How to open a PDF in Chrome Browser instead of downloading it

Problem

When attempting to open a PDF in a Chrome Browser, the PDF downloads instead of opening automatically.

Environment

  • Chrome Browser
  • Chrome OS 

Solution

You need to set the Default behavior to Open PDFs in Chrome from:
chrome://settings/content/pdfDocuments

Workaround:
  1. Got to Chrome Browser.
  2. Navigate to Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Additional content settings > PDF documents.
  3. Select the option Open PDF in Chrome.

Cause

Chrome Browser defaults to Download PDFs out of the box.