Best Adobe PDF Reader Alternative

If you’ve reached this article it (more likely than not) means you dislike Adobe PDF Reader and are seeking an alternative PDF reader for your Windows based PC.

I completely agree, Adobe Reader is bulky, slows down my PC and their updates (if you are not careful) can be accompanied by undesired AdWare. Those reasons are why I haven’t used Adobe PDF Reader for years.

Luckily we have a simple PDF reader alternative by just using our Brave internet browser to open PDFs. This article will show you how to setup Brave to automatically open your PDFs and make it your Default PDF Reader.

 

Using Brave as Default PDF Reader

Setting a Default PDF Reader, Method One

On your PC, locate any existing PDF document and right mouse click on it. From the drop down menu, select “Properties“. A new file Properties window will appear, under the “General” tab, locate and click on the “Change…” button next to “Opens with” and select “Brave” from the list of choices. Then click on the “Apply” button down at the bottom followed by the “OK” button. From now on, PDF’s will open in your Brave internet browser.

Setting a Default PDF Reader, Method Two

Alternatively, you may right mouse click on any existing PDF document and click on the “Open with” option which will reveal another drop down. Select “Choose another app” from that drop down. Select “Brave” from the list then check the box for “Always use this app to open .pdf files” before clicking the “OK” button. From now on, PDF’s will open in your Brave internet browser.

Cleanup

Don’t forget to uninstall Adobe Reader from your PC to restore your system resources.

 

Prevent PDF from Automatically Downloading

Sometimes there is an issue opening PDF’s within your Brave internet browser (as well as other browsers) in which it automatically downloads the PDF rather then opening it. Not to worry, there is a quick and easy fix.

To ensure that PDF’s open in Brave rather than automatically download we will need to adjust the PDF content settings within your Brave browser.

If not already open, open your Brave browser then click on the Menu icon (the three horizontal lines) at the top right. From the drop down, select “Settings“. Once again, near the top right, click on the search icon (just underneath the Menu icon) which will reveal a search field. Type in “pdf” without the quotes.

Scroll down until you see the “Site and Shields Settings” section. Click on it to expand it. Scroll down again until you see the “Additional content settings” section. If it isn’t already expanded, click on it to expand then click on “PDF documents“. Make sure that the “Open PDFs in Brave” option is selected and NOT “Download PDFs”

That should take care of PDF’s downloading rather than opening in Brave. All future PDFs should now open in Brave, goodbye Adobe Reader!

 

Conclusion

I welcome your thoughts, questions or suggestions on my article on the best alternative program for Adobe Reader when opening PDF documents.

You may support my work by sending me a tip using your Brave browser or by sending me a one time donation using your credit card.

Let me know if you found any errors within my article or if I may further assist you by answering any additional questions you may have.