Google Chrome's built-in PDF file viewer is turned on by default. It's convenient if you want to view PDFs as quickly as possible, but if you prefer to download copies of PDF files, you can turn off the Chrome PDF viewer to make those downloads happen automatically.

Step 1: Open your Chrome web browser and select the three vertical dots (More icon) in the upper-right corner

Step 2: Select Settings from the drop-down list

Step 3: Select Privacy and security from the submenu that opens

Step 4: Select Site Settings

Step 5: Scroll down to the Content section > select Additional content settings > PDF documents

Step 6: Select the radio button next to Download PDFs to turn the feature off

NOTE: To turn it back on, select the radio button next to Open PDFs in Chrome.

To test the setting change, select a PDF document file in Chrome. 

If you turned on the setting, you should see the file download to your computer. If you turned off the setting, the PDF should open in a new tab Chrome.

If you turned off the setting so you download the PDF file instead of opening it in Chrome, the file will open in your default PDF program.