How to Change Your Default PDF Viewer (Windows, Mac, and Browser)

You double-click a PDF and the wrong thing opens. Maybe an app you installed once hijacked the association, maybe Edge decided it owns PDFs now (it does that after some Windows updates), or maybe everything opens in a browser tab when you want a real reader. Whatever the cause, putting PDFs back in the app you actually want takes under a minute on every platform. Here's each one.

Windows 11

1. Right-click any PDF file and choose Open with > Choose another app.
2. Pick the app you want from the list.
3. Click Always (older builds: tick "Always use this app" and hit OK).

Or the settings route: Settings > Apps > Default apps, type .pdf in the file-type box, and pick your app. Worth knowing: major Windows updates occasionally reset this to Edge. It's not your memory failing — just set it again.

Windows 10

Same right-click trick, or Settings > Apps > Default apps > Choose default apps by file type, scroll the (long) list to .pdf, and click the current default to change it.

Mac

1. Click a PDF file once and press Cmd + I (Get Info).
2. Expand the Open with section and choose your app.
3. Click Change All… and confirm. That last click is the one people miss — without it you've only changed this one file.

Stop Chrome opening (or downloading) PDFs

Chrome has its own switch, separate from the operating system: chrome://settings/content/pdfDocuments (paste it in the address bar). Two options: Open PDFs in Chrome, or Download PDFs — the second makes every PDF link save to disk so your desktop app opens it. Edge's equivalent lives at edge://settings/content/pdfDocuments. Firefox: Settings > General > Applications > PDF, where you can choose Firefox, another app, or always ask.

Which viewer should you actually pick?

Honest answer: for pure reading, your browser or the built-in viewer (Edge on Windows, Preview on Mac) is lighter and faster than Adobe Reader, and can't nag you about subscriptions. We compared the field in best free PDF readers. If your concern is privacy — PDFs that phone home, embedded scripts, tracking pixels — see choosing a private PDF viewer, and consider running suspicious files through our sanitizer first; it strips scripts and hidden data right in your browser.

One thing a viewer can't fix

People often change their default viewer because a PDF "won't let them do anything" — no highlighting, no filling, no saving changes. That's usually not the viewer's fault; the document itself is restricted or flat. For that, a viewer swap won't help, but our editor or unlock tool usually will.