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
    2021-04-05T23:18:01+00:00

    So many people genuinely trying to help but the truth is Microsoft has done this by design.

    There is no fix that does not involve a different operating system.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-04-05T23:31:14+00:00

    ... running a command to force an uninstall.

    Uninstalling Edge is not the solution to this problem. For a start, it's not Edge. but Windows, that reverts the default PDF handler to Edge if an application tries to change it. Secondly, Edge will simply be re-installed by the next Windows Update. See Why can't I uninstall Microsoft Edge? 

    The solution is to find out which application is changing the default and tell it not to. Look in whichever program you're using to read PDFs for an option to set it as the default handler and turn that option off. Once you the user change the default, either via the Default apps settings pages or in an Open with ... dialogue, Windows will respect it, although a new version (e.g. 21H1 when it comes along) may start out with all the Windows defaults.

    The application that is changing the default application for PDF's is either Windows or Edge.  I cant see how anybody else would be interested in changing the assignment to Edge.  If you look through the previous posts, you will see that EVERYBODY has tried changing the default for PDF's using the Default Apps command AND the Open With... command.  They work for a few minutes to a few hours, then the default changes back to Edge.  Windows DOES NOT respect the users change.  I am using Adobe Acrobat Professional and changing the default for PDF's to that program does not work for very long before Edge steals back the association.  It has been this way for the past few years, and started when Edge was released.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-04-06T05:48:50+00:00

    The file(s) that is continuously changing the end user default for handling PDF's (and Photos) is: OEMDefaultAssociations DLL and XML.

    Here's the section that forces Windows to use MS Edge to open PDF files:

    <Association Identifier=".pdf" ProgId="AppXd4nrz8ff68srnhf9t5a8sbjyar1cr723" ApplicationName="Microsoft E ApplicationName="Microsoft Edge" ApplyOnUpgrade="true" OverwriteIfProgIdIs="AppXk660crfh0gw7gd9swc1nws708mn7qjr1;AppX86746z2101ayy2ygv3g96e4eqdf8r99j" />

    And this is the section that forces Windows to use MS Photo or Paint to open JPG files:

    <Association Identifier=".jpg" ProgId="AppX43hnxtbyyps62jhe9sqpdzxn1790zetc" ApplicationName="Photos" ApplyOnUpgrade="true" OverwriteIfProgIdIs="AppX9vdwcvrwnbettpahnt26jswq0n8hgyah;Paint.Paint;Microsoft.PhotoManager.imagetype;jpegfile" />

    Renaming file and editing the XML file isn't the answer, as some others have suggested. Apparently the DLL file(s) overrides the change by reverting to the original code, which overwrites any attempt you make to change the default program. That's why everyone is running in circles on this. 

    Microsoft has once again tied its browser to the OS, however in doing so, they are forcing the end user/license holder to use MS Edge if they want to open a PDF. Yes, we can continually change the default back to whatever program we prefer to use. But that's not fair to the Windows end user.

    Personally, I don't use Edge in any version. I prefer Chrome and Firefox. And I don't use Adobe Acrobat for PDF's - I use Foxit's PhantomPDF Business edition.

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