How to Stop Microsoft Edge From Opening PDF and HTML Files

By Timothy Tibbetts

on 06/15/2023

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You know the drill. You have your favorite program to open PDf files or even HTML pages, and Microsoft Edge wants to be your daddy. We can stop Microsoft Edge from hijacking your PDF and HTML file associations with one of these two simple steps.

1: Microsoft Edge Settings

Open settings by typing edge://settings/content/pdfDocuments into the Address bar, and press Enter.

You can also click the three dots in the top right corner to open Settings.

Click on Cookies and site permissions
Click on PDF documents
Toggle Always open PDF files externally off.

2: Change File Associations For HTML, HTM, or PDF

Press the Windows Key + S and begin typing in default apps and click on default apps or better yet, Choose default apps by file types. Scroll down to Choose default apps by file type.

On the left-hand side, scroll down to find PDF, HTM, HTML, or, frankly, anything Edge is hijacking.

Once you find what you're looking for (in our image below, we are looking at the PDF default apps), you can see Microsoft Edge is the default app. Click Microsoft Edge and choose the app you want to open that file type.

All set!

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