# How to open links from Acrobat in Firefox, not IE **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 6, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-open-links-from-acrobat-in-firefox-not-ie/371669 "2006-09-06T17:41:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-open-links-from-acrobat-in-firefox-not-ie/371669/1 "2006-09-06T17:41:27Z")
I’m using Acrobat Pro 7.0. The default browser on my system is Firefox. Whenever i click a link in a different application (Thunderbird, MS Word, etc.), it will automatically open in Firefox. But, for some reason, when i click a link in Acrobat, it always fires up Internet Explorer, which is rather annoying. I assumed this was something that i could fix in Acrobat’s Preferences, but haven’t been able to find anything. Can anyone help me with this? ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Stan\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-open-links-from-acrobat-in-firefox-not-ie/371669/2 "2006-09-06T23:02:46Z")
I may have a solution, if not a direct answer to your question. If all you are doing is onscreen viewing and printing, etc., try [Foxit Reader](http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php) , it loads my links in Firefox. As an added bonus, the app itself loads in milliseconds compared to the Adobe Acrobat Readers. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-open-links-from-acrobat-in-firefox-not-ie/371669/3 "2006-09-07T01:41:42Z")
Thanks for the suggestion, Stan. Problem is, i have a whole heap of pdf documents in a folder, and i like to be able to use the Acrobat search feature to search multipple documents from within Acrobat itself. That’s why i prefer not to open them using the browser plugin, but in Acrobat proper. I’m not sure that Foxit Reader has the same capability. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-open-links-from-acrobat-in-firefox-not-ie/371669/4 "2006-09-07T19:08:01Z")
One more bump, in case anyone can help. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-open-links-from-acrobat-in-firefox-not-ie/371669/5 "2006-09-07T19:38:01Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] I’m not sure that Foxit Reader has the same capability. [/QUOTE] I’m not certain, but I am pretty sure that the Foxit Reader doesn’t have the same capability. It’s so great because it’s so sleek — it doesn’t crash my computer at work like Acrobat so often does — but I don’t think it’s search function is nearly so good. Have you tried looking in IE to see if there is an option to break up the association? I’ve had experiences where I have dueling programs for a particular file format and I’ve had to tell a program to not open the file, even though another program is set as the default. Maybe this is an analogous situation. Under Programs in the internet options is a check box having to do with IE checking to see if it’s the default program, maybe changing that will help. Sorry I can’t be more helpful.