PDF viewer - Adapt to theme does not apply actual theme, only light/dark mode

Bug reports
1

Steps to reproduce

  • Create new Vault
  • Install Theme (minimal or AnuPpuccin with catppuccin Frappé for dark mode)
  • Systemwide is the theme enabled
  • Add .pdf file to the vault
  • Open .pdf file in native pdf.viewer
  • Enable “Adapt to theme”
  • It applies Dark Mode (black background white text) instead of enabled theme catppuccin frappé.

Did you read and follow the Troubleshooting Guide ? [Yes/No]

Expected result

If a theme is applied to the whole vault, pdf-viewer should apply this as well instead of registering light/dark mode instead of the actual theme, if the button indicates Adapt to theme.

Actual result

If Adapt to theme gets enabled it should apply the actual theme settings instead of light/dark mode.

Environment

SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: 1.14.4
Installer version: 1.14.4
Operating system: Darwin Kernel Version 27.0.0: Tue Aug 11 21:02:59 PDT 2026; root:xnu-13432.1.9~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T8142 27.0.0
Login status: not logged in
Language: en
Insider build toggle: off
Live preview: on
Base theme: dark
Community theme: AnuPpuccin 1.5.0
Snippets enabled: 1
Restricted mode: off
Plugins installed: 1
Plugins enabled: 1
1: Style Settings v1.0.9
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Custom theme and snippets: for cosmetic issues, please first try updating your theme and disabling your snippets. If still not fixed, please try to make the issue happen in the Sandbox Vault or disable community theme and snippets.
Community plugins: for bugs, please first try updating all your plugins to latest. If still not fixed, please try to make the issue happen in the Sandbox Vault or disable community plugins.

Additional information

To fix this issue, I am currently adding a custom css script:
.theme-dark.pdf-invert-dark .pdf-viewer-container {
background-color: var(–background-primary);
}

2

You should let the theme author know on their GitHub page.

That said, it looks working fine using Minimal and Minimal Theme Settings (to change the color scheme). You just need to reload the vault or close-open the tab with the pdf to see the change.

explorer_KK7EGnoaNZ

3

Hi,

thanks for the quick answer. I tested it with several different pdfs from different sources (no scanned PDFs) and in most cases in won’t work, but indeed it works with some. So I am not sure what could cause it. Some change the color scheme correctly, but most others only change the background to black. So it correctly identifies the background and text color and inverts it on most documents, where on others it applies the theme settings. Not sure why it does this :thinking:

4

PDFs are kind of a nightmare. Who or what made them?

I tried with a few other downloaded appliance manuals and PDFs I made myself; all looked fine for bg-color, color scheme, and adapt to theme as long as I closed and opened the pdf. :person_shrugging:

5

I assume it has something to do with the specific pdf type maybe? As an example:
https://help.apple.com/pdf/security/en_US/apple-platform-security-guide.pdf works and adapts the theme

https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/Longevity_by_Design-June_2024-Apple.pdf does not work and only changes background/text to black/white and it does not change the font as well. Closing the tab / pdf, reopening it, enabling disabling Adapt to theme, closing and reopening Obsidian does not change anything.

I also made a screenrecording showing it.

Screen Recording 2026-10-17 at 21.29.24.zip (6.9 MB)