Overview
If you are noticing that your PDF documents are automatically loading into your web browser you may be experiencing a limited number of features. A few options you will lose are: Can't sign a document, can't leave comments and can't open fillable PDF forms. The solution is to change your default PDF reader to Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.
Troubleshooting
Make sure you have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer. After installing it the issue will most likely be resolved. If you need it installed on a SUNY-issued computer you will need to submit an Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) license request.
To check if you have Adobe Acrobat installed
- Click the Search icon beside the Start button
- Type Adobe. If it's installed you will see it in the list.
There are several different ways to make this change but we will only look at one of them.
- Click the Search icon beside the start button again
- Type Default Apps
- Click Default Apps to open it
- Scroll down until you see Set defaults by app and click it
- You will now see a list of installed programs
- Click Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
- Click Manage on the next screen
- You should now see a screen similar to this
- More than likely your Default App for .pdf is your web browser (In this case mine is set to Microsoft Edge)
- To make the change
- Click Microsoft Edge
- Then click Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
From now on, whenever you open a PDF document through a link, it will open in Adobe Acrobat with all the functionality.
Additional Information
Need additional information or assistance? Contact CTS.