Making preview default viewer for pdf files

Hi,
On my macbook I have the preinstalled 'preview' software and I've recently installed Adobe reader. I much prefer using preview for some functions, but since I installed Adobe reader all pdf files automatically open in that program. I've noticed that when I choose the software to open file with Adobe is now listed as 'default'. Does anyone know how to make preview default rather than Adobe reader?

Hi James,
Chose any PDF file you got already and select it ones ... now get info and a NEW window will open.
Now, somewhere ad the end of this NEW window you will see *Open with* select Preview and select ALL.
Close the window ...
Now the next time you open a PDF it will be opening with Preview.
Good luck ...
Dimaxum

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Make Acrobat the default reader for pdf-files.

Since some time (probably after I installed Mavericks) pdf-files are by default opened
in Preview. To open them in Adobe Acrobat, I can right-click the pdf-file, choose Acrobat,
and indicate that Acrobat should be the default reader for pdf-files.
This works, and after logout and login, it does still work.
But after a reboot, Preview is again the default reader.
Also, if in Finder I right-click a pdf-file, and via Get Info I configure Acrobat
to be the default reader for the specific file and all other pdf-files (by clicking
Change All), this only works for the current session. After a reboot Preview again is the
default.
How can I make Acrobat Reader the default reader for pdf-files, and make this setting
permanent?
Where is this setting saved?
Regards,
Kees.

I finally solved this, but I still don't understand how.
To begin with I have 2 hard-drives in my iMac. The OS is on the primary HD, and data are on the secondary drive. My Home directory too is on this secondary HD.
To check whether the location of the Home directory might be the problem, I copied the Home directory to the primary HD, changed the path in my profile, and did a reboot.
The next step was to configure Adobe Acrobat as the default reader for pdf-files. To my surprise, after rebooting, Acrobat still was the default reader for pdf-files.
So it looks as if this problem has something to do with the location of the Home directory.
The original Home directory was still present on the secondary HD, So the next step was to change in my profile the path to the Home directory again (pointing again to the original Home directory on the second HD), do a reboot and delete the copy of the Home directory on the primary HD.
So now the situation was back to as it was before: the Home directory on the second HD.
To my surprise now Acrobat still was the default reader for pdf-files.
And I could also change the default reader to Preview, and back to Acrobat, and this setting was saved across reboots.
I'm curious to what solved this problem, and where the setting of the default pdf-reader, or more general, the default application for file types, is stored.
So I hope that someone who reads this, can shed some light on this.

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http://winsupersite.com/article/windows8/windows-8-tip-change-file-associations-144102

Making Quicktime the default viewer for .wmv files.

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Making Preview the Default App for .pdf Files

When I click on a .pdf file (such as one attached to an e-mail) it now opens in Acrobat Reader; it formerly opened in Preview (which I preferred). I don't recall making any changes and wondered if the "Preview as default" was changed in the recent OSX update. Can I set a preference somewhere to again have .pdf docs opened in Preview?

Hello,
To open a document with a specific application:
In the Finder, select the document and choose File > Get Info.
In the Info window, click to show the "Open with" pane.
Choose the application you want to use from the pop-up menu.
If you want ALL documents that have the same file type as this one to open with the same application, click Change All.
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Hi Anthony,
So, you're instincts were correct - it is Safari.....
I use Firefox as my browser (I'm not a big fan of Safari or on Windows, of Explorer). When I clicked on your brochure in Firefox, it comes up with a little window asking me what I want to do with the file - and with the "Open With" Preview" button checked.
When I do the same with Safari, it opens a new Safari window, displaying it online, but not downloading it.
So, don't know if you want to download Firefox, but did want to let you know that's why it was working differently for me!
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GB

How to set default program for pdf files

I was wondering if anyone knows how to change the default program for opening a file type. For example I would like to set Adobe Acrobat as my default program for opening pdf files instead of preview
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Hi and Welcome to Apple Discussions
Control-click a pdf file and choose "Get Info". In the Info window choose which application to open the file with and then click on the "change all" button. Voila!
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I'm using LaTeX to generate a PDF document. When the PDF is open in Preview, I typically zoom in so that I can focus on part of the page. However, every time I update the PDF file, Preview reloads it but resets the page view to the top left corner of the page.
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Then I'd have to agree - just don't try previewing PDFs from Preview. In most cases, the web browser relies on server headers and user configuration for what to do with PDF files when they're selected (open via plug-in, download, etc.). I wouldn't expect a basic layout preview engine to be able to handle that sort of thing.

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How many Adobe products are installed that read PDFs? Do you have both Acrobat and Adobe Reader installed or do you have multiple versions of the same application installed?
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Hello,
In order to change the default reader for PDF files (to not open PDF files with Firefox's internal PDF reader), follow these steps:
#Go to ''Tools'' > ''Options'' (or ''Firefox'' > ''Options'').
#In the Options window, select the ''Applications'' tab.
#In the ''Search'' field, type ''PDF''. You should find ''Portable Document Format (PDF)''.
#On the right handside you should find an ''Action'' column. Use that to select your favorite PDF reader. In order to view PDF files in Firefox, choose ''Preview in Firefox''.
Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!
Thank you.

[GNOME], [Firefox] (still) defaults to GIMP for PDF files

I've installed Arch Linux with GNOME twice this past year, on both i686 and x86-64 systems. Both times, I've installed GNOME with it's default PDF reader, Evince, as well as GIMP for image editing (of course). Firefox, regardless of my preferences in Nautilus, only gives me the option of opening PDF files in GIMP (as opposed to saving them). If I save the file and open it from the downloads window, it opens in GIMP, but if I download it and then open it directly in Nautilus, then it opens in Evince without any problems. Of course, I could work around this and simply add /usr/bin/evince to the list of programs for PDF files, but I would have to do this for every single user that I add before Firefox is reasonably usable for downloading PDFs.
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Last edited by Sloshy (2011-02-22 20:24:09)

ngoonee wrote:mimeopen would solve the problem. The issue is that firefox just defaults to using xdg-specifications, and gnome isn't really very good about setting that (uses its own gnome-open instead of xdg-open after all).
I never knew that about GNOME. Mimeopen did fix the problem for me. Thanks very much!
tjwoosta wrote:
I dont know if this is what your talking about but..
In firefox go to edit>preferences> applications tab (you can choose which app opens what filetypes)
I mentioned that I tried this and it works fine, but I don't want to have to do that workaround on every single account I make. The workaround suggested, as I said, works well enough.
So if I understand this correctly, this is a Firefox bug?

How to make Adobe as your default viewer for all your PDF file instead of the Preview given? Thanks

How to make Adobe as your default viewer for all your PDF file instead of the Preview given? Thanks

you need to "Get Info" on the file first. Select it, right click and select 'Get Info' in the menu.
In the window that pops up, near the bottom, the "Open With" drop down menu needs changed. If the drop down menu does not present the one you want, select "Other" and find it.

After Upgrading Acrobat Reader XI to Acrobat XI Pro the previewer in Outlook and Windows Explorer doesn't work. I have to set the default program for .pdf's to Acrobat Reader inorder for the previewer to work.

After Upgrading Acrobat Reader XI to Acrobat XI Pro the previewer in Outlook and Windows Explorer doesn't work. I have to set the default program for .pdf's to Acrobat Reader in order for the previewer to work.
Can anyone recommend a solution?

If I set the default program for viewing PDF as Acrobat XI Pro the a PDF file will open with Acrobat XI Pro, but in Outlook I will get a white screen and the information bubble "This file cannot be previewed because there is no previewer installed for it" and in Windows Explorer I get a white screen in the preview pane.
My Acrobat version is 11.0.10
I am running Windows 7 Professional with Service Pack 1
My Internet Explorer is Version 11.0.9600.17691
Update Versions 11.0.17 (KB3032359)
I am running Microsoft Office 2013

How can I quickly view pdf files like I can do with Windows Picture and Fax viewer for jpg files?

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*http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/115/1/Windows-Picture-and-Fax-Viewer-as-the-default-viewer-in-Mozilla-Firefox.html
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Making preview default viewer for pdf files

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