Atollon Docs

Opening documents from Atollon Reef in the right app

Set up Chrome, Edge, Safari and your operating system so documents you open from Reef appear in the right app instead of forcing extra clicks. Covers Windows and Mac, with links to the official Microsoft, Google and Apple guides.

When you open a document from Atollon Reef, your web browser decides what to do with it — show it in a built-in viewer, save it to your Downloads folder, or hand it straight to an app such as Word or Adobe Acrobat. A one-time setting for each file type makes the right thing happen every time. This guide covers Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Safari on Windows and Mac.

Two settings decide what happens to a file

Getting a document to open smoothly comes down to two layers. Set them once and Reef documents behave predictably from then on.

  • Layer 1 — Your browser: controls whether a download opens in the browser, is saved to Downloads, or opens automatically in an app. This is set per file type inside each browser.
  • Layer 2 — Your operating system: controls which app a file type opens in — Word for .docx, Acrobat or Preview for .pdf, and so on.

Note: Some documents are sent by the server as an attachment. These always download first and then open with your operating-system default (Layer 2); a browser's ‘open automatically’ option cannot override that.

In your browser: open a file type automatically

Google Chrome (Windows and Mac)

Chrome can remember a file type and open it in its default app as soon as the download finishes.

  1. Open a document from Reef so that Chrome downloads it.
  2. In the downloads bar, or the downloads tray at the top-right, find the file and click the three-dot menu next to it.
  3. Turn on ‘Always open files of this type’. Every future file of that type will open automatically.

Note: This option is hidden for file types Chrome treats as risky (for example .exe). Office files and PDFs are fine. To switch it off later, clear the same checkbox on a later download.

Microsoft Edge (Windows and Mac)

Edge has three controls worth knowing.

  1. Office files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint): go to Settings › Downloads and switch ‘Open Office files in the browser’ on to view them in Edge, or off to download them.
  2. PDFs: go to Settings › Cookies and site permissions › PDF documents and turn on ‘Always open PDF files externally’ to open them in your PDF app instead of Edge.
  3. Any other file type: after a download, open the downloads flyout, click the ‘…’ menu on the file and choose ‘Open files of this type automatically’.

Safari (Mac)

Safari has no per-type list. Instead it has one switch that automatically opens ‘safe’ downloads; the app that opens them comes from macOS (Layer 2, below).

  1. Choose Safari › Settings (or press Command-comma), then click General.
  2. Turn on ‘Open “safe” files after downloading’. Safe files — images, movies, text documents and archives — open in their default app automatically.

Note: On recent macOS versions, PDFs are no longer treated as ‘safe’, so they are saved to Downloads and you open them yourself. Set which app opens each type in macOS (below).

In your operating system: choose the app

Windows 11 and 10

  1. Open Settings › Apps › Default apps.
  2. In the search box, type the file extension — for example .pdf or .docx.
  3. Click the app currently shown for it and choose the app you want. Repeat for each type.

macOS

  1. In Finder, click a file of the type, then choose File › Get Info (or press Command-I).
  2. Open the ‘Open with’ section and choose the app you want.
  3. Click ‘Change All…’ to apply it to every file of that type, then confirm.

Default behavior before you change anything

This is what each browser does with common file types out of the box:

  • PDF — Chrome and Edge show it in the browser; Safari downloads it.
  • Word, Excel, PowerPoint — Chrome and Safari download them; Edge shows them in the browser.
  • Images, text, archives — Chrome and Edge download them; Safari opens them automatically when ‘Open “safe” files’ is on.

Exact behavior can vary slightly by browser version and by how a document is served from Reef.

Official guides

Opening documents from Atollon Reef in the right app — Atollon Docs