If you are puzzled by why are my PDFs opening in Chrome, check out the fixed solutions.
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.
Why Are My PDFs Opening in Chrome Instead of Adobe?
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.
Drawbacks of PDFs Opening in Chrome
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.
How to Stop PDF from Opening in Chrome But Open PDF in Adobe?
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.
- Launch Adobe Acrobat and then click on 'Edit'.
- Choose 'Preferences'.
- A new window will open where you have to click on 'Internet' from the menu present on the left panel.
- Click on 'Internet Settings'.
- You are going to find a new pop-up window, where you have to click on the 'Programs' tab.
- Click on the option 'Manage Add-Ons' and choose 'Adobe Acrobat Reader'.
- Next, click on 'Disable' and then 'Ok' to save.
Top 3 Must Try Adobe Reader Alternatives
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.
1. PDFelement
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.
- It has features that automatically detect spelling errors and help fix typos and other errors.
- The OCR feature of the tool supports over 20 languages when you work with scanned PDFs.
- With this tool, you will be able to transform any non-fillable form into a fillable form with just one click.
- The intelligent form automation feature will help in extracting data from all kinds of identical PDFs.
- The tool can extract data from various scanned or non-scanned PDF forms into an editable Excel file.
PDFelement provides 5 reading modes;
- Fit to windows width.
- Fit to the real page size.
- Fit to window height.
- Fit the page to the window.
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.
2. Nitro Reader
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.
3. Cool PDF Reader
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.
The reader comes with an easy-to-use interface. Some additional features in the tool include automatic zoom adjustment, rotating pages, and a slide show option. The new version of the tool comes with pan view support. The slideshow feature is surely one of the most unique features that you will find in the market.
Final Verdict
Now that you know how to open PDF in Adobe instead of Chrome, you can now solve the problem without any issue using the tips listed above. But if you are looking for an alternative to Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can consider PDFelement. It is one of the best PDF tools to use to read and edit PDFs. You can use the free, as well as the paid version. The paid version comes with some interesting features. However, you can also use Nitro Reader or Cool PDF Reader. These alternatives to Adobe are the most affordable and feature-filled. So, you can choose one alternative that is suitable for you.