Stop Edge from taking control of PDF's permanently!!!

Hi Lester. I'm Greg, awarded MVP for eleven years, Volunteer Moderator, and Independent Advisor here to help you until this is resolved.

The complaints on this have gradually tapered off over the past five years to where I rarely see them any longer. What's worked most is to NOT set Adobe Reader as default in its own Settings, only in Windows Settings > Apps > Default Apps > Choose Default by File type > PDF. For some reason it's own Settings are ignored, but Windows are not.

You may need to reinstall Adobe Reader from a fresh download to get it to show up:

https://get.adobe.com/reader/

If you want to report this to Edge Developers you can choose the Edge Hub (three dots to right of URL address bar) then Help & Feedback, then Feedback form to fill out. They will not even see it here, as this is a tech forums where mostly volunteers try to help others with their problems.

I hope this helps. Based on what you report back I can answer any questions and may have other steps to perform.

Hi Greg

Thanks for your reply.  I didn't have this problem until the other day when Adobe made me upgrade from my old, and better, Adobe X to the online version.  I have done this on my laptop and not had the problem, only on my desktop.

I have tried a dozen times to set Adobe as the default through the pathway that you suggest.  But once I have had to do this a number of times within one session I figure that there must be a better way.

I will start by uninstalling Adobe and see what happens next after reinstallation.

Is Adobe not listed as a choice in Settings > Apps > Default Apps > Choose Default File Type > PDF?

Try reinstalling to see if it shows up.

Hello Lester,

In addition, you can turn on Always open PDF files externally in Microsoft Edge using the tutorial below to stop PDF files from opening in Microsoft Edge by default.

https://www.windowsq.com/t/how-to-enable-or-disable-open-pdf-files-in-microsoft-edge.600/

Of course, you need to set a default app you want other than Microsoft Edge to open PDF files instead.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5507-choose-default-apps-windows-10-a.html

I am very frustrated with Microsoft Edge continuously hijacking PDFs.

Just to set the record straight, Edge isn't hijacking anything. Windows 10 has a number of default apps for a few things so the user is never left high and dry. Since XP days, there has been a default browser, a default media player, a default mail client (except for in Windows 7, and that caused untold angst for hordes of users), and later, after Adobe released the PDF standard to open-source, a default PDF reader. Following all the expensive hullabaloo about browser choice, the concept of user choice was introduced. 

When a user changes a default app - using the Default apps settings page, or by selecting Always use this app ... in a file-open dialogue - the association is registered in key called UserChoice. Now, if an app comes along and tries to register itself as the default for a file type, Windows will reject this attempt to interfere with the inviolate User Choice and restore the Windows default. For PDF files, that is Edge. This mechanism also prevents malicious, accidentally-downloaded apps from making changes like this.

Older versions of Adobe Acrobat regularly try to reassert the program as the PDF default, causing the change you observe. This was corrected in later versions (released 2018 onwards), so the solution is to upgrade Acrobat to the latest version.