How to Change Your Default PDF Viewer on Windows, macOS, Chrome, and Microsoft Edge

Cloud Collective Support Updated by Cloud Collective Support

If your PDFs keep opening in the wrong app or browser, you can change your device so that Adobe Acrobat (or Adobe Acrobat Reader) opens all PDFs by default. Follow the steps for your device or browser below.

Windows 10 & Windows 11

Method 1: Set Acrobat as Default from a PDF File
  1. Right‑click any PDF file.
  2. Select Open with → Choose another app.
  3. Select Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader from the list.
  4. Check Always use this app to open .pdf files.
  5. Select OK.
Method 2: Set Acrobat as Default in Settings
  1. Open Settings.
  2. Go to Apps → Default apps.
  3. Scroll down and select Choose defaults by file type.
  4. Find .pdf in the list.
  5. Select the current default app and choose Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader.

macOS (MacBook, iMac, Mac Mini)

Set Acrobat as the Default PDF App
  1. Right‑click (or Control‑click) any PDF file.
  2. Select Get Info.
  3. In the Open with section, open the dropdown and choose Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  4. Click Change All… to apply this to every PDF.
  5. Confirm when prompted.

Google Chrome

Chrome has its own built‑in PDF viewer. To make Acrobat the default, you need Chrome to download PDFs instead of opening them.

Step 1: Tell Chrome to Download PDFs
  1. Open Chrome.
  2. Select the three‑dot menu (top right).
  3. Go to Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings.
  4. Scroll to Additional content settings → PDF documents.
  5. Turn on Download PDFs.
Step 2: Open the Downloaded PDFs in Acrobat

Once Chrome downloads PDFs instead of opening them, double‑clicking those files will open them in Adobe Acrobat, as long as Acrobat is set as the default app in Windows or macOS (see steps above).

Microsoft Edge

Edge also has a built‑in PDF viewer. To use Acrobat instead, you need Edge to download PDFs.

Step 1: Tell Edge to Download PDFs

  1. Open Edge.
  2. Select the three‑dot menu (top right).
  3. Go to Settings → Cookies and site permissions.
  4. Scroll down and select PDF documents.
  5. Turn on Always download PDF files.
Step 2: Open the Downloaded PDFs in Acrobat

After this, PDFs will download instead of opening in Edge. When you open them from your Downloads folder, they will open in Adobe Acrobat, assuming it’s set as your system default.

How did we do?

How to Verify It’s Really Cloud Collective Calling

Contact