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A
Anonymous
November 14, 2015
Question

Unable to make Acrobat 9 default with Acrobat Reader DC installed

  • November 14, 2015
  • 6 replies
  • 23118 views

I recently downloaded and installed Acrobat Reader DC on my Windows 10 PC. I prefer to open pdfs with Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro, so I reset the default app to Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro under Settings > System > Default apps > Choose default app by file type. Despite the reset, Acrobat Reader DC still behaves like the default, opening every pdf. I even receive the message "Acrobat Reader DC is not currently set as your default" as it is opening the file! I am only able to open pdfs with Acrobat 9 Pro by right clicking and selecting "Open with". I want to keep the Reader, because after creating a document in Acrobat Pro I like to check how it will look to recipients who only have Reader, but using the "open with" function is getting old. Anyone else having an issue with this?

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    6 replies

    M
    michellen80422976
    Participant
    February 18, 2017

    Try this: Make sure Adobe Reader DC is uninstalled in Settings/Apps and Features or Add/Remove Programs, and check that Acrobat 9 is the default program for .pdfs.  Then open Acrobat 9, go to Edit/Preferences, and uncheck Check for Updates under Application Startup. This should resolve this issue unless you try to update it in the future or change the default program for pdfs.

      D
      dpmol
      Participant
      September 16, 2016

      I gotta say this whole process sucks...one full day of installing, uninstalling, etc. etc. Even went back to Reader 11 so I could see previews...now only opens in Reader. Have chosen Acrobat 9 over & over & over again. God, do I love these rich sucks that creates these problems.

      try67
      Community Expert
      try67Community Expert
      Community Expert
      March 16, 2016

      These two versions are not compatible with one another. In addition, Acrobat 9 is not compatible with Windows 10 and is no longer being updated, so don't expect any solutions from Adobe.

      D
      dlipin
      Participant
      March 16, 2016

      I solved this problem with regedit. NOTE: if you're not comfortable editing your registry, don't do it! It's easy to mess it up. And of course make a backup first.

      Anyway, in regedit find the key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document.DC\shell\Read\command. It should have a value something like: AcroExch.Document.DC\shell\Read\command~@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Adobe\\Acrobat Reader DC\\Reader\\AcroRd32.exe\" \"%1\""

      Edit this value to point to your Acrobat 9.0 install, which will look something like: AcroExch.Document.DC\shell\Read\command~@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Adobe\\Acrobat 9.0\\Acrobat\\Acrobat.exe\" \"%1\""

      Note that any update to Reader DC is likely to restore this registry entry to point back to Reader DC, so you'll need to repeat this edit periodically.

        R
        rcherd
        Participant
        February 28, 2018

        This has worked fine for me several times. Thank you.

          S
          SLBseeker
          Participating Frequently
          November 17, 2015

          Have Windows 10 and updated to Reader DC and got the same problem. DC became default. Want my Acrobat Pro 9 to be default. Can't see how to do that in Windows 10. When I right click "open with" to find AP9 it doesn't show any check mark area to make it default. This is very frustrating. Windows 10 must have changed how to set defaults, because even in setting>default aps, can't seem to choose AP9 there as default either. What gives. Any help appreciated.

          RahulTyagi_
          Community Manager
          RahulTyagi_Community Manager
          Community Manager
          November 15, 2015

          Hi Ruth,

          and when you use the 'Open with' using Reader, Do you get any prompt that says 'Reader is not your default pdf handling application and if you would like to change it?' anything like that which you might be accidentally clicking?

          Regards,
          Rahul

          A
          Anonymous
          November 16, 2015

          No. In fact, I turned off the message. BTW - When I right-click to select "Open with", Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is at the top of the menu, as if it were the default. But when I go back to Settings, Acrobat 9.0 is clearly set as the default.

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