How-to: Disable Acrobat as the Safari PDF Viewer

Conrad McGarry updated July 17, 2014 at 5:39 PM

Questions Addressed

• How can I disable Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader as the default PDF viewer in Safari? How can I disable Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader as the default PDF viewer in Safari?

Deleting the Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader internet plug-ins will disable them in Safari. The Preview application will be used to view PDF files in Safari instead.

Deleting the Plug-ins

1. On Finder Finder, click on the Go Go menu option. Then click Go to Folder... Go to Folder...
   
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2. In the text field, type /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ and click Go  and click Go.
   
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3. Locate the AdobePDFViewer.plugin file the AdobePDFViewer.plugin file.
   

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   Note:On OS X 10.7 Lion, there is an additional plug-in file:

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1. AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin
2. Delete AdobePDFViewer.plugin (also delete AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin if you are using OS X 10.7

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1. ). 
   1. Enter your password when prompted.
   2. Note: If you possibly want to revert back to using the Adobe PDF plug-ins in the future, you can simply create a new folder called "Disabled Plug-Ins" and move the Adobe PDF plug-in files there instead of deleting them.Restart Safari. When opening PDF documents, the internal Preview.app will be used.
2. Repeat the same process for the ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ folder.
   
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3. Restart Safari. When opening PDF documents, the internal Preview.app will be used.
   

   If you need further assistance, please contact IGPP Net Ops.