Microsoft Edge is not only the default web browser in Windows 10, it also opens all PDFs by default. Of course, it’s good that you don’t need to install additional software in order to read PDF files, but it has limited functionality and in some cases Edge won’t be enough.

There are many powerful PDF apps available for download on the internet, and in today’s article, we’ll show you how to change a PDF reader in Windows 10.

Change default app via explorer

Find any document in PDF format => right-click on it and select “Open with” => Select another application (of course, another application must already be downloaded and installed on your computer)

If you see a PDF reader in the list that you want to use to open a PDF file – then just select it, if you want all PDF files to be opened by this application by default – check the box “Always use this application to open .pdf files” and select an application. If there is no application in the list with which you want to open the PDF file, click “More Applications”

If the full list does not contain the PDF reader that you need, and you are sure that it is installed on your computer, click “Find another application on this computer”. Next, in the window that appears, look for an application you need, select it and if we want to always open PDF files with it, put a check in the box “Always use this application to open .pdf files”.

Change default app via Control panel

Also, these actions can be done through the control panel:

1. Find the “Control Panel” through the search, open it;

2. Open “Programs” => Programs by default;

3. Select “Comparison of file types or protocols with specific programs”;

4. You will see a list with all file extensions, and by selecting any – you will see which program is used to open files of this type by default, also in this list you can change the program to open this file type by default. We are interested in how to change the default program for opening PDF files, so we look for PDF in the list => select it and click on the top right “change program”

A list of programs for opening PDF files will open, select the desired one, or if there is no PDF reader you need, click “More Applications”

If it is not in this list either, click “find another application on this computer”.

In today’s article, we looked at how to change the default application for opening pdf files, but as you can see in this way, you can change the default applications for all files. If there are additions – write comments! Good luck ?

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