<![CDATA[Open PDFs in an external application like Adobe Reader]]>Hi,

opera://settings/?search=pdf

Open PDF files in the default PDF viewer application.

  • If the checkbox is not checked, Opera opens PDFs in the internal viewer.
  • If the checkbox is checked, Opera opens a save dialog.

How can I make Opera to open PDF files in an external viewer application like Adobe Reader?

Opera version information:

  • Version: 48.0.2685.50
  • System: Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch) (x86_64; XFCE)

Br,

Harri

]]>https://forums.opera.com/topic/23016/open-pdfs-in-an-external-application-like-adobe-readerRSS for NodeThu, 12 Mar 2026 00:14:46 GMTSun, 29 Oct 2017 07:34:28 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Open PDFs in an external application like Adobe Reader on Sun, 29 Oct 2017 21:46:29 GMT]]>You can't because chromium based browsers, opera included, do not allow opening files with an external app in general. E.g. you can not make it open a .doc with ms word directly. You have to save it first and then open it.
Opening the file inside the browser is limited to what the browser can support natively, e.g pdf files, some multimedia ones like mp4 etc.

However, they allow opening different protocol urls with external apps, e.g. magnet:// links will open with a torrent client when clicked, mailto:// ones will open with the email cleint etc.

]]>https://forums.opera.com/post/129426https://forums.opera.com/post/129426Sun, 29 Oct 2017 21:46:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open PDFs in an external application like Adobe Reader on Sun, 29 Oct 2017 14:15:23 GMT]]>You can't. That option is to bypass the internal PDF reader so you can download the file and open it in another reader.

]]>https://forums.opera.com/post/129386https://forums.opera.com/post/129386Sun, 29 Oct 2017 14:15:23 GMT