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Summary
The Adobe-powered PDF viewer is now available in Microsoft Edge Beta (v136) for organizational testing, with default rollout planned for October 2025 and legacy viewer retirement in September 2026. It offers improved performance, accessibility, compatibility, and enhanced features for protected PDFs and digital signatures. Organizations should test workflows and provide feedback.
Details
Updated May 18, 2026: We have updated the timeline for the legacy PDF viewer retirement. Thank you for your patience.Â
The Adobe-powered PDF viewer in Microsoft Edge for Business is now available in beta for organizations to test. Organizations can now experience the viewer by default in Edge Beta (starting in version 136) and validate how it works within their PDF workflows. This early testing period helps identify and address any issues before the viewer becomes the default in Edge Stable release in October 2025. We will retire the legacy PDF viewer in September 2026.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 489231.
When this will happen:
- The Adobe-powered PDF viewer is now available in beta to test.
- General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-October 2025 and expect to complete by late October 2025.
How this will affect your organization:
Before this rollout, organizations have to manually configure a policy to test the new PDF viewer.
After this rollout:
- No policy configuration is needed. The new PDF viewer is enabled by default in Edge Beta (starting in version 136).
- We recommend organizations proactively validate their workflows with the new viewer before October’s Edge Stable release.
- Organizations that already adopted the new PDF viewer using the NewPDFReaderEnabled policy do not need to take additional action and will continue using the updated viewer with ongoing improvements.
Key enhancements include:
- Performance: Faster document load and smoother scrolling
- Accessibility: Improved support for screen readers and form accessibility
- Compatibility: Enhanced color profile support, more precise text selection, and fonts for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages
Exclusive features for organizations:
- View XFA PDFs using IE (Internet Explorer) mode
- Extended support for viewing Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) Protected PDF Files to different sovereignties
- View sensitivity labels for MIP-protected PDFs
- Enhanced digital signature verification in Edge PDF Viewer
In October, the new Adobe-powered PDF viewer will be on by default.
The Adobe-powered PDF viewer in Edge, with the enhanced toolbar at the top of the page:
What you need to do to prepare:
- Organizations that have not yet moved to the new PDF viewer should test it in Edge Beta in preparation for the default enablement in October.
- Test all your internal PDF workflows and critical documents in the new PDF viewer.
- Report feedback and issues through the standard Microsoft support channels.
- For organizations ready to fully migrate sooner, the NewPDFReaderEnabledcan be used to enable the new PDF viewer in Edge Stable release today with these settings:
- True: New PDF viewer enabled
- False: Legacy viewer retained
- Default: Current default behavior
- No action is required if your organization is already using the new PDF viewer through policy configuration.
This rollout will happen automatically by the specified dates with no admin action required before the rollout. Review your current configuration to assess the impact on your organization. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation.
Learn more about the PDF reader change:Microsoft Edge and Adobe partner to improve the PDF experience