Hyperlinks in PDF don't open on default browser

Hi BaniVerma,

Thank you for your quick response and your willingness to forward this issue to the Acrobat team.

I have now completed additional tests and can provide all the information you requested.

1. Affected PDF documents

I tested three publicly available PDF documents from different publishers. All three produced the same result: Adobe Acrobat opened the hyperlink in Microsoft Edge instead of Google Chrome.

Test A – Adobe Fonts: Product Specific Terms

PDF document:
https://wwwimages2.adobe.com/content/dam/cc/de/legal/servicetou/Adobe-Fonts-Product-Specific-Terms-de_DE-20241007.pdf

Hyperlink clicked:
https://www.adobe.com/go/terms_de

Result: Microsoft Edge opened.

Test B – Texas Instruments: LM2596 Datasheet

PDF document:
https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm2596.pdf

Hyperlink clicked:
https://www.ti.com/product/LM2596

Result: Microsoft Edge opened.

Test C – German Federal Employment Agency

PDF document:
https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/datei/weiterbewilligung-sgb2_ba042699.pdf

Hyperlink clicked:
https://www.jobcenter.digital/weiterbewilligungsantrag

Result: Microsoft Edge opened.

These results suggest that the problem is not specific to a particular PDF document, publisher, or website.

All three PDF documents are publicly accessible and can be used by your team to reproduce the issue.

2. Steps to reproduce

1. Configure Google Chrome as the default browser for HTTP and HTTPS in Windows 11.

2. Enable "Protected Mode at startup" in Adobe Acrobat.

3. Restart Acrobat.

4. Open a PDF document directly in the Acrobat desktop application (not in a browser).

5. Click an external HTTPS hyperlink in the document.

6. Microsoft Edge opens instead of Google Chrome.

When I disable Protected Mode and restart Acrobat, the same hyperlinks open correctly in Chrome.

Re-enabling Protected Mode causes Acrobat to open them in Edge again.

3. Adobe Acrobat version

• Product: Adobe Acrobat Pro

• Release channel: Continuous Release

• Version: 2026.002.21931

• Architecture: 64-bit

4. Windows version

• Windows 11 Pro

• Version: 26H2

• OS Build: 26300.9457

• Architecture: 64-bit

5. Screen recording

I have recorded the behaviour and made the video available here:

https://abcdarium.de/DATA/vid/Acrobat_Edge.mp4

Additional technical evidence

As mentioned in my original post, I also investigated the issue using Microsoft Sysinternals Process Monitor.

The trace confirms that Acrobat.exe directly creates an msedge.exe process, passing the hyperlink URL as a command-line argument.

For example:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" https://www.<URL>.com

The Process Create operation returns SUCCESS.

This indicates that Acrobat launches Microsoft Edge directly rather than delegating the URL to the Windows default-browser mechanism.

I hope these details will help your developers reproduce and investigate the issue.

My primary concern is finding a solution that respects the Windows default-browser setting without disabling Acrobat's Protected Mode.

Thank you again for your assistance and for forwarding this information to your technical team.

Best regards,
Thomas

I am experiencing exactly the same issue with Adobe Acrobat on Windows 11 Pro.

Google Chrome is configured as my default browser, including for HTTP and HTTPS links. Nevertheless, when I click a hyperlink in a PDF document, Acrobat opens the link in Microsoft Edge.

I have been able to reproduce the following behaviour consistently:

• Protected Mode enabled: Acrobat opens hyperlinks in Microsoft Edge.

• Protected Mode disabled: Acrobat correctly opens hyperlinks in Google Chrome.

Since disabling Protected Mode is not an acceptable permanent solution for security reasons, I investigated the issue using Microsoft Sysinternals Process Monitor.

The results are quite revealing: When clicking a hyperlink with Protected Mode enabled, Process Monitor records Acrobat.exe directly creating a new msedge.exe process, passing the URL as a command-line argument.

For example:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" https://www.<URL>.com

The Process Create operation completed successfully.

This indicates that Acrobat is explicitly launching Microsoft Edge rather than asking Windows to open the URL using the registered default browser.

I also examined the relevant Acrobat registry settings but found no documented option for selecting the browser used for hyperlinks.

My questions to Adobe are:

1. Why does Acrobat explicitly launch Microsoft Edge when Protected Mode is enabled, instead of respecting the Windows default browser?

2. Is there an officially supported setting or configuration that allows hyperlinks to open in Chrome while keeping Protected Mode enabled?

3. If this is a known issue, is Adobe planning to correct this behaviour in a future Acrobat update?

I would appreciate a technical response rather than another recommendation to change the Windows default browser, since that setting is already correct and works as expected when Protected Mode is disabled.

Thank you.

thanks

I was having the same issue. Found the solution: this is because of Protected Mode (not View), in Preferences - Security (Enhanced). Adobe Acrobat default runs in a sandbox environment. In that, the default browser is always Edge, in spite of setting the default browser in Windows to Firefox or Chrome. I have not found options to change that for the sandbox.
When you turn off Protected Mode, hyperlinks will open again in the default browser you chose.

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/desktop/protect-documents/use-protected-view/protect-view-mode.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/reader/using/protected-mode-windows.html?x-product=Helpx%2F1.0.0&x-product-location=Search%3AForums%3Alink%2F3.8.1

I’m having this same issue. I’ve spent more than an hour trying to resolve it without success. It is ridiculous that Adobe cannot give us the option to choose our browser. This slows down my workflow and makes me want to cancel Adoble altogether.

Any update on this ???????
Very frustrating since I have moved to Win 11 PC.
Definitely an Adobe issue, as links work correctly from MSWord docs