Note: Mozilla Firefox correctly handles PDFs by default without requiring these fixes. This fix is for google chrome, no fix for Microsoft Edge yet. Affected windows OS is Windows 11 only
Step 1: Update Windows (Patch Fixes & Bug Fixes)
Updating Windows can fix compatibility issues and bugs, including focus-related issues.
1. Open Windows Update: Press `Win + I` → Click “Update & Security” → Click “Check for Updates” → Install any updates and restart if needed.
Step 2: Modify Windows Foreground Lock Timeout
If PDFs open behind other windows, this tweak forces Windows to bring new windows to the front.
1. Open Registry Editor: Press `Win + R`, type `regedit`, and press Enter.
2. Navigate to `HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop`.
3. Modify or create the `ForegroundLockTimeout` DWORD value and set it to `0`.
4. Restart your PC.
Step 3: Uninstall Google Chrome Completely
1. Close Chrome via Task Manager.
2. Open `appwiz.cpl`, on run command select Chrome, and click Uninstall.
Step 4: Delete Chrome User Data & Folders
1. Delete `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome`.
2. Delete `C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome`.
3. Delete `C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome`.
Step 5: Remove Chrome Registry Entries
1. Open Registry Editor (`regedit`).
2. Delete `HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google`.
3. Delete `HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google`.
Step 6: Restart Your Computer
Step 7: Reinstall Google Chrome
1. Download Chrome from https://www.google.com/chrome/.
2. Install and restart Chrome.
Step 8: Set PDF to Download Instead of Opening in Chrome
1. Open Chrome and go to `chrome://settings/content/pdfDocuments`.
2. Enable “Download PDFs” instead of opening in Chrome.
Step 9: Set Adobe Acrobat Reader as Default PDF Viewer
1. Locate a downloaded PDF, right-click, and choose “Open with”.
2. Select Adobe Acrobat Reader and check “Always use this app”.