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It is so annoying when encountering the Google Chrome PDF viewer very slow loading problem. Don’t worry. Your can use the professional PDF reader - MiniTool PDF Editor or try other methods in the post.

Chrome PDF viewer is embedded in Google Chrome, which can be used to view PDF files without installing third-party software. However, you may encounter various issues, like Chrome PDF viewer no working, failed to load PDF, slow to open PDF, etc. This post will show you how to solve the Google Chrome PDF viewer very slow loading on Windows.

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Why Is Google Chrome PDF Viewer Very Slow to Load

After viewing extensive user reports from different communities, I found that the Google Chrome PDF viewer laggy can be caused by some factors, like the smooth scrolling feature, hardware acceleration, corrupt cache, and improper settings in Chrome. Let’s keep reading to learn the corresponding solutions.

Fix Google Chrome PDF Viewer Very Slow Loading, Scrolling, or Laggy

There are 5 simple solutions for the Google Chrome PDF viewer very slow loading/scrolling/laggy on Windows. Try them in order until you get out of trouble.

Method 1. Use a Professional PDF Viewer

It is highly recommended that you use an expert PDF reader to avoid the “Google Chrome very slow to open PDF” issue. MiniTool PDF Editor is an all-in-one PDF viewer that can not only view PDFs but also do other work, such as “add texts, replace images, change background color, remove watermarks, sign PDFs”, and so on.

In addition, MiniTool PDF Editor allows you to convert various file types to PDF, including Word, Excel, PPT, image, TXT, HTML, EPUB, CAD, and vice versa. Its OCR technology can convert PDF to scanned, convert scanned PDF to editable text, make PDF read-only, etc.

MiniTool PDF EditorClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Google Chrome PDF viewer very slow loading thumbnail

Method 2. Disable Smooth Scrolling

Some Reddit users found that the Google Chrome PDF viewer very slow scrolling is related to the smooth scrolling feature. In this case, you can try disabling it.

Step 1. Open your Chrome browser, type chrome://flags in the address bar, and press Enter.

Step 2. Look for the Smooth Scrolling option and change its status to Disabled.

disable Smooth Scrolling

Step 3. Click on Relaunch to restart the browser and see if the Google Chrome PDF viewer laggy issue persists.

Method 3. Disable Gallery on Chromebook

If you encounter the Google Chrome very slow to open PDF issue on Chromebook, you can disable Gallery. This has been proven by some Reddit users. To do this work, you can change the default app for opening the PDF in the Files app.

a user report in Reddit

Open the Files app, right-click the PDF file type, select Open with, select Google Chrome as the default app, and click OK to save the change. Also, you can click Change all to apply this change to all files of the PDF type.

Method 4. Disable Hardware Acceleration

Hardware acceleration enables the Chrome browser to access the device graphics hardware, which can speed up processes and improve Chrome’s performance. However, some users reported that the setting can trigger the Google Chrome PDF viewer very slow scrolling issue. You can follow the steps below to disable it.

Step 1. Open Google Chrome, click the Three-dot icon in the upper right corner, and select Settings.

Step 2. Click on Advanced and select System from the left panel.

Step 3. Toggle off the switch next to Use hardware/graphics acceleration when available and restart Chrome to execute the change.

disable Chrome hardware acceleration

Method 5. Clear Chrome Cache

As mentioned above, the “Google Chrome very slow to open PDF” issue can be caused by corrupted cache and cookies in the browser. Here’s how to do that:

Step 1. Open your Chrome browser and press Ctrl + Shift + Delete keys at the same time. Then the Delete browsing data window will pop up.

Step 2. Go to the Advanced tab and select All time or another time from the drop-down menu.

Step 3. Tick the checkboxes next to the cache files you want to clean and click Clear data.

clear Chrome cache data

To Sum Up

That’s all about how to fix Google Chrome PDF viewer very slow loading/scrolling/laggy. I hope the above methods can help you solve the problem. If you like this blog post, don’t hesitate to share it with your companions.