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April 10, 2021
Question

Microsoft Edge steals my PDF files

  • April 10, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 1900 views

Everything I create in Illustrator and save as PDF files, Microsoft Edge steals them. Even PDF files I receive and open in Illustrator are STILL named as Microsoft Edge PDF files. I'm not a hater. I hate Microsoft Edge. I do not even use Acrobat Reader to view PDF files as I have no need for it; I am proficient in Illustrator; I create, save, and open all PDF, ai, EPS, etc. files in Illustrator.  Why would I use Microsoft Edge? What can I do to prevent Microsoft from forcing their software on me?  Thank you!

 

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3 replies

Legend
April 10, 2021

Edge is a part of Windows, and each time Microsoft update it they do what they have decided is the right thing: they make it the default PDF viewer. While Microsoft believe this is the right thing, and we use their systems, we just have to keep changing it.

Inspiring
January 22, 2024

It is so annoying. We write January 2024 and the problem of Edge taking over on- and off-line PDF files still exists. Fine, if a find something interesting online (I use Chrome) and want to save it to my harddisk I save it as PDF file. Once downloading is done it opens in Adobe Acrobat. So far so good. BUT, when I want to open the file saved to my harddisk later, it opens as an Edge PDF file (which is not good as it misses the stanhdard Adobe editing tools). So I change the file properties open with from Edge to Adobe. But that lasts only a short while, it ALWAYS goes back to Edge. Why can't the techs from Adobe and Edge do something about this. After all, I pay for Adobe, but with Edge taking over Adobe loses parts of its funcrionality.

Community Expert
January 22, 2024

When you right-click on a PDF file to change its file association are you selecting the "Open With" command and simply choosing Adobe Acrobat? Or are you going farther by choosing the "Properties" command in the fly-out menu?

 

The "Open With" command is hit or miss on the file association sticking. Choosing "Properties" brings up an old school Windows dialog box. The "Opens with" detail is listed near the top of the dialog box with a "Change" button next to it. The "Change" button opens up a list of apps with the option "Set As Default." That (usually) works better at making the file association stick.

 

I've seen the Edge browser try to take ownership of certain graphics file types, such as SVG files. It's weird for it to be doing that with PDF files. Affinity Designer is another app that tries to take over various graphics file types, including Illustrator AI files. That usually happens during a software update.

Participant
April 10, 2021
jane-e
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 10, 2021

Hi

Here is the support page for Microsoft Edge: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftedge/. They should be able to answer your question.

~ Jane