Want to open PDF without downloading on Edge for Android? We've got some good news

Microsoft Edge for Android is reportedly set to reintroduce a built-in PDF viewer that allows users to view PDF files directly in the browser tab, similar to what Chrome already offers without needing to download the files.

Folks in the insider community (courtesy of browser enthusiast @Leopeva64 on X) can now spot a flag to enable this feature, which is present in the Edge Canary experimental channel this time. It appears to still be non-functional for now, but still, it’s the start of something.

“Directly view PDF in tab v2 — If enabled, user can view PDF directly in the tab,” the #edge-new-pdf-viewer-v2 flag reads.

This marks a return to Edge’s earlier PDF viewing capabilities, which had been replaced by Copilot. On other browsers besides Chrome, like Firefox on Android for example, this somewhat similar feature is also present, letting you view PDF files directly in the browser (via tab) without needing to download them.

This feature has been available on desktop for some time. On Chrome, for example, you can go to Settings > Privacy and Security> Site settings. Then, scroll down to Additional content settings > PDF documents to choose whether you want sites to automatically download those PDF files when you visit them, or open them in the browser.

A while ago, the popular “AI browser” also improved its Copilot in Edge for Android by adding options like “Ask Copilot” and “Generate AI Images” directly within the browser. We also now have a one-tap summary feature for webpages on Edge, powered by Copilot.