Post by drcard on Aug 16, 2021 15:58:28 GMT -5
Stop Edge From Hijacking Your PDFs
Overview:
Microsoft’s Edge browser is the default application to open and view PDF files on Windows 10. A user can go into the Default Apps setting to select a different app to be the default app for PDFs. I like Chrome to view PDFs. Problem is that the next time Microsoft updates Edge, that update will change the Default Apps setting and replace Edge as the default app for PDFs. You can change the Default App settings to select your app, but you will have to do this change each time Edge is updated. Until Microsoft truly fixes this, there are two solutions and I suggest performing both solutions as some users have reported that the Microsoft “fix” doesn’t work (based mostly on your update settings). The second solution makes sure Edge can’t hijack PDFs by removing Edge’s PDF file association. Each solution is explained below. If you are happy with Edge opening all your PDFs, then this tip is not for you.
Microsoft’s Fix
Microsoft’s answer to complaints about Edge hijacking PDF file association on each update was to place a setting in Edge to download the PDF rather than opening the PDF, then the default app you have selected will open the PDF. With this setting On the updates are not suppose to reset the file association of PDFs to Edge. Some users have reported that with this setting On an Edge update still resets the file association to Edge. If you decide to use the second solution, still turn this setting On to prevent Edge from acting strange even when you don’t plan on using it.
• Open Edge.
• Press Alt + F keys to open menu followed by pressing the S key to open Edge’s Settings page.
• Click the 3 bar icon to the left of Settings at the top of the page to display the settings options.
• From that menu select Cookies and site permissions.
• Under Site permissions scroll down to PDF Documents and click it.
• You will find the setting Always download PDF files and move the slide lever to turn this setting on (turns blue when On).
• Close Edge.
• In the Search box of the Start menu enter Default Apps. The Start menu will display Default apps System Settings, click it to select the setting window.
• On the Default Apps settings page scroll down and click the statement: Choose default apps by file type which will open a along list of file types with the default app for that file type showing.
• Scroll down to .pdf (alphabetically listed) and the default app (Edge) is shown to the right of the file type. Click the default app shown (Edge) and a list of other apps that can display a pdf is shown. Select the app you desire and you will see it listed as the default app for pdf files.
• Close the settings.
• After your next Windows update to Edge, see if the pdf file association remains with the app you selected. If not proceed to the next “fix”.
Prevent Edge From Making PDF File Association
Applications like Edge have multiple file associations for the different files it handles. The file associations are specific for Edge and are not the same file associations that other apps use for the same file types. These specific Edge file associations are stored in the Registry. A simple change in the registry key for Edge’s file association for the PDF file type can cause Edge to be unable to make a file association for a PDF file. Because Edge can no longer make a file association to PDF file types, it can no longer hijack the settings to make Edge the default app for PDFs.
This is simple to do, but does involve a Registry edit. I have written the instructions so a first time to the registry user can follow.
Synopsis (What we are going to do):
First you will look into the your Registry for your version of Edge to learn the name given to the registry key for Edge to have file association for pdfs. This long name is different for different versions so each user has to look to see what the name is on their PC. Using that name you will find that registry file association key and rename it. Since that key (now with a different name) cannot be assessed using the key name (different) in the Edge settings, Edge can no longer make file associations to pdfs.
NOTICE:
With every Registry edit instructions goes the “warning” that messing with the registry can cause problems. This means if at any point the instructions or steps don’t match what you see in your Registry, then stop and change nothing….you are in the wrong place in the Registry or the instructions you are following are not for your Registry (i.e. the Registries for Home and Pro differ quite a bit). If this happens, stop and find out before proceeding.
Exactly How To Do It:
• Open the Registry Editor (Win Key + R – type in regedit and press Enter). OK the UAC box.
• First, back up the Registry. Select File> Export. Name the file RegBkupDate&Time (Name the file as a Reg Back up with the date and time the file was made) and save the file. Registry backups really don’t take very long.
• To go to a key in the left Navigation pane on the left side of the Registry Editor window, look at the key’s name (which is its location in the Registry). Click the > the left of the first branch listed in the name such as the > to the left of HKEY CURRENT USER. This expands the branch and displays other branches where you select the next branch you want. Look for the second branch in the name (in the below case, SOFTWARE) and click the > to expand that branch. Proceed through each branch in the name, clicking the > to expand and select the next branch to you reach the key (last name in the location) indicated.
• Go to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\LocalSettings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppModel\Repository\Packages
• Expand > Packages. There will be a long list of keys. Scroll down to Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_ XXXXX (Replace the X’s with numbers that are different for different versions.). Mine is Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_44.19041.1023.0_neutral__8wekyb3d8bbwe. There can be other keys with Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge but they will have more to the name (such as Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge.Stable) and there will be no > to expand these other keys. Click to expand this Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_ XXXXX key. Click to expand Capabilities. Click to highlight File Association.
• With File Association highlighted, look in the right pane at individual keys. Under the Name column find .pdf. The long name in the Data column to the right of the .pdf is the name of the File Association key that Edge uses to make the file association to the .pdf file type. Copy the long name in the Data column for the .pdf. For my version it is AppXd4nrz8ff68srnhf9t5a8sbjyar1cr723.
• Now go HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes with the Classes branch expanded You passed this section on the way to the other key). Scroll down the branches under Classes and find the branch that exactly matches that listed for Edge above. It must match exactly to have the correct one. On my system I found AppXd4nrz8ff68srnhf9t5a8sbjyar1cr723 listed under Classes.
• Once you find the correct Class branch, right click the branch name and select Rename. Place the cursor at the end of the highlighted name and click to keep the original name there (typing while the name is highlighted will delete the name already there replacing it with your typed letters). Add an underscore (_) to the end of the original name and press the Enter key. The name differs only by the added underscore, which you can remove if you want to undo this hack.
• Close the Registry and you should be good to go. Be sure to assign a default app for PDFs now that Edge can’t do it any longer.
Overview:
Microsoft’s Edge browser is the default application to open and view PDF files on Windows 10. A user can go into the Default Apps setting to select a different app to be the default app for PDFs. I like Chrome to view PDFs. Problem is that the next time Microsoft updates Edge, that update will change the Default Apps setting and replace Edge as the default app for PDFs. You can change the Default App settings to select your app, but you will have to do this change each time Edge is updated. Until Microsoft truly fixes this, there are two solutions and I suggest performing both solutions as some users have reported that the Microsoft “fix” doesn’t work (based mostly on your update settings). The second solution makes sure Edge can’t hijack PDFs by removing Edge’s PDF file association. Each solution is explained below. If you are happy with Edge opening all your PDFs, then this tip is not for you.
Microsoft’s Fix
Microsoft’s answer to complaints about Edge hijacking PDF file association on each update was to place a setting in Edge to download the PDF rather than opening the PDF, then the default app you have selected will open the PDF. With this setting On the updates are not suppose to reset the file association of PDFs to Edge. Some users have reported that with this setting On an Edge update still resets the file association to Edge. If you decide to use the second solution, still turn this setting On to prevent Edge from acting strange even when you don’t plan on using it.
• Open Edge.
• Press Alt + F keys to open menu followed by pressing the S key to open Edge’s Settings page.
• Click the 3 bar icon to the left of Settings at the top of the page to display the settings options.
• From that menu select Cookies and site permissions.
• Under Site permissions scroll down to PDF Documents and click it.
• You will find the setting Always download PDF files and move the slide lever to turn this setting on (turns blue when On).
• Close Edge.
• In the Search box of the Start menu enter Default Apps. The Start menu will display Default apps System Settings, click it to select the setting window.
• On the Default Apps settings page scroll down and click the statement: Choose default apps by file type which will open a along list of file types with the default app for that file type showing.
• Scroll down to .pdf (alphabetically listed) and the default app (Edge) is shown to the right of the file type. Click the default app shown (Edge) and a list of other apps that can display a pdf is shown. Select the app you desire and you will see it listed as the default app for pdf files.
• Close the settings.
• After your next Windows update to Edge, see if the pdf file association remains with the app you selected. If not proceed to the next “fix”.
Prevent Edge From Making PDF File Association
Applications like Edge have multiple file associations for the different files it handles. The file associations are specific for Edge and are not the same file associations that other apps use for the same file types. These specific Edge file associations are stored in the Registry. A simple change in the registry key for Edge’s file association for the PDF file type can cause Edge to be unable to make a file association for a PDF file. Because Edge can no longer make a file association to PDF file types, it can no longer hijack the settings to make Edge the default app for PDFs.
This is simple to do, but does involve a Registry edit. I have written the instructions so a first time to the registry user can follow.
Synopsis (What we are going to do):
First you will look into the your Registry for your version of Edge to learn the name given to the registry key for Edge to have file association for pdfs. This long name is different for different versions so each user has to look to see what the name is on their PC. Using that name you will find that registry file association key and rename it. Since that key (now with a different name) cannot be assessed using the key name (different) in the Edge settings, Edge can no longer make file associations to pdfs.
NOTICE:
With every Registry edit instructions goes the “warning” that messing with the registry can cause problems. This means if at any point the instructions or steps don’t match what you see in your Registry, then stop and change nothing….you are in the wrong place in the Registry or the instructions you are following are not for your Registry (i.e. the Registries for Home and Pro differ quite a bit). If this happens, stop and find out before proceeding.
Exactly How To Do It:
• Open the Registry Editor (Win Key + R – type in regedit and press Enter). OK the UAC box.
• First, back up the Registry. Select File> Export. Name the file RegBkupDate&Time (Name the file as a Reg Back up with the date and time the file was made) and save the file. Registry backups really don’t take very long.
• To go to a key in the left Navigation pane on the left side of the Registry Editor window, look at the key’s name (which is its location in the Registry). Click the > the left of the first branch listed in the name such as the > to the left of HKEY CURRENT USER. This expands the branch and displays other branches where you select the next branch you want. Look for the second branch in the name (in the below case, SOFTWARE) and click the > to expand that branch. Proceed through each branch in the name, clicking the > to expand and select the next branch to you reach the key (last name in the location) indicated.
• Go to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\LocalSettings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppModel\Repository\Packages
• Expand > Packages. There will be a long list of keys. Scroll down to Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_ XXXXX (Replace the X’s with numbers that are different for different versions.). Mine is Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_44.19041.1023.0_neutral__8wekyb3d8bbwe. There can be other keys with Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge but they will have more to the name (such as Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge.Stable) and there will be no > to expand these other keys. Click to expand this Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_ XXXXX key. Click to expand Capabilities. Click to highlight File Association.
• With File Association highlighted, look in the right pane at individual keys. Under the Name column find .pdf. The long name in the Data column to the right of the .pdf is the name of the File Association key that Edge uses to make the file association to the .pdf file type. Copy the long name in the Data column for the .pdf. For my version it is AppXd4nrz8ff68srnhf9t5a8sbjyar1cr723.
• Now go HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes with the Classes branch expanded You passed this section on the way to the other key). Scroll down the branches under Classes and find the branch that exactly matches that listed for Edge above. It must match exactly to have the correct one. On my system I found AppXd4nrz8ff68srnhf9t5a8sbjyar1cr723 listed under Classes.
• Once you find the correct Class branch, right click the branch name and select Rename. Place the cursor at the end of the highlighted name and click to keep the original name there (typing while the name is highlighted will delete the name already there replacing it with your typed letters). Add an underscore (_) to the end of the original name and press the Enter key. The name differs only by the added underscore, which you can remove if you want to undo this hack.
• Close the Registry and you should be good to go. Be sure to assign a default app for PDFs now that Edge can’t do it any longer.