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
    2021-01-21T05:16:39+00:00

    Lester, I'm really glad to hear this. Let me know if there's anything else.

    Also when ready please mark the post which helped most as the Answer (or Resolved), to help others. A rating is also appreciated.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-01-22T02:02:56+00:00

    Hi Greg

    No problem, I will when it is resolved.

    But not yet.  I have just edited and saved a couple of PDFs using Adobe and now Edge has taken over again!  I would really just like to delete Edge as it is not of any use to me and is only causing me grief and frustration.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-01-22T02:18:58+00:00

    There are supposedly unintended consequences with (at least) WIndows Search if you remove Edge. But you can create a System Restore point first and then Uninstall it using the method in this article: https://www.cloudwards.net/how-to-uninstall-mic...

    There is also the script created by this TechNet Uninstaller tool which creates scripts to uninstall apps that don't have an Uninstall button:

    https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcen...

    System Restore point to go back if needed:

    https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-system-r...

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-01-29T02:33:56+00:00

    Thank you for the links.  I tried to uninstall Edge with Powershell but no luck there. So, I then tried the second method via the command prompt.  This worked!

    So, now I don't have Edge, and so my Adobe doesn't get switched multiple times a day to Edge.  Now what happens is that multiple times a day Windows removes Adobe as the default for PDFs and i am left with files that have no associations.

    Problem is still not solved.  Microsoft just won't let me use the program that I paid good money for, and is far superior to anything that Microsoft has offered.

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-02-06T21:17:02+00:00

    I had the same issue; starting in 2017 and happening until now, Feb 2021 on W10 v2004. Although configuring either Foxit Reader or Adobe Reader as my standard PDF reader, it got reverted to Edge after a period of sometimes only minutes and up to like 3 days.

    I tested everything, GPO rules, regedit changes, removing Edge etc.

    In the end I discovered that my ACDSee image viewer actually caused this behavior - it was configured to be associated to PDF files. When skipping through a folder that had a pdf file between images it would skip over the pdf, but made Windows revert the pdf association back to Edge after closing ACDSee. I could reproduce on a second computer.

    I unchecked the PDF file association in ACDSee and that fixed it.

    Maybe this helps a few users reading along.

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    5 people found this answer helpful.
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