A guide to opening PDF files with Adobe Reader in Microsoft Edge

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The tutorial instructs on disabling the internal PDF viewer in Microsoft Edge to open PDF files externally in Adobe Reader or other applications. The process includes navigating to specific settings or typing a URL to enter PDF document settings. Alternatively, the internal viewer can be disabled via the Windows registry, providing steps to facilitate the…

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to disable the internal PDF viewer in Microsoft Edge browser with Windows 10 and always open PDF files externally in Adobe Reader or other PDF applications.

The new Microsoft Edge browser has adopted the Chromium open-source project code base, offering better web compatibility and performance over the legacy Edge.

Microsoft Edge browser is cross-platform and supports all Windows, macOS, and Linux systems. If you’re currently using Edge and want to learn how to disable the internal PDF viewer in Microsoft Edge, the steps below should show you how.

By default, Microsoft Edge uses its internal PDF viewer when dealing with PDF files in the browser. This might work for many, but a few folks might want to use Adobe Reader or other PDF applications for all PDF files.

To get started with opening PDF files externally, follow the steps below:

Open PDF files externally

Microsoft Edge uses its internal PDF viewer to open all PDF files by default. This may be a good feature for personal use; however, this does not work as expected in some business environments, and a dedicated PDF application works excellently.

To turn off PDF files in Edge and use external PDF apps, open the new Microsoft Edge and go to Settings and more  > Settings.

When the Settings page opens, go to Cookies and site permissions. Under Site permissions, move the block to enable Edge Always to download PDF files.

Or you can simply type the URL below in Edge browser to go directly to the PDF documents settings.

edge://settings/content/pdfDocuments

Disable Internal PDF viewer via registry

You can also disable Edge internal PDF viewer from the Windows registry.

If logged in as an administrator, you can also turn off this feature via the Windows registry. To do that, use the steps below:

Using the Windows registry is one way to force all users on the system to use external PDF applications. There are multiple ways to do this in Windows; however, using the Windows registry is the easiest and most effective way.

To enable, press the Windows Key + on your keyboard to open the run command box. Or use the search function to search for the Run app.

In the command box, type the commands below and press Enter.

regedit

When the Windows registry opens, navigate to the path below. If you don’t see the Edge key, create one.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge

From there, right-click on the Edge key and select the New > DWORD (32-bit) Value option to create a REG_DWORD value if you don’t see the existing AlwaysOpenPdfExternally value already created.

If you don’t see the Edge key or folder, create one.

Name the new DWORD value as:

AlwaysOpenPdfExternally

After saving the DWORD above, double-click it to open. Then, enter the value of 0 to disable and 1 to enable.


0 = Force disabled
1 = Force enabled

That should do it.

Conclusion:

This post showed you how to disable the internal PDF viewer in the Microsoft Edge browser. If you find any error above, please use the comment form below to report.

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10 responses to “A guide to opening PDF files with Adobe Reader in Microsoft Edge”

  1. Walt Avatar
    Walt

    Searched many sites for how to make Edge open pdf’s by default. This is the only one that had a solution that worked. Microsoft changed the Cookies and Site permissions page to no longer have the setting to change, but the link you gave to get to that place worked. Thanks so much

  2. JM Avatar
    JM

    So good. Thanks for this post!

  3. Amilcar Alho Avatar
    Amilcar Alho

    Hi,
    Thank you.
    For me, works only with regedit…

  4. Stefano RIVOLI Avatar
    Stefano RIVOLI

    Congratulations and Thank You! It works as it should but I must be missing something (I’ve used regedit). I still must Click on Open. Is there any way I can open Acrobat without any other Click once I Click a PDF on Edge?

    1. Jean Avatar
      Jean

      Same question, and why is the PDF being saved?
      I want to look in Adobe first and then decide if I want to save.

  5. peter forint Avatar
    peter forint

    Thanks for the post. Helps a lot!

  6. Mayakovski Avatar
    Mayakovski

    None of these work to open a PDF file in Acrobat.
    What they do is download the file to your computer so you can manually open it in Acrobat.

  7. TD Avatar
    TD

    Incomplete….. Too much of this on the internet.

  8. Tom Avatar
    Tom

    That did not work for me. This article is from 2021. I am wondering if they have since made changes that negate this?

  9. Dave Henderson Avatar
    Dave Henderson

    Microsoft seems to continually prevent users from choosing what to do with their computers, resetting Windows and Edge settings without notice or permission. This is unacceptable, and is getting worse.

    If you use Office 365 email, they seem to now use their own internal viewer in Edge even when Edge is explicitly set to open with Acrobat, once again bypassing the Windows/Edge settings. I am currently seeking yet another way to stop this behaviour, I corrected it a few months ago, but now that option no longer works.

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