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

Anonymous
2021-01-20T05:56:56+00:00

I am very frustrated with Microsoft Edge continuously hijacking PDFs.  I run Adobe Acrobat and need to have the tools.  I have tried the standard ways of setting Adobe as the default program for PDFs - through Control Panel, through Properties of the file, through Open with.  None of these work for even an hour.

I have also tried a couple of hacks through Regedit that seem to work for others but not for me.

I am at the stage that if i could I would uninstall Edge.

So, how can I permanently set Adobe as the default program for PDFs?

Microsoft Edge | Read PDFs | Windows 10

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-11-04T04:00:25+00:00

    'The complaints on this have gradually tapered off over the past five years'

    Because nothing ever gets done. People give up. FIVE YEARS this issue has been going on, and still no resolution. This particular thread is coming to 11 months on it's own. What happens to cause this has been identified, how about providing a solution where this specific process can be disabled? How about when you manually set a program as default, that becomes the default in the process instead of it being Edge? I'm not a programmer so I don't know how much work would be involved in this, but it seems like it would be an actual solution instead of ignoring a FIVE YEAR PROBLEM that has existed since Win 10 / Edge was released.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-11-04T19:43:04+00:00

    ... how can I permanently set Adobe as the default program for PDFs?

    With difficulty.

    This widespread problem - the default PDF handler eventually reverts to Edge - is not caused by anything within Edge. It is a Windows function over which the Edge engineers have no control. Nevertheless, I'm told that the Edge team are working with Windows to find a resolution, but there is none in sight at present.

    For what it's worth, my understanding of the dilemma is that Windows is committed to User choice in respect of default applications. Adobe, on the other hand, makes tools available to admins to enable them to compel users to use their products exclusively and confound user choice. These policies are obviously incompatible.

    Perhaps there needs to be a two-tier system: one for home users with the current user choice protection and another for enterprise users with managed devices, where admins can specify which third-party software can or should be used. After all, many companies already dictate which browser employees are to use, and Mozilla has devised a mechanism for bypassing the user choice limitations to ensure that Firefox remains the default permanently. There are thus several ways out of the dilemma, and it's now up to the devs to settle on an acceptable one. Meanwhile, affected users and their admins just have to be patient. When a solution is found and deployed for testing, it will be announced at the TechCommunity site.

    Because there's nothing further to be added to this discussion at this stage, and because it's attracting unhelpful responses, it is now locked. Anyone wishing to add something new is encouraged to start a new one using the option on the Participate menu at the top of every page at this site.

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