{"id":1657,"date":"2021-07-29T09:23:55","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T17:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/?p=1657"},"modified":"2026-10-26T12:05:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T20:05:04","slug":"choose-a-default-pdf-viewer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/choose-a-default-pdf-viewer\/","title":{"rendered":"Choose a Default PDF Viewer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Updated 20261019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you open a PDF on a computer running Windows 11, there’s a good chance it will launch Microsoft Edge — even if there’s another program, like Adobe, that you’d rather use. This is because Windows 11 computers come with Edge pre-installed, and Microsoft wants people to use it. However, it’s possible to switch your computer’s default program for opening PDFs back to the one you like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/strong> it’s very likely that the next time Windows updates itself, it will revert to using Edge for PDFs. Unfortunately, there’s no way to prevent this. If and when your default program changes itself in the future, just follow these steps again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This guide presents two options for solving this issue:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Through Settings<\/a>, <\/strong>to set yourself up for the future, or<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. From the context menu<\/a>, <\/strong>if you already have a particular PDF you’d like to open.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Set default apps through Settings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. Click the Start \/ Windows menu button, and select the gear for Settings<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"
      Mouse over the gear icon to make “Settings” appear.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      2. From the window that opens, select Apps.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      3. From the right-hand side, select Default apps.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      4. Click on the Box that says “Set a default file type or link type” so that you see a cursor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      5. Enter .pdf into the file type box, and the current default app will appear beneath, most likely Microsoft Edge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"
      Here, we click on “Microsoft Edge”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      6. From the pop-up menu, select the program you’d like to use, and then click on the Set default button and your settings will be updated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      Note: <\/strong>Microsoft will probably throw up a last-second popup to try to convince you to keep using Edge. Just click “Switch anyway.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Set default apps from the context menu<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      1. Right-click<\/strong> on the PDF you want to open.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. From the menu, highlight “Open with”<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. Select “Choose another app”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
        \"\"
        After right-clicking a PDF file<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        4. A menu will open. Choose the program you want to use (in this case, Adobe), and ensure the “Always use this app to open .pdf files” box is checked. If your preferred program doesn’t appear, click More apps<\/strong> for an expanded list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \"\"
        Make sure you check the box!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        5. Click OK. <\/strong>The file will open, and your default program settings will be updated. Note: <\/strong>if you leave the “Always use this app” box unchecked, your file will open in the chosen program this <\/em>time, but your default settings won’t change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Exception: Opening downloads<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        You may find that if you download a PDF in a web browser (Chrome, Firefox, etc) and try to open it right away, the file will launch in a new browser tab instead of your default PDF viewer. This can happen if you open your new PDF from the same browser you used to download it — some will prompt you, some won’t. The solution is easy: right-click the file where it appears in your browser, and choose Open file location. <\/strong>Your file explorer will launch to wherever the file has been saved (probably “Downloads”), and you can open it normally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Updated 20261019 If you open a PDF on a computer running Windows 11, there’s a good chance it will launch Microsoft Edge — even if there’s another program, like Adobe, that you’d rather use. This is because Windows 11 computers come with Edge pre-installed, and Microsoft wants people to use it. However, it’s possible to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":3403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[65,66,122,26],"class_list":["post-1657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-instructions","tag-adobe","tag-adobe-dc","tag-microsoft-edge","tag-windows-10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1657"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3390,"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1657\/revisions\/3390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}