Firefox 78 can be used as the default PDF reader

Jun 1, 2020 12:16 GMT  ·  By

As many people know already, the original version of Microsoft Edge, currently known as Microsoft Edge legacy, came with truly advanced PDF controls, allowing users to work with documents without the need for another dedicated app.

This is why many actually called Microsoft Edge the best PDF reader rather than a good browser, especially because of Microsoft’s focus on making sure that working with PDF documents didn’t require any other application.

Times have changed and Microsoft Edge is now a much more advanced browser that’s based on Chromium. And at the same time, it also comes with built-in PDF capabilities, as Microsoft specifically tried to make the experience overall feel more native from one end to another.

But Microsoft Edge isn’t the only browser that ships with a built-in PDF reader, as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox also pack such capabilities.

More importantly, however, is that Firefox is being updated with new options that will allow users to set it as the default PDF reader in Windows 10. In other words, users working with PDF documents will be able to simply open these files in Firefox with a double-click on a Windows 10 device.

As discovered by TechDows, the change is happening in Firefox 78, so right now, only the Nightly build of the browser can be configured as the default PDF reader in Windows 10. In other words, this is still an experiment for the time being, but once Firefox 78 reaches the stable channel, the new option should become available for everybody.

The good news is that anyone can give it a try by simply downloading and installing Firefox 78 Nightly on their Windows 10 devices. And the way to set the browser as the default PDF reader on the OS isn’t necessarily complex, but it does require a series of steps that should much more simplified overall.

Microsoft Edge is the default PDF client in Windows 10
Microsoft Edge is the default PDF client in Windows 10

First and foremost, make sure that you’re running up-to-date Windows 10 and Firefox Nightly.

Then, open the Settings app on Windows 10 and follow this path (make sure you double-check each step twice because Microsoft has made the whole thing unnecessarily complicated, as you’ll figure out in a moment):

Settings > Apps > Default apps > Choose default apps by file type > PDF > Click Microsoft Edge > Firefox Nightly There are a few things that need to be further detailed here. There’s no search box for a specific file extension, so when you look for the PDF settings, there’s no other way than to scroll, and scroll, and scroll until you find this format. It goes without saying that simply searching for a file format would have been a lot easier, but for now, this is pretty much the only way to go.

If you haven’t changed the default PDF reader, then Microsoft Edge should be the one handling the documents on your device. If you already enabled a different app, such as Google Chrome, this one would show up in the Settings app next to the PDF format entry.

Once you enable Firefox, you’re all set, as from this point Mozilla’s browser will be the one that will handle PDF documents. If you want to change it again and return to Microsoft Edge, it’s enough to follow the aforementioned steps, only that in this case you just need to replace Edge with Firefox.

According to Mozilla’s release calendar, Firefox 78, which is the version that will bring the PDF reader to everyone on Windows 10, is projected to go live in the stable channel on June 30.

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Firefox on Windows 10
Microsoft Edge is the default PDF client in Windows 10
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