We know that many of our Windows-based clients will be familiar with the often unwanted experience of their PDF documents opening in Microsoft's Edge browser rather than Adobe's reader when they get a new machine or after a big update. However, a change is soon coming to Edge that means these will be one and the same thing.
Microsoft and Adobe are partnering up to integrate the latter's reader into the former's browser. For those that only use Adobe's software for reading rather than editing PDFs, that should mean that opening a PDF in Edge provides exactly the same experience as separately installing Adobe's PDF reader to open them. While their statement that this is part of their "commitment to transform the future of digital work and life" may seem a little overblown, it's certainly likely to make things a little more streamlined for Windows users.
This will be a free addition to the browser. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there will be some light nudges to pay for more advanced features like document editing, but the core reading features will all be there. For those that do already have Adobe subscriptions, they will be able to use this to edit these Adobe-powered PDFs inside the Edge browser directly.
We're entering an interesting time in the web browser world. After years of dominance, there's a few developments that have the potential to threaten Chrome's ubiquity. On top of small quality-of-life changes like those above, Microsoft is also investing heavily in integrating AI into their software tools, including their Edge browser. The ubiquitous ChatGPT is being brought to the browser and to their Bing search engine. Indeed, it was this threat that caused Google to rush-announce their own AI system in a somewhat botched manner that instantly knocked 8% off their share price.
According to Microsoft, the Adobe PDF Edge integration will start rolling out to Windows users in March.