With the applications available in the Google Play Store, Android can handle almost any type of digital file. However, the operating system and Google’s apps are compatible with many of the most commonly used formats.
While the PDF file format may be the most common, there is a small peculiarity in this format and it is the most commonly used browser on mobile phones (Google Chrome). The mobile version of Chrome does not directly support PDF files, but this may change soon. The browser will work on improving your PDF file display, or at least that’s what one of its new tags suggests.
If you are a regular user of Google Chrome on all your devices, you have likely noticed this: when you open a PDF file in the desktop version, it will open in a new tab through Chrome PDF Viewer; however, on Android and iOS, you will need to rely on other apps to view it.
This is an annoying process, especially when you have to navigate between files to find the PDF file you want to review. However, new findings suggest that this may change soon.
A user noted on Twitter@Leopeva64 that Chrome Canary for Android now has a new tag related to PDF files.
The tag is named “open-download-dialog#” and activating it will change the way Chrome handles downloaded PDF files. By enabling this option in the download menu, once you download a PDF file, it will try to open it through one of the compatible apps on your system. You no longer have to navigate through the file manager to find it, but it will open in one go.
This tag does not make PDF files viewable directly in Chrome for Android, so it does not change the way these files are displayed. However, it makes accessing them easier and saves you several steps, as well as time.
This feature is currently only available on Chrome Canary 122 for Android, which can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. Remember that this version of Chrome is more experimental and less stable than Chrome Beta. We do not recommend using it daily, but it is a good option to test what may come to stable versions later.
