How to stop Adobe Acrobat from Automatically Opening Downloaded PDF Files?

[John37032664ppwp]

Hi Everyone,

I am currently Downloading PDF Files from my Gmail account to my Desktop.

Up until today, I was able to Download these files no problem.

Today however, everytime that a PDF Files completes downloading from Gmail to my Desktop, Adobe Acrobat Automatically Opens the file on my Computer.

This is Driving me MAD!

Is there any way to stop this from happening?

I've attached a file that I got from a Reddit post - where other people were having this issue.

It seems that in the past, that there was a check-box option in Acrobat Reader under Edit -> Preferences -> General  to turn off this annoying features. But this option is missing on my Acrobat Reader.

[try67]

This is a setting of your browser, actually. Which one are you using?

[John37032664ppwp]

Google Chrome

[try67]

You can change the default action here: chrome://settings/content/pdfDocuments

[John37032664ppwp]

Thanks,

Where do I access the path that you described?

When I Open Google Chrome and the click the 3 Dots in the Top-Right Hand Corner, I see an option called 'Settings' in the Menu that appears.

However, I do not any option called 'content'. 

(See Image Attached)

[try67]

Copy and paste it directly into the address bar in Chrome.

[John37032664ppwp]

Hi,

Thank you,

However, when I past that text into the Chrome Address Bar, it takes me to the settings page - where I still cannot see any option to select 'content' and the 'pdfdocuments'.

I've attached an image below of what I see when I copy and paste the text into the Chrome Address Bar.

Can you help me?

[try67]

It's under Settings - Privacy and security - Site settings - Additional content settings - PDF documents.

[John37032664ppwp]

Hi,

I've attached an image of what I see when I follow the path described in your last message.

There are only 2 Options at that Location as shown in the image:

- Download PDFs

- Open PDFs in Chrome

Regardless of which option I choose; everytime that I download a PDF from an email in my Gmail Account (in Google Chrome) to my Desktop, Adobe Acrobat Reader Automatically Opens the PDF as soon as the download is completed.

Can you help me?

[try67]

No, sorry. You need to report this issue to the developers of Chrome. The download option should save the file to your local computer, not open it. If it doesn't do that, it might be a bug.

[John37032664ppwp · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I rang Adobe today and they showed me how to fix this issue.

When I rang them, they told me to go to the same web page that you mentioned.

And they told me to select 'Open PDFs in Chrome'.

This was already selected when I opened said web page.

But they told me that I needed to first click the other option 'Download PDFs', and then immediately re-select the second option 'Open PDFs in Chrome'.

Then they told me to restart my Browser.

This resolved the issue that I had.

I can now download PDFs from Chrome - and the PDFs no longer automatically open in Adobe Acrobat reader when the Download is complete!

Hooray!

It's strange as I could have sworn that I already tried the troubleshooting that Adobe eventually provided me.

It's also quite strange as I never remember changing any settings to begin with before the original issue occurred.

Oh well, at least its resolved now anyway!

[Qui X]

First, press Ctrl+K at Adobe Acrobat Reader Main menu. Go to general. And close the setting named (or something similar) "When PDFs are downloaded in the Chrome browser, they automatically open in Reader." This must work.

[John37032664ppwp]

Hi,

I've attached an image of what I see when I follow your instructions.

Unfortunately I cannot see any option relating to Downloaded PDFs automatically opening.

[Qui X]

?

[John37032664ppwp]

Hi,

The Option that you Circled in Red in your Image does not Appear in the Menu on my Adobe Acrobat.

What should I do now?

How do I contact Adobe to tell them about this?

[Tamaya38092427f2cu]

I had the same issue @John37032664ppwp.  I chatted with Adobe online and they gave me a quick solution that actually worked!

1.  On chrome if you check on the righ hand top, there should be an icon for recent downloads, left click on it and it should show all recent files you have downloaded. 
2.  Next, left click the icon to show the list of downloads, then right click on any PDf file.  There should be an option that says Always open files with system default, is it checked?  If it is checked, uncheck it.

   3.  Now try downloading a PDF, it should not automatically open after download

   
   

Hope that helps!

[Patrix28427388vg9v]

Hello all, 

A user is experiencing the same issue. I cannot find the option circled by @Qui X in Acrobat or by @Tamaya38092427f2cu in Chrome. 

Could this be of different versions of Chrome or Acrobat? 


Thanks in advance! 

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi Patrix28427388vg9v,

Thank you for reaching out.

Please let us know if the issue occurs with Acrobat or Acrobat Reader.

Share the application and OS version numbers with us.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

[AvGeek101]

Qui X - Thank you SO much for sharing this. I have been struggling to figure out how to solve this for a while and the picture you shared helped perfectly!

[C39023885djy6]

This worked for me. Thank you!

[iraesh_kumar_2206]

Hi, I found this to be the best the most effective thing to do (ecspecially when you have adobe app on desktop)

[prabhat_8597]

Thank you, it worked with mine.  

[min_5141]

This helped me so much! Thank you!

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi All,

Thank you for your patience.

The issue has been resolved in the July update released today. Please try updating the application to the latest version. In Acrobat, go to Menu > Help > Check for updates.

For more information on the update, refer to the following page: https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotesDC/continuous/dccontinuousjuly2024.ht....

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

Marking a reply or response “Correct” will help future users with the same issue quickly identify the correct answer.

[Patrix28427388vg9v]

Hey Meenakshi, 

The update has solved this issue completely. Thanks! 

Is there a setting that let users customize which pdf files get to be opened automatically? For example, files that begins with certain names get opened automatically while others don't. 

Best, 

Patrix