How to set Adobe as default

Having to read, fill in and sign various PDF documents every day, your “favorite” software has now become Adobe Reader, developed by the same American company ( Adobe , in fact), which created this file format. Lately, however, your computer has been having some problems and so you are using your colleague’s. On the latter, Adobe Reader is not set as the default application for opening PDFs, which makes your work sessions less smooth than usual.

Unfortunately, at the moment, you don’t remember how you made the aforementioned program the default one for opening these files on your PC; this being the case, you really need a hand. How do you say? Did I just perfectly describe what your current situation is? In that case, if you allow me, I would be really happy to provide you with all the help you need by explaining how to set Adobe as the default . You need to know that the operation itself all comes down to a few clicks.

In the next chapters, I will explain clearly and in depth how to proceed not only on computers, but also on smartphones and tablets where the Adobe PDF reader and editor is available as an app. So, are you ready to put my directions into practice so that you can then go back to work “smoothly”? Yup? Perfect! At this point I just have to wish you a good reading and, above all, a good job!

Index

• How to set Adobe as your default player
  • How to set Adobe Reader as default: Windows
  • How to set Adobe Reader as default: Mac
  • Set Adobe Reader as default: Android
  • Set Adobe Reader as default: iPhone and iPad
• Set Adobe Reader as the default on Chrome
• Set Adobe as the default on Outlook

How to set Adobe as your default player

Are you wondering right now how to set Adobe as the default ? You will find all the necessary procedures explained in the chapters below. The steps to follow are quite different from platform to platform. In general, however, the operation is simple and, if you follow my instructions step by step, I am sure you will not have any problems doing it. Here are all the details.

How to set Adobe Reader as default: Windows

You have Windows 11 installed on your PC and would like to know how to set Adobe as PDF default ? No problem, I’ll settle you immediately. Start by right-clicking on the Windows Start button , the one with the flag icon at the bottom of the taskbar and, from the menu that is shown to you, choose the Settings item . After that, in the window that opens, press on the item App displayed in the left list and then click on the item default App .

At this point, press on the word Adobe Acrobat DC and then click on the program icon shown under the wording .pdf (the default should be Microsoft Edge ).

Now proceed by clicking on the Adobe Acrobat DC entry and then on the OK button , to save the changes you just made. That’s all! Alternatively, to set Adobe Reader as the preferred player, you can also click on the words Select the default for the file type that you find at the bottom of the menu screen App of Windows settings , select ‘ icon default program shown under the heading .pdf from ‘list, then press on the Adobe Acrobat DC item and, finally, on the OK button .

To repeat these same steps on Windows 10 , right-click on the Windows Start button , then press on the Settings item and, from here, go to Apps> Default apps> Choose default apps by file type . Then scroll through the list that is shown to you, then click on the item located at the wording .pdf and, finally, select the Adobe Acrobat DC option .

How to set Adobe Reader as default: Mac

I’ll now show you how to make Adobe Reader the default application for viewing PDF files on Macs . First, click on the Finder icon (the one with the half blue and half white smiley face ) located at the bottom of the Dock and proceed by exploring the various locations where the files are saved (eg. Desktop , Documents , Downloads , etc.) , looking for a file in PDF format .

Once you have found it, right-click on its icon and select Get Info from the context menu. In the window that opens, click on the section

Open with, to expand it, click on the drop-down menu with the default application (it should be Preview ) and, from the list, choose Adobe Acrobat Reader DC . Finally, click the Edit All button , then the Continue button , and that’s it. See how simple it was?

Set Adobe Reader as default: Android

Are you using an Android device ? Also in this case you can make the Adobe Reader mobile app (available both on smartphones and tablets that have access to Google services , and on those on which the latter are not included ) the default reader for PDF documents .

To do this, you can use the file manager pre-installed on your phone or tablet (i.e. those applications that are used to view, copy, move and rename files), or even an application for reading e-mail such as Gmail or Outlook which I will tell you about in depth in this chapter .

As a reference to show you the steps I will use Mi File Manager , the “standard” file manager on Xiaomi devices , but you can also use the file manager pre-installed on your device since the operation of this type of applications is generally quite similar to variant variant (if you don’t have one, I recommend Google Files ).

After pressing the yellow folder icon that you can find on the home screen or in the app menu and having, in this way, started Mi File Manager, tap on the Documents icon shown at the top, on the home page of the application.

At this point, click on the wording PDF located at the top, so that the app immediately shows you the files belonging to this format stored on your device. At this point, tap on the preview of any file, then click on the word Remember my choice located at the bottom and, finally, click on the Adobe Acrobat icon . Done! From now on your device will always open PDF files using the above application.

You can repeat the steps listed above on email applications as well . In this case, to proceed, simply click on the preview of the PDF file attached to any email and you will be shown the same window in which you can select the option Remember my choice and then choose the Adobe Acrobat icon.

Set Adobe Reader as default: iPhone and iPad

Wondering if Adobe Reader can be set as the default reader for PDF files on iPhone and iPad as well ? Unfortunately, I must point out that at the moment, on the iOS and iPadOS operating systems pre-installed on these devices, there is no possibility to select a default application for opening files in this format.

How do you say? Would you like me to recommend other valid applications for viewing this kind of digital documents anyway? Very gladly: then I recommend reading my guide on apps to open PDFs in which I have recommended the ones that I consider most valid.

Set Adobe Reader as the default on Chrome

The Adobe Acrobat extension is available on the Google Chrome browser (and on all other Chromium-based browsers , such as Microsoft Edge ) which integrates several of the functions of the related program for desktop (for example the ability to compress, combine and modify file). Using the latter you can then open directly from the browser all the files in PDF format with the convenient Adobe reader (the extension is only available for the desktop version of Chrome).

To get the extension I’m talking about, connected to the appropriate page of the Chrome Web Store and, in the latter, press the Add button which is located at the top left.

Then confirm by pressing the Add extension button and you are ready to use it. From now on, therefore, every time you click on the icon of a PDF document in your browser to view it, a new tab will automatically open in which you can view the files with the extension you just installed.

In the document opened with Adobe Acrobat you can perform various operations such as converting the file into other formats, combining them with other files, compressing them, rotating their pages and more by pressing on the appropriate items shown in the right menu.

Set Adobe as the default on Outlook

Whenever you use Outlook and try to open PDF email attachments you are redirected to your default browser instead of Adobe Reader and would like to know how to fix this? You should know that the preset programs for opening files from the email client in question correspond exactly to the ones you have set as default on your computer.