Issue Opening PDFs Directly in Adobe from SharePoint Site

Question

I would like the default application for opening PDF files in SharePoint Online to be Adobe Acrobat Reader. However, even after selecting the "Open with the client application" option in the library settings, the PDFs still do not open directly in Acrobat Reader. Instead, they either download or open in the browser.

This issue disrupts the workflow, and I am looking for a solution to ensure that PDFs open directly in Adobe Acrobat Reader as the default application when accessed from SharePoint Online. Any help in resolving this would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi @Oussama Kebbouche ，

welcome to Q&A forum!

There are many reasons for this situation. You can try the following steps to see if it can solve the problem:

1. Activate the feature called Open Documents in Client Applications by Default in Site collection features.
2. Ensure that Adobe Acrobat Reader is installed on your machine and set as the default PDF viewer.
   • On your computer, navigate to "Settings" > "Apps" > "Default apps."
   • Scroll down and click on "Choose default apps by file type."
   • Find the ".pdf" file type and ensure that Adobe Acrobat Reader is set as the default app.
3. For some end users, the issue might be related to individual browser settings. Here are steps for common browsers:

Google Chrome:

• Go to Chrome settings by clicking the three dots in the upper right corner and selecting Settings.
• Scroll down and click on Advanced.
• Under Privacy and security, click Site Settings.
• Scroll down to PDF documents and ensure the option Download PDFs instead of automatically opening them in Chrome is turned on.

Mozilla Firefox:

• Open Firefox menu and select Options.
• Go to the Applications section.
• Find Portable Document Format (PDF) in the list, and change the action to Open with Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Microsoft Edge:

• Open Edge settings by clicking on the three dots in the upper right corner and selecting Settings.
• Go to Cookies and site permissions.
• Scroll down to PDF documents and turn on Always open PDF files externally.

4. Ensure that Adobe Acrobat Reader is set as the default PDF handler on the desktop:

• Open Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Go to Edit > Preferences.
• Select General.
• Click on Select as Default PDF Handler.

5. Please confirm whether this happens to all libraries and users.

Hope these can help.

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