See how to disable your browser from automatically displaying pdf files and instead open them in Acrobat Reader or wherever else you want.
When you click a PDF file link on any website, almost all popular browsers open the PDF file with their built-in PDF viewer, rather than downloading it to your disk.
If you want to change this behavior and want to disable the built-in PDF viewer in the program your browser, read this article.
Our instructions refer to all popular browsers such as Google Chrome, the Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Brave and Opera, which all have their own built-in PDF viewer.
These built-in apps have basic functionality, can't view multiple files at once, and are generally somewhat clunky. The only good thing about them is that they view the file directly. But many users prefer a third-party PDF viewer such as Adobe Acrobat Reader etc. and wish to open the PDF document in this program, instead of viewing it through their browser.
Fortunately, all browsers allow users to disable or enable the ability to view PDFs. Once you disable the built-in PDF viewer, your browser will always download the PDF file, and then you can open it with the PDF viewer of your choice.
Disable the built-in PDF viewer in Mozilla Firefox
- Open Firefox and click on the Firefox main menu (3-line Hamburger menu icon) located on the right side of the toolbar. Now click on Settings to open the Firefox settings page.
Alternatively, you can direct the selection of this page using the about:preferences command in the address bar.
- You are at the top of the page, in the "General" section. Scroll down to the “Apps” section.
-
Set “Portable Document Format (PDF)” to “Use Windows default application” using the drop-down box. Alternatively, you can select "Save file" so that it is saved to your disk and you can open it later with any program you want.
Firefox is the only browser that can be instructed to open the pdf file directly in the default Windows program. All other Chromium-based browsers do not have this feature, except to download to the file on disk.
PS: In the future, if you decide to restore or re-enable the built-in PDF viewer feature in Firefox, set the option above to “Open in Firefox”.
Disable the built-in PDF viewer in Google Chrome
Follow these iGuRu instructions, as we previously mentioned in Chrome.
Turn off the built-in PDF viewer in Microsoft Edge
- Open the Microsoft Edge browser and click the menu button with the 3 horizontal dots on the right side of the toolbar. Now select Settings from the main menu. Alternatively, you can directly open the Settings page in Edge using edge://settings/ in the address bar.
Now click on the “Cookies and Site Permissions” section or tab on the left sidebar.
In the right part of the window, scroll down and click on “PDF Documents”.
PS: You can direct the open PDF document settings page using the link edge://settings/content/pdfDocuments in the Edge address bar.
- Now enable the option “Always download PDF files”, (set the toggle button to ON).
End. Now whenever you click a PDF file link, Microsoft Edge will download the PDF file.
PS: In the future, if you decide to restore or re-enable the built-in PDF viewing feature in Edge, please disable the "Always download PDF files" option.
Disable the built-in PDF viewer in the Brave browser
- Launch the Brave browser, click the Menu button with the three horizontal dashes (harbugger) at the top right, then click Settings . Alternatively, you can directly launch the Settings page by entering the URL brave://settings.
Since Brave is based on Chromium, just like Chrome, it doesn't differ much in its settings with it. On the settings page click on “Privacy and security” located on the left menu.
In the right part of the window, click on “Site and Shields Settings”.
Scroll down and click on “More content settings”.
Again scroll down and click on “PDF Documents”.
PS: You can direct the settings page of open PDF documents using the brave://settings/content/pdfDocuments link in Opera's address bar.
- Now select “Download PDF” given in “Default Behavior” section.
End. Now every time you click on a PDF file link, Brave will download the PDF file.
PS: In the future, if you decide to restore or re-enable Brave's built-in PDF viewer, set the “Default behavior” option for PDF documents to “Open PDF in Brave”.
Disable the built-in PDF viewer in the Opera browser
- Launch the Opera browser, click the Opera Menu button, and then click "Go to full browser Settings". Alternatively, you can directly launch the Settings page by pressing Alt+P keys together.
It will open the Opera Settings page. Now click on the “Privacy and security” section or tab present on the left sidebar.
In the right part of the window, click on “Site Settings”.
Scroll down and click on “More content settings”.
Again scroll down and click on “PDF Documents”.
PS: You can navigate to the settings page of open PDF documents using the opera://settings/content/pdfDocuments link in Opera's address bar.
- Now select “Download PDF” given in “Default Behavior” section.
This is. Now every time you click a PDF file link, Opera will download the PDF file.
PS: In the future, if you decide to restore or re-enable Opera's built-in PDF viewer, set the “Default behavior” option for PDF documents to “Open PDF files in Opera”. And Opera, like Brave, is based on Chromium, so the two menus are very similar with slight differences in terminology.
