Right now, Microsoft uses its own PDF engine in Edge browser to render PDF files. As part of the partnership with Adobe, Microsoft today announced that it is natively embedding the Adobe Acrobat PDF engine into the Microsoft Edge built-in PDF reader.
This change is scheduled for March 2023. For general consumers, Microsoft will make this change from March. For organizations with managed devices, the transition to the built-in Microsoft Edge PDF reader with the Adobe Acrobat PDF rendering engine will occur in phases. The Microsoft Edge PDF solution with the legacy engine will be removed in March 2024.
Adobe Acrobat PDF capabilities in Microsoft Edge will be released for Windows 10 and 11. Microsoft will release similar PDF capabilities for Mac users in the future.
Why Microsoft is making this change:
- Users can enjoy higher PDF fidelity for more accurate colors and graphics
- Users can enjoy improved performance, strong security for PDF handling
- Users can enjoy greater accessibility—including better text selection and read-aloud narration.
Like the existing Edge PDF capabilities, the Adobe based solution will continue to be free of cost. However, users with Adobe Acrobat subscription can enjoy advanced PDF capabilities such as the ability to edit text and images, convert PDFs to other file formats, and combine files.
Microsoft also confirmed that the built-in Microsoft Edge PDF solution with the Adobe Acrobat PDF engine will have full feature parity with the legacy Microsoft Edge PDF solution. No existing functionality will be lost.
Release schedule:
| March 2023 | September 2023 | March 31st, 2024 | |
| Consumer Devices | Rollout to users begins.
| Rollout to users completes. | N/A |
| Managed devices | Opt-in policy starts. | · Rollout to managed devices begins. · Opt-in policy expires. · Opt-out policy begins. | · Opt-out policy expires. · Microsoft Edge legacy PDF engine is scheduled to be removed. |
