User Guide Cancel

Display PDF in browser | Acrobat, Acrobat Reader

The Acrobat/Acrobat Reader plug-in for web browsers relies on the cross-platform plug-in architecture NPAPI, which had been supported by all major web browsers for over a decade. The following browsers have dropped support for NPAPI, and therefore Acrobat/Acrobat Reader plug-in does not work on these browsers anymore to display the PDF.

  • Mozilla Firefox (v52 and above)
  • Google Chrome (September 2015 release onwards)
  • Apple Safari (v12 and above)
  • Microsoft Edge

For more information, see Change in support for Acrobat and Reader plug-ins in modern web browsers.

 

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer 11 uses an ActiveX based plug-in. Follow the steps below to configure Internet Explorer to use the Acrobat/Acrobat Reader plugin for viewing PDFs:

  1. Open Internet Explorer, and choose Tools > Manage Add-ons.

  2. Under Add-on Types, select Toolbars and Extensions.

  3. In the Show menu, select All Add-ons.

    Manage Add-ons in Internet Explorer
    Select All Add-ons from the Show menu in the Manage Add-ons dialog box.

  4. In the list of add-ons, select Adobe PDF Reader.

    Note:

    If you do not see the Adobe PDF Reader add-on, try the other options on the menu. For example, on some systems, the add-on appears when you select Run Without Permission.

  5. Click the Enable or Disable button (it toggles depending on the status of the selected add-on):

    Enable sets the Adobe PDF Reader add-on to open PDFs in the browser.

    Disable turns off the add-on so it does not open PDFs in the browser.

    Select Adobe PDF Reader, and click the Enable/Disable button.

    For more information, see the Internet Explorer help topic Manage add-ons in Internet Explorer.

Get help faster and easier

New user?