Many hundreds of simPRO users have been switching to using Google Chrome as their preferred browser over both FireFox & Internet Explorer due to it’s streamlined, light weight nature and due to the fact that it runs so much faster.

But, recently people have been complaining that using Chrome they couldn’t print PDFs or save PDFs that they opened in the browser. This was causing frustration for many users who were then forced back to the slower alternatives of FF or IE.

The reason for this is that Google have been releasing new versions of Chrome that come with a default setting for their own Chrome PDF Viewer. When they activate this default it disables your normal Adobe Reader Plugin. The problem with this is that the Chrome PDF Reader is pretty much useless, it allows you to view a PDF – that’s it. simPRO users trying to print off a quote, job card or invoice have been unable to do so.

Google say they are adding features and improving the Chrome PDF Reader, but really, why did they force everyone to use a product (by changing your defaults without telling you) with the release of one of their own products that wasn’t even finished. You can read one of the discussions here if you are interested and add your own comments to the Chrome developers:  Chrome PDF Viewer Thread.

Anyway – here is how you fix it:

1) In your Chrome browser, simply type into the browser: about:plugins

2) This will display all the plugins for your browser. If you have a plugin called Adobe Reader – then click on the `Enable’  link under it.

3) This will disable the Chrome PDF Reader and enable Adobe Reader then you are all good to go.

Enable Adobe Reader to Print PDFs in Chrome