How To

How to Make Adobe Reader the Default PDF Program on Mac in 4 Easy Steps

April 16, 2021
Updated: July 2, 2025 at 4:09 AM

Why is it that both Microsoft and Apple refuse to acknowledge Adobe’s dominance in the PDF reader pool, whether on Windows PC, Android device, or iPhone? Both of these companies insist on installing their own PDF readers and making them the default program so that even after you’ve gone through the whole rigmarole of installing Adobe Reader, your PDFs still insist on opening with one of the other programs. Microsoft has made it relatively easy to change your default programs with pop-ups and simple settings, but many people find themselves confused with Apple.

How to Make Adobe Reader the Default PDF Program on Mac

You will need to have Adobe installed on your Mac before you begin this process. When that installation is complete, then please continue with the guide.

Adobe Reader for Mac Download

Step 1: Select a PDF file

Startup your Finder and navigate to any PDF file.

Step 2: Click on ‘Get Info’

Ctrl+Click, or right-click if you’re using an external mouse, on the PDF and select Get Info from the menu.

Step 3: Open with Adobe Reader

Click on the dropdown arrow in the Open With section of the menu that opens and select Adobe Reader from the list.

Step 4: Change the default PDF program

Finally, click on the Change All button just underneath the dropdown menu and select Continue from the box that pops up.

Making “Comfortable” Your Default Setting

Small things like this can be extremely frustrating; we all want our files to open in the correct programs automatically, and they often don’t. The beauty of this process is that it works for other programs as well; do you want to make sure that your videos open in VLC automatically or that your images open in Photoshop every time? Then this is the way you do that. Before you know it, you’ll have everything working with the correct programs, and you’ll be able to work comfortably and peacefully without manually opening everything in your preferred programs.

How to password protect a pdf in Adobe Reader