Opening file attachments in Chrome without downloading them

Objective

To both save and automatically open a file type with one click.

Environment

Google Chrome version 81.0.4044.122 on Windows as of 2020-04-24

Procedure

1. Open Google Chrome, then click the triple vertical dots located at top right hand corner.
2. A drop-down box will appear; select settings.
3. Scroll down until you see Advanced (in the middle of the page) to expand additional settings.
4. Scroll down again until you see the section called Downloads.
5. Within the downloads section you will see a question, Ask where to save each file before downloading.
6. Uncheck this box.
7. Chrome must still download files to view them, so make sure your default download location is one of your liking.
8. Close the settings window.
9. Go to a web page with a file you want to download.
10. Download the file.
11. At the bottom of the Chrome window, you will see a gray bar with your file. Click the little up arrow next to your file.
12. Click "always open with system viewer" or "always files of this type."
13. Chrome will now always download and automatically open that specific file type.
14. If you want Chrome to automatically open other file types, you must set those to automatically open as well.

Additional notes

View more detailed documentation about this.