Chrome – Stop PDFs from displaying inside Google Chrome

google-chromepdfplugins

When I click on a PDF link in Chrome, it opens automatically inside the browser window. How can I get it to download instead and open with an external viewer?

Update:
I implemented djhowell's solution but Chrome still seems to be handling PDF files differently from regular files. When I click a PDF link it opens in Adobe Reader, but normally files download to a folder first.

I also find it weird that this is controlled by Reader and not Chrome. Are there not any file-type controls in Chrome anywhere?

Best Answer

You can disable the Adobe plugin in Chrome, which will force Chrome to download the PDF.

It's under Settings > Privacy and security > Site Settings > PDF documents. Or enter chrome://settings/content/pdfDocuments in your browser address bar to go straight there.

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Chrome – Download arbitrary file with Google Chrome

Right click the link and click "Save Link As..."

EDIT: To follow up on the need to download arbitrarily from clipboard, I would just create a generic HTML file and use the above solution. Save as mylink.html to file system somewhere. Open in Chrome.

<html>
<a href="http://www.mycompany.com/secretvideo.mp4">Link</a>
</html>

Macos – Prevent Chrome from automatically opening downloaded PDF and Image files

You can set the auto-open preferences for PDF files by clicking on the download status button in the downloads bar. When you have a downloaded PDF sitting there, click on the arrow and unselect "Always Open Files of This Type" in the pop-up menu.

You can also reset all the user preferences for auto-open by following the directions below from Chrome's help site at http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95759

If you want certain types of files to always open after they're done downloading, click the arrow next to the file button in the downloads bar and select Always open files of this type. To prevent potentially malicious files from automatically downloading to your computer, this option isn't available for executable filetypes, such as those with .exe, .dll, or .bat extensions (for Windows), and .dmg extensions (for Mac).

You can clear auto-opening settings through the Settings dialog. Here's how:

Click the wrench icon on the browser toolbar. Select Settings. Click the Under the Hood tab. In the "Downloads" section, click Clear auto-opening settings. This clears your settings for all file types. Click Close when you're done, if you're using Windows or Linux.

Best Answer

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Chrome – Download arbitrary file with Google Chrome

Macos – Prevent Chrome from automatically opening downloaded PDF and Image files

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