Microsoft needed to execute flawlessly on a number of things for Windows 10 to be an inarguable success. High on the list were two things: making the upgrade process smooth and uneventful; and creating the first impression that Windows 10 is both familiar and slightly improved over your previous version of Windows. It’s done pretty well but hardly flawlessly.
On the first point, there have been too many problems for too many people after their Windows 10 upgrades, ranging from complete failure to a vast array of smaller problems with displays, printers, USB devices, and much more. Okay, there’s a lot of PC hardware in the world and it’s hard to support the incredible variety of equipment that we have lashed together in hundreds of millions of different configurations. Great. We’ll be gentle about that.
But Microsoft is also creating a poor first impression of Windows 10 with changes to default programs driven by poor judgment and hubris, not technical defects.
One of the unforgivable sins in modern computing is to change the way programs behave without permission. We loathe the companies that change the home page in our Internet browser, or that add toolbars, or that install programs that take over some function that was being handled just fine without them. When you upgrade to Windows 10, Microsoft is changing two fundamental defaults without any warning. It’s really irritating.
Default browser
When you choose “Express Install” during the Windows 10 upgrade, Microsoft sets its unfinished Edge Internet browser as your default browser. Edge starts opening up when you click on links in email messages or documents. That’s a bit unnerving because Edge’s appearance is completely different than Internet Explorer (no Home button, no Favorites bar, different icons for Favorites and other functions), with no particular obvious advantage. The first impression is immediately made worse when you discover that all your Favorites are missing. If you keep using Edge, you’ll quickly run into an even deeper problem when you try to install LastPass or the Acrobat toolbar or anything else that requires extensions – technology that Edge will not support for many months more.
I’ve written instructions here about how to set Internet Explorer or (better) Chrome as your default Internet browser, and make Edge disappear. I recommend that all new Windows 10 users follow those instructions.
Default PDF viewer
On your Windows 7 or 8 computer, when you click on a PDF – the universal office file format – it opens in Adobe Acrobat, or Acrobat Reader, or Foxit Reader, or whatever program you have installed for PDFs. You’re accustomed to that. It makes you happy.
After you upgrade to Windows 10, when you click on a PDF, it opens in the Edge Internet browser.
“PDFs open in the Edge Internet browser?” I hear you say. “But that makes no sense. Did that happen on purpose?” You are right to ask those questions. They are good and reasonable questions. Presumably a number of people at Microsoft signed off on a change that is causing computer users in businesses all over the world to be incredibly pissed off.
It’s not as if Edge is particularly good at displaying PDFs. It has a bare minimum of controls in the upper right to zoom in and out, print, and save the PDF. It doesn’t offer any way to send the PDF as an email attachment with Outlook because the Share command in Edge doesn’t include Outlook, which is another problem with Edge, come to think of it. Did I mention that Edge is quite a mess?
How to set the default PDF viewer in Windows 10
Click on Start, type in Default Programs, and click on Default Programs (Desktop App) when it appears at the top.
Your goal is the Default Programs section of Control Panel, shown below. There is also a Defaults section in the new Windows 10 Settings screen that’s separate from Control Panel. If you wind up there, click on “Set defaults by app.”
Click on Associate a file type or protocol with a program. Scroll down the list and highlight the line for the .PDF extension. Click the Change program button and choose your preferred program from the list.
That should be all that’s required.
If you use the full version of Adobe Acrobat, you can get the same result and perhaps fix other problems by clicking instead on Set your default programs, highlighting Acrobat in the list, and clicking on Set this program as default.
This one really bothers me. It feels arbitrary and invasive. I’ve never seen Microsoft acknowledge it with pride. It just happens. If there’s a choice during a custom install to avoid it, I can’t find it. If you do a custom installation of Windows 10, you are launched into a long series of screens with too many choices, mostly about privacy options, so it’s not impossible that the choice of PDF viewer is buried in there somewhere, but I don’t wish the custom install process on anyone other than serious privacy advocates or curious geeks with free time.
I have mounds of accumulated good will towards Microsoft built up during years of (mostly) steady and wise stewardship of their role as guardians of personal computing. Those mounds of good will are shrinking faster than glacial ice. I expect smarter choices. Get control of your web browser and your PDFs back so you can enjoy the good parts of Windows 10!
My default app for PDFs is set to Wondershare, and if I open a doc from the File Explorer it opens in Wondershare. If I download a PDF from Chrome, it opens in Wondershare.
!!However, whenever I download and open a PDF from MS Edge, it opens in Edge’s PDF reader.
Yes. I can save the PDF to my local drive, then go to File Explorer and open it from there, which will open it in Wondershare. But, I don’t want to have to save the file to have Wondershare be the selected reader.
This doesn’t happen in Chrome; it is only Edge.
You’re not alone. I haven’t tried it but FWIW there’s a registry edit in this thread that is supposed to work around that Edge problem. Obligatory warning: if you’re not a tech person, stay out of the registry. You can kill your computer with a single wrong keystroke.
Dear Bruce,
Thank you.
Not only did you save the day, I also got a good dose of inspiration when I took time to read your remarkable career story. Years ago, like you, I have developed a certain level of skill and appreciation in computing, but was very concerned it could affect my steady job and cash flow. I wish I had mustered some courage like yours.
Wow, thanks. I have loved doing this for 25 years, absolutely adored it, but the cash flow part was a bit dicey at times. So I cheated and married a physician, which I recommend but I understand it’s not available to everybody. (grin)
Thank you for this. Today 23oct2020 is the first time Edge stole my pdfs to open. What?? Thank you for your fix.
Thank you so much. Mental health saved!
This was so useful, thank you!
Thanks was a big help
Thanks for this. I have had to set up Adobe as the default reader a couple of times now as MS will override my choice at will. 🙁
So many thanks for both posts. We just migrated and this has been making me bananas.
You BEAUTY!!!! Thanks a lot
2019-8-16
1. Was this change of names from Internet Explorer to Microsoft Edge done for legal reasons to be able to take over who sees our documents? When a company is having legal problems if name is changed they can then ignore the problem.
2. Why would a document have to open up on a sight (Microsoft Edge) that all can see? Adobe felt like it was only me that saw it or changed it ex highlighted and changed title.3
3. Sometimes when try to open a document for my health Bing appears an has that it can not be opened. How does it know what the document is? Is it getting into other legalities where HIPPA doesn’t want anyone to see a person’s health document?
Microsoft had to create a new browser from scratch for technical reasons – the underpinnings of Internet Explorer were non-standard and not secure. Plus it had a poor reputation, so a new name lets them market Edge without bringing up poor memories. That hasn’t been successful, but still, those were the reasons.
MS does not have any new ability to look into your documents. Edge is just a browser – not a very good one, but it’s a browser just like Chrome and Firefox. MS is arguably the company today that is most respectful of your privacy.
Thanks a lot! Edge is ok if I just want to have a look at the pdf file. But when it comes to note-taking and editing, Adobe Acrobat would always be my favorite.
I’ve many PDFs sent by colleagues for checking. Normally I would compress those PDFs with iMyMac PDF Compressor as I get limited space in my computer, then I would open it in Acrobat for editing.
Thank you soo much, too helpful 🙂
Works for a few times of opening PDFs then reverts back -ugh!!!!
Thank you so much! I thought I was going insane and could not figure out where the controls for PDF went, nor why they changed it. All good now. 🙂
Thank you. Great guide PDF files not opening in Microsoft Edge – Windows 10
I use IE, not Edge (after changing my default browser to IE after getting Windows 10). Even though I’ve changed the default for PDFs to Acrobat Pro, it STILL opens PDFs from internet pages in the browser. 🙁
There’s a separate setting that has to be tracked down to stop PDFs from opening in your browser. Here’s an example. It keeps moving around (Chrome is different, for example) but do some Googling, you’ll find the info you need.
The Universal Windows App (ugh) graphics are horrible and brittle-looking. The browser still does weird non-standard stuff. It tries to dupe you into using Bing whenever possible. The pdf controls are worse than Reader in every way. Clearly next to no external feedback was gathered on Edge before they flung it out the window into the street to fend for itself.
….and didn’t MS just make their Reader app for this exact purpose? And now it’s completely gone? Just what the hell goes on at MS these days? There is clearly no mission statement, no co-ordination between projects…. just a heap of knee-jerk reactions being deployed on a daily basis.
They’re forcing this “Windows as a service” thing down our throats, and they don’t even know what the hell the service is supposed to be yet. An OS that isn’t completely invasive and two-faced would be a good start.
….and we don’t need any more damn syntax for C#, thanks. I don’t need another eight hundred and fifty thousand ways to initialise an integer field.
MS need to slooowww dowwwn, and think more about what they’re doing before they do it.
The effort to keep Edge alive has now caused them to create iOS and Android versions that use the phone’s browser rendering engine and put an Edge overlay on top of it. Why? There’s no demand and MS is not successful now at creating demand where none exists. And you’re right, it’s a terrible PDF viewer.
I can’t even choose Adobe because it is not in the list of defaults on my Surface with Windows 10. I have very little idea how to load things onto this thing anyway….I tried to download ADOBE on here but it gets stuck and won’t download. Maybe I’m trying the wrong thing. Any help would be great. Th.anks
Acrobat Reader is here: https://get.adobe.com/reader/ See if you can install it. If not, there are lots of free PDF viewers out there. Good luck!
Thank you so much – feels like I have got my computer back!!
Just did a followup about how this has changed in Windows 10, in case it helps – http://www.brucebnews.com/2018/04/dont-want-to-live-on-the-edge-how-to-change-the-default-pdf-viewer-in-windows-10/. Good luck!
Thanks for this! I didn’t search the settings enough to find the solution. Your steps saved the day.
Why isn’t there a class action lawsuit about this? This is outright theft. It affects not only PDF but also XML, HTML, and various image file extensions. The apps that processed those files may have been earning revenue from them or exposing advertizing. Now that’s stolen from them. Illegal. The file association resets keep happening. There are all sorts of registry editing tricks to stop it for a while. But the thieving returns. Worse, now Chrome steals too. I guess they saw that Microsoft gets away with it, why shouldn’t they. Microsoft and Google are essentially monopolies, they can’t say ‘if you don’t like it, use something else’. Monopolies have responsibilities. This has to stop.
Thank you for this. It was making me crazy.
Thank you!!
THANK YOU FOR THIS. I was able to get PDF’s opening back up without Edge getting in the way. What is MS thinking??!!!!!
Crazy ppl.
Yay! Thanks for this! Now, is there any way to have thumbnails show up in my folders? A lot of what I save involve photos or graphics, and I still have to open each and every one in order to know for sure what the content is….there used to be a sort of “cover photo” image. But at least I don’t end up going online every time I want to look at a different knitting pattern….
Worked! Thanks a lot.
Soo helpful, many thanks!!!
I’m on a work computer/network. Anytime I make changes to things (like removing useless icons from my task bar) they come back when I restart my computer. There are certain things that your system administrator controls. I’m wondering if some of these people who are finding that the default is switching back to MS Edge are on work computers and are losing some of their control over their programs because of that. I have changed the default to acrobat and will await my next restart to see if the change sticks or not…
I had saved all my PDF files in Adobe reader. Now in my “documents” they are all showing as edge pdfs. I have tried all the above but although Adobe is still showing as my default, the files are still Edge. It’s driving me crazy (even when I change them one by one – they go to the Adobe file but do not change in my docs) – is there any other way of changing my saved pdfs back to Adobe (this happened three days ago). I’m using Firefox as my browser. Any suggestions would be so, so welcome!
I’ve heard that complaint a couple of times (that the choice of default doesn’t stick) but I haven’t seen it. There are five places to set the default for PDFs in Windows 10. They should all have the same effect – you don’t have to visit all of them to make it work, this just gives you more places to look.
(1) Settings / Apps / Default Apps / Choose default apps by file type
(2) Settings / Apps / Default Apps / Choose default apps by protocol / ACROBAT (for PDFs opened from a web browser)
(3) Control Panel / Programs / Default Programs / Set your default programs
(4) Control Panel / Programs / Default Programs / Associate a file type or protocol with a program (scroll down to .PDF)
Hope you’re able to get those settings to stick. Good luck!
PDF is not an option in my list of extensions. Is there a way to add it?
Thank you – much appreciated
Thanks for this – very helpful!
Bless you!
Windows 10 rules!
Why?
Something finally motivated me to try Linux Mint.
I’m an MS Certified Professional.
I’m moving to Linux thanks to Microsoft’s firm entrenchment in the “milk the market” phase of their evolution from a cutting edge corp to a bloated behemoth that has lost sight of what made them a good never great company.
Linux Certs don’t just expire when Bill and Co release a new OS or server version or rebrand VM’s as a shiny new thing (azure).
Thanks for providing the motivation M$!
Thanks so much, your ideas have worked for me. You ve saved me from the so-called Microsoft Edge that was imposed on me. I could hardly distinguish between Microsoft Word Docs and PDF files.
Thank you. You are awesome!!!
Thank you! This thing between Chrome and pdf files was really behaving strangely.
Thank you so much for that very clear explanation!!! It worked perfectly!
I followed these steps and it worked but as soon as I restart my computer it reverts back to Chrome as being the default for pdf’s. Windows 10 stinks!!!
Recently Google made a change. I haven’t researched it but it seems only recently that Chrome started making itself the PDF default when it’s given all its defaults in Control Panel. Now I have to give Chrome all its defaults, and THEN go back and set Acrobat (or whatever) as the PDF default. Frustrating.
Thanks, I changed it to Adobe as default hope it won’t change
I’ve tried everything to get Windows 10, and especially Windows fax & scan, to use Adobe Acrobat Reader. Nothing works. I called Microsoft and for $149.00 they will make Adobe usable. Extortion? Any other ideas you can offer? Thanks.
If you set Adobe Reader as the default, PDFs should open in Adobe Reader. Really, it’s as simple as that. Go to Control Panel / Default Programs and look at those settings. There’s also an option buried deeply in the advanced settings for Chrome to open PDFs in a program like Acrobat Reader instead of opening in the browser. That one is just a personal preference.
But keep in mind, you can’t scan documents and create PDFs using Adobe Reader. That requires the full version of Acrobat. Good luck!
You’re a legend!
Our client machines here are just ignoring the default setting for pdf files. It shows adobe as the default, but uses edge to open them. It is very deceptive and counter productive to the business we are trying to conduct.
Edge opens automatically after a Microsoft upgrade which you can’t stop. Microsoft removed this option in windows 10 and no doubt got you to sign the licence agreement allowing them to do auto updates. They also removed my system restore points so I could not revert back to the previous period prior the useless updates. What these tech heads don’t understand is that we do not want to go through constant learning process and their behest. Another issue is that if you use adobe xpro 9 or 10 for scanning to email you may get a message stating that there is no email,client set as the deafault email client even though you have set it as default . Make sure that you are using the 32 bit version of office (outlook) as adobe have no upgrade to match the 64 bit version
It’s disappointing for me to see the Edge and Store icons back on the taskbar of client computers after I had carefully removed them. Microsoft’s efforts to promote Edge are getting more desperate, now with advertisements popping up from the taskbar when you use another browser. It’s frustrating.
Thank you SO MUCH. This has been so upsetting.
I constantly need to reset my default pdf reader from Edge to Adobe Acrobat. For some reason, making this change in the list of default programs isn’t permanent, it just changes back. Sometimes with an error message, sometimes without.
I was furious with this update. It changed indeed a lot of associations to Edge and MS Photo Viewer and, on my system, setting it back to Firefox, Acrobat, IrfanView, etc. doesn’t work. Had an incompetent support guy from Microsoft take over my screen and he didn’t manage either. With a lot of effort and a lost afternoon, I managed to adjust some settings. Still, https opens in Edge and not in Firefox.
Even worse, our webshop sends out invoices in pdf format and now we’re getting a lot of complaints from customers that we send them empty invoices. We have to explain them all the time that they have to change the pdf association on their PC back to Acrobat, then the invoice displays correctly. If they don’t manage, we take a screenshot of the invoice and mail that back to them.
It’s totally unacceptable and I filed a complaint with the local competition authorities. I advise others to do the same.
So glad to find this. At first, it was just an annoyance, and I would close Edge and open Adobe. Now, however , Edge opens but the PDF IS NOT VISIBLE. Good grief, Microsoft.
Thanks for the help. It seems I may have to reset this AGAIN but that’s okay. Is Microsoft aware how many people are pissed off about this?
Microsoft is having a bit of trouble making friends these days. There are a number of tweaks for Windows 10 that you might want to consider – make sure you find this article. Good luck!
Thank you…. Microsoft Edge is nothing short of crap.
Edge keeps stealing ownership of PDFs for me as well. I think the solution is here:
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/edge-hijack-pdf-htm-associations/
That’s interesting! I had seen that message in the lower right corner – “‘an app default is reset” – but I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Thanks!
My default for .pdf switches back to Edge every week. I change it each time – something in the registry is changing it back to Edge. Sometimes, like today, in the middle of the automatic change, the default is still Adobe Acrobat; but, i got an e-mail with a .pdf attachment, and that is Edge. If i open the file from the Outlook e-mail, it’s Edge. If i save the file and try to open it, it’s Adobe.
???
I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve never seen that behavior. I’ve set Acrobat as the default on many Windows 10 PCs and haven’t heard anyone tell me that it had flipped back. Let me know if you discover some answer!
I’ve done this over and over again and it keeps going back every few days to Edge. It’s killin’ me here.
Oh yuck! I haven’t seen that – once the default gets set, it’s been steady in my experience. Argh!
Ditto. Ditto. Ditto.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.