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Possible Duplicate:
Stop PDFs from displaying inside Google Chrome

Chrome is opening the PDF files automatically and don't give option to save the file. How can i change this behavior?

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  • 3
    In general, if you want to save the target of a link, you right-click on it and select to save the target of the link.
    – Anon.
    Feb 11, 2010 at 20:40
  • possible duplicate of Stop PDFs from displaying inside Google Chrome (A bit late to vote to close, but it seems Adobe Reader might be the culprit; see the other question.)
    – Arjan
    Dec 9, 2010 at 7:48
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    "right-click on it and select to save the target of the link" -- doesn't work if the target is an html script page that does the download.
    – Jim Balter
    Sep 5, 2015 at 20:26
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    This is not a duplicate. Opening in browser is addressed in the other. this was directed at opening in Adobe Reader, rather than just download. (The second problem was encounter and not answered in the linked question, but was addressed by @r0ca here)
    – Eric G
    Dec 7, 2015 at 21:52
  • Also on mobile. Is that a gimmick? If yes, then certainly no good one.
    – neverMind9
    Oct 24, 2018 at 2:35

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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Open chrome://plugins/ in the browser and disable the PDF Viewer plugin.

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  • I also had to disable the Acrobat plugin
    – Philipp
    Jan 22, 2014 at 9:23
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    Just for reference, the PDF Viewer plugin checkbox is now disabled from being toggled by the user.
    – Taylor D. Edmiston
    Feb 12, 2017 at 20:46
  • chrome://plugins/ is not available in Chrome 57+.
    – zylstra
    Aug 14, 2017 at 20:25
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    Currently you can set this setting at chrome://settings/content/pdfDocuments
    – JohannesB
    Mar 13, 2018 at 11:03
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Try this:

  • Go to 'Options'
  • Then go to the tab "Advanced"
  • Click "Clear Auto-opening settings"
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  • 3
    The URL chrome://settings/advanced brings you to the same options page.
    – Niall Murphy
    Dec 2, 2011 at 17:50
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    This is the only one that seems to address the issue for me, but it does not work for me. Clicking PDF links still opens them in my PDF viewer.
    – Tanath
    Dec 22, 2016 at 15:09
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    @r0ca, You are the only one understood the question (It is not about Chrome's PDF Viewer). Yet, it seems even if I clear this option it won't stop opening PDF's after they were downloaded. Any idea?
    – Royi
    Jan 31, 2017 at 11:10
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    It seems there might be something in Content Settings: imgur.com/MWLyY85
    – Royi
    Feb 2, 2017 at 16:16
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    This setting seems to be called "Open certain file types automatically after downloading" now.
    – Roy de Jong
    Feb 7, 2019 at 2:25
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Just go to Extensions and disable the Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer extension.

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By default, Google Chrome will usually download files into "My Documents/Downloads", but if you want to save a PDF document into a specific folder simply right click the link and select "Save link as...".

Alternatively you can go to options, then to the "Under the bonnet" tab, then click the check box "ask where to save each file before downloading".

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  • You misunderstood the question, which was about Chrome opening the PDF file for display, instead of downloading it. Your response has nothing to do with PDF files. Also, the default location where Chrome stores downloads is found and can be set on the Advanced Settings page, along with the "ask where to save each file before downloading" checkbox -- which is rather annoying when you turn it on. It's better to right click and click "Save as...".
    – Jim Balter
    Sep 5, 2015 at 20:22