Issue

When you double-click a PDF file, Adobe Reader opens instead of Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat 3D. Or, Acrobat or Acrobat 3D opens instead of Adobe Reader.

You have Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat 3D installed on the same computer.

Note: You can install Acrobat and Adobe Reader on the same computer, but Adobe Technical Support does not recommend this configuration.

Solutions

Do one of the following:

Solution 1: Run detect and repair on the PDF viewer that you want to use as the default viewer.

1. Choose Start > Run, type appwiz.cpl in the Open textbox. Then click OK to open the Add Or Remove Programs dialog box.
2. Locate and select Adobe Acrobat 7 or Adobe Reader (whichever you want to be default) and click Change/Remove.
3. When the wizard appears, click Next.
4. Select Repair and click Next again, and then click Update.

Note: Depending on the speed of your computer, this process can take a considerable amount of time.

Solution 2: Manually change the default file types.

1. Double-click My Computer or select it from the Start menu.
2. Choose Tools > Folder Options, and then select the File Types tab.
3. Locate the PDF extension in the list and click Change.
4. Select the version of Acrobat or Adobe Reader that you would like to use as the default viewer and click OK.
5. Click OK to close the Folder Options window.

Solution 3: Make sure that a version of Acrobat or Reader isn't running in the background.

When you open a PDF in the browser, an instance of Acrobat or Reader is opened as a process and not as an application. When you close the browser window, the Acrobat or Reader task continues to run for several minutes. When a subsequent PDF is opened outside the browser, the default viewer, either Acrobat or Reader, doesn't start up as expected. End the task so the default viewer can open the PDF.

1. Choose Start > Run, type taskmgr in the Open text box, and then click OK to open the Windows Task Manager.
2. Under the Processes tab, select Acrobat.exe or AcroRd32.exe if either exist in the list.
3. Click End Process.
4. Click Yes in the Task Manager Warning dialog box.
   

Additional information

Adobe Reader and Acrobat both read PDF files. If Adobe Reader is installed before you install Acrobat 7, then Acrobat asks which viewer you would like to be default viewer. However, if you install Adobe Reader on a computer with Acrobat already installed, then Adobe Reader becomes the default viewer. Repairing Acrobat or Adobe Reader changes the default viewer for PDF files in the same manner.

Products affected