Participant

Answered

PDF keeps being taken back by edge!

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
September 14, 2019
5 replies
7175 views

I've assoicated Acrobat with PDF several times, lasts for maybe a couple days, then edge has it back. How do I stop it from taking it over?

Windows 10 x64 for Workstations.

Correct answer Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com

This is a Microsoft policy to keep hijacking any .PDF file to its browser, Edge, no matter how many times you set your system to open it in Acrobat.

I've found that I'll go for months without having a problem, and then Edge takes over every day or so for a couple of months.

I haven't found anything on the web to permanently change the registry or any other setting to keep PDFs in Acrobat, not Edge. It's definitely a Windows problem, not an Adobe problem.

Be sure to complain on the Microsoft forums and look for a possible solution there: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us

P

Peter3554711970t3

Participant

Hi all,

I am also strugeling with the same issue and stumbled upon this post. In another post someone suggested reporting this as anticompetitive behavior with the US government.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/microsoft-edge-keeps-hijacking-my-pdfs/td-p/10754576

This is a great idea, so I checked if this is also possible within the EU, and it is!

https://competition-policy.ec.europa.eu/antitrust-and-cartels/procedures/complaints_en#:~:text=You%20can%20provide%20information%20on,the%20practice%20you%20have%20observed.

Also a note to Adobe: could you please add the keys to disable this switching in the Adobe installers? I am using a managed PC so have no rights to edit the registry myself, plus it would be a good way to fight back!

E

Eupholus

Participant

After trying a number of options, inlcuding a registry edit, which did not work, a reinstall of Office (2016 for me) solved the problem for me. - Cheers-

ls_rbls

Community Expert

It seems to me more like it is the users that are switching to MS Edge becaue they have not defaulted the PDF viewing/handling ownership to Adobe Acrobat.

If that was the case maybe it is convenient to lock this through Group Poilcy. As the link in the thread above indicates, that registry fix will not prevent the users from using Windows Explorer (or File Exporer) to be able to open a PDF file, but it will prevent the switching

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com

Legend

"It seems to me more like it is the users that are switching to MS Edge."

Not in our shop! We're programmers and systems installation experts.

We've noticed that whenever MS does a major update of WIndows, it wipes out every user preference of competing software, including the defaults for "program ownership" of PDF files. It really feels like a monopolisic technique programmed into Windows by MS, ie no other competitor's programs are allowed.

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |

ls_rbls

Community Expert

Yup! just be careful you don't end up blacklisted and becoming a victim of th so called "gang stalking" for talking like that 🙂 LOL!

ls_rbls

Community Expert

Hi,

Try the following work around through registry editing:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System

and paste the following string value DisablePDFHandlerSwitching then add 1 in the value field

idea taken from this link : https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/AdminGuide/pdfviewer.html

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.comCorrect answer

Legend

This is a Microsoft policy to keep hijacking any .PDF file to its browser, Edge, no matter how many times you set your system to open it in Acrobat.

I've found that I'll go for months without having a problem, and then Edge takes over every day or so for a couple of months.

I haven't found anything on the web to permanently change the registry or any other setting to keep PDFs in Acrobat, not Edge. It's definitely a Windows problem, not an Adobe problem.

Be sure to complain on the Microsoft forums and look for a possible solution there: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |

S

SanJoseJohn

Participant

What we need is a script that would change all the file types that Acrobat uses back to Acrobat.

In this script we could put a nag to Microsoft to get out the user's face, and tell them what they did and why this was the wrong thing to do.

Also it would not be a bad idea to ad such incidents to a common log which after a while could send to various consumer protection and advocy organizations.

ls_rbls

Community Expert

Even though our opinions and feedbacks are taken into consideration in these support forums, I'm not sure if the Adobe forum is the right channel to encourage consumer protection and advocacy organizations.

I think you get a better chance to be heard more through the Adobe UserVoice channels.

Checkout the link below and make sure that you also read and understand how your feedback may be used further or impact by legal and privacy policies:

https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/how-to-user-voice.html

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