How to Use Chrome to Easily View PDFs on Android (No Third-Party Apps)
1 min read
Summary
Native PDF support has finally arrived in the Android version of Google Chrome, meaning users no longer have to download a PDF opener or use a third-party app to view documents.
This functionality is currently only available in the beta versions of Chrome for Android, versions 15 and 16, and the flag that used to offer access on older Androids, such as version 14, no longer appears to work.
To view a PDF in the browser, a user needs to simply open the Chrome app and either go to a website that holds PDFs or follow a link to a PDF file.
Once the PDF is opened, users can zoom in and out using pinching gestures, and can also search for specific words in the document.
PDFs can also be annotated and edited, with users able to highlight and draw on the documents.
For those still using Androids that don’t support the new feature, it is recommended to use alternative browsers such as Microsoft Edge or Firefox to open PDFs directly.
