Error when opening PDFs (How to disable Chrome/Edge PDF viewer)

Error when opening PDFs (How to disable Chrome/Edge PDF viewer)

Problem


When trying to open or save an Adobe PDF document, one may receive a message like on these this instead of the document:

 

  1. Network Error

  2. Couldn't Download - Network Issue
     
  3. "Error opening PDF form

    "If you are seeing this message, it is because you are doing one of the following:

    ...."

  4. Please wait...  If this message is not eventually replaced by the proper contents..." 




 

In many cases, you will be asked to install or update to the latest version of Acrobat Reader.



 

In most cases these error messages are due to the PDF document having been opened in Chrome or Edge's internal PDF viewer.


Solution


To disable Edge and/or Chrome's PDF Viewer, please follow these steps

  1. In Edge or Chrome, copy and paste this URL into the address bar at the top, then press enter:  chrome://settings/content/pdfDocuments
  2.  In Edge, turn on 'Always download PDF files' If using Chrome, select 'Open PDFs in Chrome'. 
  3. Try opening the PDF file again.
  4. It will most likely download to the upper right-hand corner of your browser.
  5. Right-click on the Download, and Select "Always open in System Viewer" or "Always open in Acrobat Reader"
  6. Future PDF documents should now open in Acrobat Reader without a problem.
  7. If you run into any issues opening PDFs after that, please also set Acrobat Reader as your default PDF viewer:
    PDF files look funny or don't open in Acrobat Reader - Set Acrobat Reader as default PDF viewer (nexus-yfs.org)

Estimated time to complete:
10 minutes (T1+)

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