How can I regain Preview as my default PDF browser in Safari?

Question

Level 1

8 points

How can I regain Preview as my default PDF browser in Safari?

Hi, everyone...to make a long story short, I recently installed an update to Adobe Reader only to discover that it somehow took over my PDF viewing in Safari from Preview. I wanted to try and get Preview back as my default Safari PDF browser, but no luck. I trashed Reader and went into Library to trash the Adobe Internet plug-in as well. After I did that, I tried to reopen a PDF in Safari only to discover that I now can't open ANY PDF in Safari and I can't figure out how to make Preview the default reader again. I right-clicked a PDF in my computer and went under "Get Info" to try and change Preview to my default reader, but I can't figure out ANYTHING on how to regain my prior Preview default. I'm frustrated like CRAZY! I have Safari 5.1.5 and Preview 5.5.1. I would really appreciate some help on this!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on May 5, 2012 9:00 PM

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Answer 1

NNY123

Level 1

4 points

Apr 10, 2017 6:16 PM in response to phreaky_d

Wow! Me too. I did what Kappy said with command I and changed to preview. So far so good.

shows Preview as default.

So nice

Adobe was charging me yearly for something that had always been free & stuff I don't need.

After watching David A Cox I was able to change them one by one to be opened by preview but this did the trick!

I didn't see a way to reply to Kappy so I am putting my gratitude here. Rarely log on to interact but WOW and thank you. Preview is really great! I had no idea!

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Answer 2

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

May 5, 2012 9:03 PM in response to phreaky_d

Select any .pdf file. Press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. In the Open With panel select Preview as the default application then click on the Change All button.

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Answer 3

phreaky_d Author

Level 1

8 points

May 5, 2012 9:09 PM in response to Kappy

Yup, I did that...it STILL won't work!

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Answer 4

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

May 5, 2012 9:26 PM in response to phreaky_d

Did you remove the AdobePDFViewer.plugin from /Library/Internet Plug-ins? You may need to restart the computer. If this doesn't work then reinstall Adobe Reader and use its preferences to disable the use of Adobe Reader in the browser.

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Answer 5

phreaky_d Author

Level 1

8 points

May 6, 2012 6:59 PM in response to Kappy

Yeah, I tried all that out...I did see a few threads on here after I searched for similar topics. I removed the plug-in and tried to to do the Command-I function to get to the Change-All option for Preview. No luck. I then reinstalled Reader and tried to disable the internet function, but it's grayed-out. This is EXTREMELY annoying! >:(

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Answer 6

Lanny

Level 6

13,225 points

May 6, 2012 7:53 PM in response to phreaky_d

Safari 5.1 doesn't use a PDF plugin, it has a built-in native PDF viewer.

http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/multi/safari-5-1-incompatible-reader.html

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Answer 7

etresoft

Level 9

56,290 points

May 6, 2012 8:38 PM in response to phreaky_d

If you keep installing Reader you are just running around in circles. Uninstall Adobe Reader and reboot your machine. Then try to set Preview as your default PDF application.

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Answer 8

phreaky_d Author

Level 1

8 points

May 7, 2012 5:04 PM in response to etresoft

I appreciate all the help, everyone...I wound up calling Apple tech support and after a significant amount of time, they just had me delete Reader and I also had to delete another Internet plug-in that missed the Trash the first time around. Preview is now opening all PDFs in Safari. Needless to say, I'm staying away from Reader from now on!

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Answer 9

maybe_me

Level 1

0 points

Sep 23, 2012 5:32 AM in response to phreaky_d

One way would've been:

Use the finder and go to /Library/Internet Plug-Ins and move the plug-ins from adobe reader to the trash. Do this the same in your home directory's library: ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins (so if your username is Anna, go to: Anna/Library/Internet Plug-Ins). You'll have to restart safari, and it should work from then.

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Answer 10

Lucas84

Level 1

0 points

Sep 27, 2012 12:52 AM in response to maybe_me

That solved it for me - thank you!

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Answer 11

Lucas84

Level 1

0 points

Sep 27, 2012 12:55 AM in response to maybe_me

That solved it for me - thank you!

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Answer 12

Morteza-

Level 1

0 points

Jan 4, 2013 4:15 AM in response to phreaky_d

Why don't you post up your solution so other people don't get stuck and have to call Apple after hours of searching? -_-

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Answer 13

Jan 5, 2013 8:47 AM in response to maybe_me

Thank you! this has been bugging me for months! it worked and I will never install adobe reader again!!!

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Answer 14

Feb 15, 2013 3:19 PM in response to phreaky_d

Hi,

I also installed Adobe Reader because an ebook I downloaded wouldn't open without it.

I then chose Adobe Reader as my default. When I later uninstalled it using the Trash Me app-which usually clears everything out-I couldn't get Preview back as the default.

I went to the "Library/Internet plug-ins" path and trashed the two Adobe Reader plug ins that were there. I used Secure Empty Trash, and then shut down completely and did not check the box to reopen any windows. Then I restarted the Mac.

I not only shut down Safari, I closed all applications and shut down the Mac completely being sure to uncheck the "relaunch with windows open" button. When I turned the Mac back on, I opened Safari and went to an online PDF that I had been trying to open previously to test the app. It opened this PDF using Preview and showed it in Safari.

I then tested using a PDF from my files and it opened in Preview.

Quit Safari.

Open the Finder. From the Finder menu bar click Go > Go to Folder

Type of copy / paste: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins

Click Go then move the Adobe PDF Browser plugin from the Internet Plug-Ins folder to the Trash.

Relaunch Safari to test.

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Answer 15

Jul 11, 2013 6:20 PM in response to phreaky_d

The easiest way to do it is right here...

http://digitalwriting101.net/content/how-to-make-preview-the-default-pdf-reader- on-a-mac/

Sorry just noticed this was covered in the second post... the above worked for me.

Message was edited by: Kwaterski

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