xdg-open preferes opening pdf files with libreoffice rather than Document viewer since I removed Adobe?

Question

I removed Adobe from my Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS and, since then, xdg-open file.pdf opens the file with libreoffice rather than Document viewer. Purging libreoffice completely solves the problem, however it persists if I re-install it. I could live like this, where I remove and re-install libreoffice, since I don't use it much in the first place, however I believe that there should be a fix for this. Is there a way to tell xdg-open Please, open pdfs with this other app? I did do some googling but I couldn't find anything clear-cut that I could understand.

Edit: there's not tick to do when opening a pdf file, so I have no way to chose a default app from there

Thank you very much

Edit2: the suggested similar question here is somehow not applicable for me, I see none of the options listed for the GUI solution in my system and I don't fully understand the non-GUI solution. On the other hand, the suggested (comments) xdg-mime default org.gnome.Evince.desktop application/pdf command works wonderfully!

Right click in files > Open with, then select document viewer while checking "Always use for this file type"? — Daniel T, Jan 31 '24 at 22:07
Hello, there's nothing to tick, I will show you in the edit of the question — SO_32, Jan 31 '24 at 22:12
How about setting it in terminal with xdg-mime default org.gnome.Evince.desktop application/pdf? — Daniel T, Jan 31 '24 at 22:15
Amazing! That did do the trick! Feel free to put it down as an answer — SO_32, Jan 31 '24 at 23:03
Does this answer your question? How do I set the default program? — Daniel T, Jan 31 '24 at 23:05
Both of those answers I knew I saw around here, but I didn't remember exactly where, until I found them in that linked question. I would much rather give credit by flagging than taking credit by posting an answer — Daniel T, Jan 31 '24 at 23:07
In my linked question, you need to scroll down to the answer at https://askubuntu.com/a/1112097/1004020 , but if you learned about desktop file names from me, then sure, I can post an answer — Daniel T, Feb 01 '24 at 11:52

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 01 '24 at 11:57

Sometimes the file association GUI may be confusing, unreliable, and different across Ubuntu releases, so the command line is a reliable way of setting it:

xdg-mime default org.gnome.Evince.desktop application/pdf

I looked in /usr/share/applications for the right *.desktop file name. In this case, you specifically want the Document Viewer app and it is internally named org.gnome.Evince.desktop. xdg-mime default is just the command to change file associations. application/pdf is the MIME type for PDF files.

xdg-open preferes opening pdf files with libreoffice rather than Document viewer since I removed Adobe?

1 Answers1