aditya Roy

Microsoft Community – Moderator

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Anonymous
2020-08-14T08:06:25+00:00

Adobe Acrobat professional is not changing the default app.  

It was in 2018 that Windows tightened up the file association protection measures that you seem to be running into. I can't find documentation for this, but versions newer than Acrobat Pro DC 18 shouldn't be doing this. It's likely that Acrobat Pro 2017 writes to registry keys that only users are allowed to change (by using the default apps settings available).

Could it be that you're using an older version of Acrobat?

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-08-14T09:47:10+00:00

    I don't think that is the problem.  Even if you change the default app association manually to Adobe, within an hour or two, Edge will take the association back.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-08-14T10:17:35+00:00

    I don't think that is the problem.  

    If you're saying that you have a version of Adobe Acrobat Pro released after 2018, but the problem with the PDF file associations still occurs, Adobe need to know about it. Their code was allegedly updated expressly to prevent this from happening and they should be told so they can investigate or explain.

    May I ask which version you are running (e.g. 20.001.30005)?

    [ETA: do you perhaps have an older version of WinZip installed? I've seen reports that this can also cause problems with file associations like those you're seeing.]

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-08-14T15:48:11+00:00

    We are using Adobe Acrobat Pro XI with a copyright date of 2012.  We have tried later versions and everybody still thinks that this was the best version.  Unfortunately, subsequent versions of Acrobat have emphasized cuteness rather than functionality of their GUI.  Many people have contacted Adobe in numerous forums and their response is that this is all Microsoft's problem and they say they can do nothing about it.

    It doesn't seem like Acrobat that is incorrectly setting the association.  I can manually change the association to Acrobat, and without ever running Acrobat, can sometimes within minutes see Edge change the association back, by watching the file icons change.

    We run a LOT of different software packages in our company and this is the only program that consistently has its file association changed.  The best solution would be to delete Edge rather than buying 100 new copies of Acrobat Pro at $500/seat for the office.  Especially when that version is not a good as the one we are presently using.

    How can we delete edge from windows?  In settings, the "Programs and Features" group will let you think that you have deleted edge, but it is actually still there on your computer stealing the PDF association.

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