PDFs still opening in Preview after setting Adobe as default (Mac)

Question

I set Adobe as the default for opening PDFs on my mac (get info --> open with: Adobe Acrobat --> change all --> continue), but any time I double click to open a PDF it's still opening in Preview. All the files saved as .pdf on my computer also have a Preview icon, not an Adobe one. I can't find anything to troubleshoot this (no matter what I search I just seem to get the instructions I outlined above about how to set Adobe as the default, nothing about what to do if you've completed these steps but are still having PDFs open in Preview). Help!! This is driving me nuts.

Karl Heinz Kremer · Answer

Which version of macOS and Acrobat are you running? I am on Acrobat 2025.01 and macOS 16.6.1 and it works for me. This means we should be able to also make this work for you. If a normal change of the file associations does not do the trick, you may have to reset the launch services database. I wont post the commands here, I don't want to be responsible if something goes wrong. I use MacPilot to do things like that, which does not require me to enter cryptic commands.

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