How do I get my app to use the Reader when both Reader and Acrobat Standard are installed?

[ljmcgill]

My 3rd party app doesn't respect the default setting for PDFs. I have both Adobe reader and Adobe Acrobat standard installed.  Adobe Reader is set as the default PDF reader in Windows XP but my 3rd party app opens the PDFs with Acrobat Standard instead.  Only when I uninstall Acrobat Standard does it then open PDFs with Reader. Is there any information I can send to the 3rd party support people who are telling me this isn't there problem? They say they only use what the OS provides.

[EnterpriseHelp · Accepted solution]

If you are using 10x or later:

Choose Preferences > General > Select Default PDF Handler.

This will invoke the installer and you can set the default viewer.

Ben

[ljmcgill]

It's already set to Reader.  Support for the 3rd party product says it is simply getting the info from the OS as to what reader to use but it still opens with Acrobat Standard.

Can you tell me where a developer needs to look in the Windows registry to find the 'default' PDF viewer?

[EnterpriseHelp]

The 3rd party product IS getting the info from the OS. However, there is no single registry setting. The only way to set the default handler is through the installer.

You can try uninstalling both products and starting over. You would then set the default handler when the second product is installed.

Post your Acrobat and Reader version numbers.

Ben