Using Edge to browse but not having PDFs open in Edge?

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
20,416
15,124
136
Is there a way to configure Win10 / Edge not to open PDFs in the browser but with whatever PDF reader one has installed?

Setting say Adobe Reader as the default PDF reader doesn't help, as Edge works in a similar way to Chrome and Firefox, however with those two I know how to stop it using the internal PDF reader (or at least I did with Chrome unless they've changed it).
 

SPBHM

Diamond Member
Sep 12, 2012
5,066
418
126
the funny thing is that they used to have the option for default pdf app alongside the first screen with web browser and so on on earlier windows 10 versions, but yes, now you have to go by file type and found it on the list, which takes longer.
 

Puffnstuff

Lifer
Mar 9, 2005
16,187
4,871
136
I just noticed that on my 32 bit tablet edge just tried to take default control of several file types from the programs I had set.
 

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
20,416
15,124
136
Go to settings - apps - default apps and select your default app for pdf's by file type. Other people have done it by right clicking on the file and selecting the app.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...f/0dcd9fbf-707f-4e5a-9ea8-6f695744c284?auth=1

That fixes the file association (ie. if one opens a PDF file from explorer or say a third party e-mail client), not Edge's internal wiring to fire up its internal PDF viewer if one is browsing with Edge and clicks on a link to open a PDF.

A customer encountered an odd problem that I've reproduced on every other Win10 machine I currently have access to. Go to this page in Edge and attempt to view one of the menus:

https://www.bettys.co.uk/cafe-tea-rooms/our-locations/bettys-york

On every machine I've tried it on, Edge stops with about 10% progress into loading the PDF and sits there forever. The customer says they've seen it on happen on more than one website but this is the one I've been using for testing. The link/PDF opens fine when using other browsers, whether its with their own PDF viewers (or a third party PDF viewer) or even with IE opening Edge as the PDF viewer, but when Edge is on that website and the user clicks on that link, it won't open in Edge.

So either I need to find a fix for Edge refusing to open the PDF or I find a way to configure Edge to use whatever the default PDF reader is, because it ignores the Windows file association just like Chrome and FF do on their default settings.
 
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Puffnstuff

Lifer
Mar 9, 2005
16,187
4,871
136
I'm on that site right now in edge and I can view the daytime menu just fine but the evening menu hangs so it must be a coding problem on their end. I had task manager open while I did it and my cpu use spiked to over 80% while I attempted that.
 

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
20,416
15,124
136
I'm confused. On that page I see three menus: "main menu", "children's menu", "non-gluten menu"...
 

Puffnstuff

Lifer
Mar 9, 2005
16,187
4,871
136
I'm confused. On that page I see three menus: "main menu", "children's menu", "non-gluten menu"...
If I use FF at this hour I see what you describe but when I used edge yesterday I saw daytime and evening menu buttons Do they change depending on the hour viewed? Remember I'm on the U.S. east coast.
 

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
20,416
15,124
136
FYI, those PDFs now open properly in Edge with the Spring Creators update.

Thanks, I'll give it a try. Can you see a way to disable Edge's PDF plugin in that version? While it's good that they've apparently improved the PDF implementation, I find it more than a little odd that in previous versions they've allowed Edge to so easily be put in a situation whereby it stands and falls by a single feature which shouldn't really be a showstopper for web browsing.

I know that FF's PDF viewer can be bypassed and while Chrome's implementation for disabling the internal plugin has changed recently, I just checked it and it can too be disabled.