How to Customize a PDF's Default View in Acrobat Pro

• To set the opening view, click "Edit", then "Preferences". Use the "Page Display" tab to input your settings.
• When setting Acrobat as the default program on Windows, right-click a PDF, click "Properties", then "Change".
• On Mac, control-click a PDF, then click "Get Info" and "Open With".

Set Default Opening View

Open Adobe Acrobat. You can also open any PDF document as long as your default PDF program is Adobe Acrobat. If needed, you can install Adobe Acrobat.

Click Edit on the top toolbar. This will open a drop-down menu. You can also use the toolbar to activate the dark theme.

Click Preferences. You can find this on the bottom of the drop-down menu, underneath Manage Tools. A new window will open.

Navigate to the Page Display tab. Page Display will be in the left toolbar, underneath Categories. This page may be open by default.

Customize the "Default Layout and Zoom". You can change the Page Layout and Zoom. To customize the Page Layout, click the drop-down menu and select between Automatic, Single Page, Single Page Continuous, Two-Up, or Two-Up Continuous. To customize the Zoom, click the drop-down menu and select a percentage from 0% to 6400%. Alternatively, double-click the percentage and manually input the Zoom percentage you'd like.

Continue to customize. This is optional. You can customize Resolution, Rendering, Page Content and Information, and Reference XObjects View Mode. You can also rotate pages in a PDF.

Click OK. This will save your settings. When you use Acrobat Reader to open PDFs, your default preferences will be in effect. Adobe Acrobat can be used to edit text in PDFs.

Make Acrobat the Default PDF App (Windows)

Right-click the thumbnail of a PDF file. This can be any PDF file you have. A new menu will open.

Click Properties. This will be located at the bottom of the menu.

Click Change. You will see Opens with: with the default program. In most cases, the default will be Microsoft Edge. You must be using an administrator account to change these settings.

Select Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader. This depends on your applications. If you have both Acrobat and Acrobat Reader, select Adobe Acrobat. If you only have Acrobat Reader, select Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Click OK. You will be returned to the Properties window.

Click OK on the "Properties" window. PDF files will now open in Acrobat Reader or Acrobat.

Make Acrobat the Default PDF App (Mac)

Open "Finder" and locate a PDF file. This can be any PDF file you have.

Control-click the PDF file. This will open a menu.

Click Get Info. A new window will open with more information.

Click Open with: to expand the drop-down menu. You will see a list of all supported applications.

Select Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader. This depends on your applications. If you have both Acrobat and Acrobat Reader, select Adobe Acrobat. If you only have Acrobat Reader, select Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Click Change All…. You can find this below the Open with… drop-down menu, but above Preview:. A dialogue box will appear.

Click Continue. This will confirm that you want to open PDF documents using Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader.