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
    2021-05-26T00:13:28+00:00

    Actually - it DID work after I saved the change, refreshed my test page and did it again. t's weird because the LANGUAGE there is counterintuitive to "make this my default". I mean, why do we have to go into settings to begin with? With IE, Windows was still in control, the settings we put there rule the show. This is a system fail on the art of the Edge engineers. Edge should not be "the boss of things", that is already the job of Windows. Edge is just another app on the desktop.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-05-25T20:57:06+00:00

    Thank you Aditya, 

    I had the same problem  - I set my PDF extensions to default to Acrobat DC (v. 2021.001.20155) But STILL every time I download I PDF, when I l click on the new upper right prompt to open the file, it opens in an Edge tab instead of   in Acrobat. So I tried your Method 2 above. Here is what I found:

    1. There is no Site Permissions on the left nav pane, I had to search for it. 

    2. I think I found it, it was set as OFF. But the option is only about Downloading or not downloading. It says nothing about launching EXTERNALLY. It just says "IF MS Edge is your default, then ..." But it is NOT my default. (See screen shots below)

    Has the setting YOU described been moved?

    Thank you,

    -Monica

    Image

    Image

    Image

    It still wont work, because later when you click on the pdf file to open it with Acrobat, it will still open with Edge.  It does not matter if you have assigned Acrobat as the default application for pdf's.  For new versions of Acrobat or an old version, Edge will still steal the extension.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-05-25T20:23:02+00:00

    Thank you Aditya, 

    I had the same problem  - I set my PDF extensions to default to Acrobat DC (v. 2021.001.20155) But STILL every time I download I PDF, when I l click on the new upper right prompt to open the file, it opens in an Edge tab instead of   in Acrobat. So I tried your Method 2 above. Here is what I found:

    1. There is no Site Permissions on the left nav pane, I had to search for it. 

    2. I think I found it, it was set as OFF. But the option is only about Downloading or not downloading. It says nothing about launching EXTERNALLY. It just says "IF MS Edge is your default, then ..." But it is NOT my default. (See screen shots below)

    Has the setting YOU described been moved?

    Thank you,

    -Monica

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