Need to stop word docs automatically opening in acrobat app on iPad

[SAM199426]

Hi there 

I accidentally opened a word doc from an email in the acrobat app on my iPad  and now any word doc on my iPad will only open in acrobat and not in word so i cannot edit them!!! It's really infuriating and i need to edit documents for class. Can you please let me know how i can fix this i cannot find anything in settings. 

I would really appreciate if you could let me know 

Thanks 

[ls_rbls · Accepted solution]

Readjust the file association for the word documents.

Long press on a word document icon and select which app to open it with. 

By default Safar is the PDF owner  and viewer as well as for many other file types. And there is no way to change the default handler in iOS devices.

It seems that somehow you've selected the wrong file association to handle .docx files if you were using Pages, for example.

Were you also using Google Drive by any chance?

Some bugs have been reported in this regard since 2017 in the Apple support forums.

So again, have you try to open the same  MS Word documents in Pages?

Re-check in Export Your Document, if when you  selected  the Word tab, that the format is associated with .docx extension and not .pdf

[ls_rbls · Accepted solution]

Readjust the file association for the word documents.

Long press on a word document icon and select which app to open it with. 

By default Safar is the PDF owner  and viewer as well as for many other file types. And there is no way to change the default handler in iOS devices.

It seems that somehow you've selected the wrong file association to handle .docx files if you were using Pages, for example.

Were you also using Google Drive by any chance?

Some bugs have been reported in this regard since 2017 in the Apple support forums.

So again, have you try to open the same  MS Word documents in Pages?

Re-check in Export Your Document, if when you  selected  the Word tab, that the format is associated with .docx extension and not .pdf

[cko.himawan · Accepted solution]

Long press on any docx file, klik share, and pick Word app. The file will be opened in Word. After that, all docx will be opened on Word.

[W20140918]

You made my day. It was so frustrating that all word documents opened in Adobe by default. Now it works. Thanks again.

[EMMANUEL33828192h61r]

I had similar issue on my phone. Not the best experience when you need to get something done. It keep returning to Adobe free trial. It's definitely adobe was selected as default (open always) to open or convert the word document at some point. How to solve this?... Long press the word document and click share. Check the Microsoft app if it shows create pdf. If this happens, temporarily Uninstaller the adobe app on your phone or device. Go back to the document you were trying to open, long press and click share, you should be able to select open with word or Microsoft. This should restore your settings. You can now reinstall adobe reader on your phone. Hope this helps.

[S S.]

Hi @EMMANUEL33828192h61r,

Thanks for sharing the elaborative description on how to prevent this from happening.

The workflow of the default app in iOS is controlled on how you open the file the last instance. 

If you used Acrobat Reader Mobile to open the file, it will switch to default for all future instances. However, if you use the share option to open the file in the correct application again, uninstalling would not be necessary in that case.

-Souvik