By Megon VenterSat. 08 Mar. 20253min Read

How to Change Your Default PDF Viewer

Our team will show you how to stop opening your PDFs manually when you learn how to change your default PDF viewer to your desired application.

CONTENTS

Why Your Current PDF Viewer is Set to Default

How to Change Your Default Viewer on Mac

How to Change Your Default Viewer on Windows

What Makes PDF Reader Pro Best?

If you do not already have a dedicated PDF reader, we highly suggest you get one. It can make processes like document signing, form-filling, and format conversion a breeze.

Once you actually find the perfect reader (we recommend PDF Reader Pro), you can follow the guide below to make it your default viewer.

Megon Venter

B2B SaaS Content Writer

Megon is a B2B SaaS Content Writer with 7 years of experience in content strategy and execution. Her expertise lies in the creation of document management tutorials and product comparisons.

Why Your Current PDF Viewer is Set to Default

Your desktop or mobile phone chooses a default program for certain actions because it makes it quicker and easier to perform them.

However, if you are finding that certain programs are always chosen as the default, here are some reasons as to why:

When installing the program, you are checking the box to make it default
You do not have the correct software installed (i.e. no PDF reader in this case) so your system is choosing the next best app.

If these reasons sound familiar to you, stop checking boxes for readers you do not want as your default, install a reputable software (we recommend PDF Reader Pro for PDFs), and follow our guide below to make it your default viewer.

How to Change Your Default Viewer on Mac

If you are a Mac user, follow this guide to change which viewer opens PDFs by default.

Step 1: Locate Your PDF

Right-click on this file.

Step 2: Find "Get Info"

Click on this option.

Step 3: Scroll Down to "Open With"

Choose the reader you want to view it in.

How to Change Your Default Viewer on Windows

In this example, we use PDF Reader Pro (available on Windows!) to show you how to set a default program.

Step 1: Open Your Viewer (PDF Reader Pro example)

Click on "settings" on the toolbar.

Step 2: Tick the Box "Set PDF Reader Pro as Default Viewer"

This will open all PDFs through this application from now on.

OR

Step 1: Click Start

Choose the "Settings" option.

Step 2: Click on "Apps"

Find "Specify the Default Application by File Type"

Step 3: Find the PDF File Type

Select the current default program and change it.

What Makes PDF Reader Pro Best?

If you are wondering why you should consider PDF Reader Pro to be your default PDF viewer, we have quite a few reasons!

Feature	Description
PDF Annotation	Highlight text, add sticky notes, shapes, and freehand drawings to documents.
PDF Editing	Edit text, images, and links within a PDF file.
OCR (Optical Character Recognition)	Extract text from scanned documents or images.
Fill & Sign Forms	Easily fill out and sign forms directly within the app.
Convert PDFs	Convert PDFs to various formats like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more.
Merge & Split PDFs	Combine multiple PDFs into one or split a large PDF into smaller files.
Protect PDFs	Add password protection, encryption, or watermark to secure PDF files.
Cloud Storage Integration	Sync documents with cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, etc.
File Compression	Compress large PDF files without losing quality to save storage space.
Advanced Search	Search for specific words or phrases across entire PDFs or folders.
Document Management	Organize and categorize PDFs into folders for easy access and management.