Disable Chrome PDF Viewer: Step-by-Step Guide

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to disable the internal PDF viewer in the Google Chrome web browser and always open PDF files externally in Adobe Reader or other PDF applications.

Google Chrome has adopted the Chromium open-source project code base, offering better web compatibility and performance than legacy browsers.

Google Chrome is cross-platform and supports all Windows, macOS, and Linux systems, including mobile devices. If you’re currently using Chrome and want to learn how to disable its internal PDF viewer, the steps below should show you how to do it.

By default, Chrome uses its internal PDF viewer to deal 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.

How to open PDF files externally from Chrome

Chrome 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 Chrome and use external PDF apps, open Chrome and go to Settings and more  > Settings.

When the Settings page opens, go to Privacy and security -> Site Settings. Under Site Settings, under Content, expand Additional content settings.

Next, select PDF documents, then choose the radio button to Download PDFs as highlighted below.

You can also type the URL below in the Chrome URL bar to go directly to the PDF document settings.

chrome://settings/content/pdfDocuments

Disable Internal PDF viewer via registry

You can also disable Chrome’s internal PDF viewer from the Windows registry.

You can also turn off this feature via the Windows registry if logged in as an administrator. 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 + R 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 Chrome key, create one.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome

If you do not see Google\Chrome keys, right-click the top folder and create them.

From there, right-click the Chrome 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 Chrome 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

Setting the policy to Enabled turns the internal PDF viewer off in Google Chrome, treats PDF files as a download, and lets users open PDFs with the default application.

Setting the policy to Disabled means that it will open PDF files unless users turn off the PDF plugin.

That should do it.

Conclusion:

• Disabling the internal PDF viewer in Google Chrome and always opening PDF files externally in Adobe Reader or other PDF applications can enhance user experience, especially in business environments.
• By following the provided steps, users can easily configure Chrome to download PDFs instead of opening them in the internal viewer, allowing for greater flexibility in handling PDF files.
• For system administrators, the option to disable Chrome’s internal PDF viewer via the Windows registry provides a centralized and effective way to enforce the use of external PDF applications across all user accounts.