How to stop pdf opening in browser?

Click Internet in the left panel of the Preferences menu and then select Internet Settings. Select the Programs tab. Click Manage Add-Ons and choose Acrobat Reader in the list of add-ons. Click Disable to ensure PDFs won't be opened in a browser.

Are all your PDF files opening in Chrome and you are wondering why are my PDFs opening in Chrome and not in Adobe? Then you have come to the right place. In this guide, we are going to walk you through why you are experiencing the issue and how you can solve it.

If you ever select a PDF to open on a PDF reader but it opens in a browser instead, know it's a common problem. Also, it is easy to solve. It might be because Chrome has been set to use the in-built PDF viewer by default when you download the files. To make it go away, you will just have to turn it.

There are simple ways to stop Chrome from opening PDF files. So, learn why it is happening and how to fix it.

If the PDFs you are trying to open are opening in Chrome or any other browser instead of a PDF reader, there might be two reasons behind it. Let's take a look at them.

There is a chance that you might not have a PDF reader on your system.

Another reason for this to happen is that you have set the default setting to open the PDFs in the web browser rather than the PDF reader.

There are a few drawbacks of opening PDFs in Chrome. Here we are going to take a look at these drawbacks.

Render problems might start to show up in the built-in browser PDF reader of Chrome at some point or the other. You might have different instances of weird-looking text, missing images, or lagging scrolling on certain PDF documents you open.

Another problem that might arise with an in-built Chrome PDF viewer is that it fails to display PDFs. Hence, it will result in a black screen like the one you see at the time of the 'loading' phase. Other than a poor internet connection, the problem might arise due to conflicting third-party extensions.

You want to edit and work on the PDF files that you want to open and not just access the basic options. In that case, you might need an advanced PDF viewer and editor and the built-in one might not prove to be useful.

If you want to stop PDF from opening in the Chrome browser instead of opening in PDF in Adobe, you can follow some simple tips. Check out three solutions to how to make PDFs open in Adobe instead of Chrome.

1. Set Your Default Program

Whenever you try to open a file, Windows is going to ask you which program you would use every time you want to view the PDF file. You can use Adobe Acrobat Reader or PDFelement PDF reader to read the PDF files. Both are two of the most popular PDF readers.

To set Adobe Reader or PDFelement as the default PDF reader, you will have to follow the steps given below.

Install Acrobat Reader and open it. It will ask if you would like to set Acrobat as the default program.

Click on 'Continue'. It opens up a pop-up 'Properties' window. On this, you will find the option 'Change'. Click on it to open the 'Opens With' area.

You will find a drop-down menu; choose 'Adobe Acrobat DC'. Click on 'Apply' and then on 'Ok' to save your choice. To find out if the solution has worked, try to download and open a PDF file. If it opens directly on the reader, you know it has worked.

2. Turn Off Chrome PDF Viewer

If you have a PDF reader and the PDFs are still opening on the Chrome browser, it might be because in-built PFF viewers make downloaded files open by default. To make the PDFs open in the reader and not in Chrome, you have to turn off the in-built viewer. For that, you have to follow the steps given below;

Launch the Chrome browser and click on the three dots present in the top-right corner. Now, you have to click on 'Settings'.

Choose the 'Security and Privacy' option. Now, you have to click on 'Site Settings'.

Scroll down until you come across the option 'Additional Content Settings' section. Click on the option 'PDF Documents'.

'Open PDFs in Chrome' is the set option. Choose the 'Download PDFs' option.

If you have an older version of Chrome, there might be a slight difference in the settings.

3. Change Your PDF Reader's Setting

In case you want to set the reader to be your default PDF reader, you can simply tweak the settings inside the reader.

To change the Adobe Acrobat PDF reader settings, you will simply have to follow the steps given below.

Sure, Adobe Acrobat Reader is one of the best ones in the market. But there are good alternatives to it. In this section, we will discuss the top three alternatives to Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Wondershare PDFelement - PDF Editor is a PDF editor and is a top Adobe Acrobat Reader alternative available in the market. It is an all-in-one PDF solution that serves as a PDF converter, editor, creator, and annotator.

PDFelement performs better in comparison to the other options. PDFelement comes with suitable functionalities. Moreover, it has some security features that can protect your document.

Let's take a look at the top features of PDFelement.

PDFelement provides 5 reading modes;

It is the best Adobe Reader alternative and comes with more features than you can think of.

Looking for an Adobe reader alternative? Check out the video below to know more about PDFelement.

Nitro Reader is a full-featured PDF viewer that lets you create PDF files from scratch. It has an interface that resembled Microsoft Office and enables users to annotate, add sticky notes, and highlight the documents they open.

One of the biggest features is the split-screen view that lets users open and compare two PDF files to each other. It is a tool with drag-and-drop support, letting users create new PDF files just by dragging any documents on the desktop icon of the tool.

There are two different versions of Nitro Reader. The free version is available for personal use, while the paid avatar starts at $159.99. Nevertheless, the free version is also feature-packed. Through the free version itself, you can extract images from the existing PDFs and also sign documents digitally.

Cool PDF Reader is another PDF file viewer that can be used on Windows laptops or desktops. As an alternative to Adobe Acrobat, it is much lighter. These tools come with simple features and additional features that you will not find in Adobe Acrobat Reader. A few such features are converting a PDF file to a text or image file.

• Right-click on the thumbnail of any PDF file.
• On the menu, click Properties.
• A new dialog box will appear.
• Select Adobe Acrobat DC or Reader from the list as your default.
• Click OK to save and apply changes.

When Google Chrome’s PDF viewer is enabled, it will automatically open any PDF you click on online. As a result, you’ll have to complete another step to download your PDF. On top of that, this feature can be tricky as it’s easy to forget to download a file if you’re already viewing it online, forcing you to look for the file again later when you close the tab.

If you want to avoid wasting time and download PDF files directly instead of opening them in Google Chrome, here’s what to do:

With this option enabled, Google Chrome will stop automatically opening PDF files in the browser window. Instead, it will download the files to your PC, where you can choose which app you’ll use to view and edit them.

Even when Google Chrome is set to download PDF files directly, it will sometimes open the file automatically after saving it to your PC. If you want to take away Google Chrome’s autonomy regarding PDF files altogether, follow these steps:

This action will apply to all future PDF downloads. So, the next time you download a PDF file, Google Chrome won’t automatically launch the default PDF viewer.

If Google Chrome’s PDF viewer is the only app of this kind on your PC, it will automatically open PDF files in a new tab. The same goes if this viewer is set as the default program for viewing PDFs.

Unfortunately, this viewer offers only limited options when working with a PDF file. Namely, you won’t be able to do much more besides viewing the file and zooming in and out. If you’d like to edit your PDF file or have access to a more extensive list of features, you’ll have to download a standalone PDF viewer app. Some of the most popular options include:

After downloading the program you like, you must set it as the default program for opening PDF files, effectively replacing Google Chrome’s viewer. Here’s how:

From now on, all PDF files will launch in the selected PDF viewer. You can always go back to having them opened by Google Chrome by selecting it in Step 5 or choose an alternative app that meets all your PDF needs.