Which is your favourite PDF reader?

[progress]

Which is your favourite PDF reader?

[Pedro]

Okular.

[icr]

I like Foxit Reader:thumb:

[Creer]

PDF-XChange Viewer.

[bierni86]

Sumatra PDF of course.

[c2d]

Foxit

[Sadeghi85]

Other: Google Docs Viewer (http://docs.google.com/viewer). Personally, I use this Greasemonkey script (http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/62538), add-on is available for FF & Chrome: http://blog.arpitnext.com/gpdf

[Daveski17]

Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer (by Google) (https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/nnbmlagghjjcbdhgmkedmbmedengocbn)

[The Hammer]

Adobe does what i need it to, so I don't bother farting around with other stuff.

[Dundertaker]

Hi;

PDF Xchange Viewer for me! Have been with Foxit for a long time (after Adobe) but I like PXV more now because of the added features.

[CiX]

STDU Reader (http://www.stdutility.com/stduviewer.html)

[SirPeterPan]

Sumatra is a great simple PDF reader. It's my favorite.

But I like Adobe Reader as well. Adobe Reader's code is getting very secure, thanks to all the current scrutiny.

[jumpshot]

I've tried several, settled on:
Nuance PDF Reader (free)

[Judge Dee]

-{ Quote: "Okular." }-

Ditto

[vasa1]

1: Sumatra doesn't let me change the background colour of the pdf document. Foxit and Adobe allow this.
2: Adobe allows one to drag (or extend a selection of material), copy and paste elsewhere as text. Foxit used to be limited to the present screen. (Maybe that's changed with their view as text option?)
3: Both Adobe and Foxit allow for deactivating javascript. I don't know how Sumatra handles js.

[bellgamin]

STDU Viewer (http://www.stdutility.com/).

Magnifico!

[Triple Helix]

Adobe!

[mrgigabyte]

another vote for Adobe Reader

[SirPeterPan]

-{ Quote: "1: Sumatra doesn't let me change the background colour of the pdf document. Foxit and Adobe allow this.
2: Adobe allows one to drag (or extend a selection of material), copy and paste elsewhere as text. Foxit used to be limited to the present screen. (Maybe that's changed with their view as text option?)
3: Both Adobe and Foxit allow for deactivating javascript. I don't know how Sumatra handles js." }-

Sumatra doesn't support any dynamic content, such as JavaScript. (http://forums.fofou.org/sumatrapdf/topic?id=152325)

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "Sumatra doesn't support any dynamic content, such as JavaScript. (http://forums.fofou.org/sumatrapdf/topic?id=152325)" }-

Really nice information at that forum. Appreciate it a lot :thumb:

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "1: Sumatra doesn't let me change the background colour of the pdf document. Foxit and Adobe allow this.
2: Adobe allows one to drag (or extend a selection of material), copy and paste elsewhere as text. Foxit used to be limited to the present screen. (Maybe that's changed with their view as text option?)
3: Both Adobe and Foxit allow for deactivating javascript. I don't know how Sumatra handles js." }-

Re. 2: Sumatra also does this quite well (ctrl+left click and drag).

So now my only excuse for not using Sumatra is that I can't change the colour of text or the page background, both of which are doable in Adobe & Foxit.

Maybe if I ask nicely @ the Sumatra forum ...?

[Noob]

Adobe Reader, as long as it works im fine with it ;D

[Huwge]

Sumatra for its simplicity

[chrisretusn]

Okular

[Mr.PC]

Foxit Phantom (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/phantom/) is a Reader, Creator, Editor etc. :thumb:

[littlebits]

I like both Foxit Reader and PDF Xchange Viewer, I have use both off and on for several years. PDF Xchange appears to load faster but then an issue with Firefox started happening where PDF Xchange's add-on was causing Firefox to load slow and it wouldn't read documents within Firefox.

The problem got worse with PDF Xchange updates and Firefox upgrades to the point that Firefox would use 100% CPU for several minutes and sometimes had to be killed with Task Manager because it wouldn't load at all.

It took me awhile to find the add-on causing the problem, once PDF Xchange's add-on was removed, Firefox started loading correctly.

I experienced a similar issue on my other system where Firefox was also running slow. I really don't think the add-on is completely compatible with the latest version of Firefox because this system didn't have any other add-ons except the default ones that came with Firefox.

I never had any problems with Foxit Reader, because I choose to stay with it.

Thanks.:)

[3GUSER]

FoxIt :thumb:

[AvinashR]

Adobe here... But soon i am going to use Foxit ..

[Pinga]

Tracker Software has published an impressive 202-page user manual for their PDF-XChange Viewer this week. You can find it on their Downloads page (PDFVManual.zip):

http://www.tracker-software.com/product/downloads

[InfinityAz]

FoxIt has gotten much better and I use it in portable form. In my browser (Chrome), I use Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer (by Google) (https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/nnbmlagghjjcbdhgmkedmbmedengocbn). I tried gPDF but it was inconsistent and didn't always work (I used to use it in FireFox).

One thing you should do is compare your reader side-by-side with Acrobat. Many of them do a poor job with rendering quality. If quality output counts, whether on screen or on paper, I use Acrobat.

[Woodgiant]

Adobe Reader, used it for ages....never had any issues with it :thumb:

[Page42]

Foxit Reader has served me well.

[Pinga]

-{ Quote: "One thing you should do is compare your reader side-by-side with Acrobat. Many of them do a poor job with rendering quality. If quality output counts, whether on screen or on paper, I use Acrobat." }-
That is very good advice :) I've found that PDF-XChange Viewer comes second to Adobe in a side-by-side comparison. But why is Acrobat's rendering quality still better than its competitors? In other words, what does Adobe do or know that the others don't?

[stratoc]

just love sumatra, utter simplicity ;)

[tpro]

I like Sumatra PDF ;)

[Rampastein]

Adobe Reader does it's job, although I don't really like all the security vulnerabilities found from it all the time. I've never tried using any other PDF software however.

[Daveski17]

Adobe is pants, I haven't even got it on my desk top. Is the Foxit reader (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/) freeware like pants Adobe reader (ie NOT trialware or anything)? And can it run on 64 bit Win 7?

[Daveski17]

I've downloaded Foxit & uninstalled Adobe reader on my laptop. Good riddance I say. Foxit is quick & light. It looks like a vast improvement. Adobe was always trouble, of some sort or another.

[ExtremeGamerBR]

Foxit Reader.

[Osaban]

Another vote for Foxit Reader.

[Kernelwars]

Foxit all the way

[Daveski17]

I have had a few problems on my laptop (Vista HP) with Foxit. It is OK in IE but seems to have some problems with opening in tabs in SeaMonkey (beta) & Firefox (beta). It seems to be working beautifully on my Win 7 desktop PC though (even in the SeaMonkey beta). So I have downloaded PDF-XChange Viewer for my laptop. It seems to be working fine. Both Foxit & PDF-XChange Viewer are far better than Adobe the arse-PDF viewer IMHO! LOL

It's nice to have a choice! :thumb:

[safeguy]

Sumatra PDF fits the bill for me 95% of the times simply because all I'm using a PDF reader for is to view/read them...nothing much apart from that. I still haven't found the need for that balance of 5% though and I'm still looking although that's not on my priority list for now. I've had some fun with Foxit (when it didn't include Ask toolbar) and PDF-XChange Viewer and I'd say I prefer the latter if I remember correctly. Nitro wasn't bad either the last time I tried it (early release) but resource usage wasn't pleasant to my eyes...no ideas how it is today.

Adobe Reader? Yup...it's the best in terms of it's display clarity when I had it but for what it's worth (for my personal usage), I chose to let go of it. I found it to be too much of a bloat for my liking in terms of the space it took up on my system and how slow it load PDF files which have too many pages. (that's my experience but may differ from person-to-person) Nothing to do with security issues since I applaud them for their continuous updates (sometimes too many it can become rather annoying I find) and the now "sandbox" feature which makes use of the built-in security features of Windows Vista/7 if I'm not wrong.

[Daveski17]

I've recently put PDF X-Change on my desktop & it has been on both laptops for a while. The laptops running Vista had some problems with Foxit but are fine with X-Change. After some odd inconsistencies with upgrading & Foxit on my desktop (Win 7 64bit) I have changed to PDF X-Change. I think I prefer the overall look & 'feel' of it anyway.

[Daveski17]

However, the Foxit portable (http://portableapps.com/apps/office/foxit_reader_portable) seems quite useful ... so far.

[ProTruckDriver]

Adobe works for me. ;)

[Daveski17]

Oh ho, tried upgrading Foxit & it sent all of my other portables a bit weird. >:(

I kept getting some strange message about something to do with my apps couldn't open as they were read-only or something. I couldn't make top'nor'tail of it.

I uninstalled Foxit portable & replaced it with Sumatra.

Problem solved. ;D

[Mr.PC]

Just Ditched Foxit Phantom.
I'm trying Adobe Reader X, now.

[minacross]

soft Xpansion

[nikanthpromod]

Foxit:thumb:

[Anna001]

Out of question,it is Foxit Reader. :D
It is fast and easy to view PDF file with Foxit Reader . Goodbye for retarded&Bloated Adobe Reader.

[Matthijs5nl]

Adobe Reader, by miles.

[mrpink]

Chrome's pdf plugin and Sumatra portable for those that need to be downloaded

[pajenn]

I work with PDF's a lot so I have tried a lot of the PDF readers, creators and editors.

Currently I have PDF-XChange as my default PDF reader because I updated it most recently and Foxit as my default PDF Creator. I will probably go back to Foxit Reader Pro as my default reader because it loads the fastest of the big name ones I've tried, although these things change over builds and machines. Foxit Phantom is a great PDF suite, but it sacrifices some of the lightning speed that made Foxit my choice at times (on my father new laptop there's no load lag time though). PDF-XChange displays some documents better (correctly) that others (even Adobe) miss so I like to keep it around and ready as my second in command of PDF readers.

For anything that requires heavy lifting or for anything important I use Adobe Acrobat X because its the industry standard; PDF documents can look different on different readers so you may want to use the same reader that you expect your intended audience to use if the PDF is something like your resume. Adobe is clearly the best in terms of capability, but too bloated for me to load for every single PDF.

For BartPE disks or portable USB sticks I use Summatra because it works and it's small.

soft Xpansion's Perfect PDF 6 is also very nice, probably my favorite free PDF reader. doPDF 7 works well when I need a free PDF creator (on secondary machines, or such). For regular PDF editing I use Adobe Acrobat X, but if I need to actually edit a pdf-file like I would edit a text or word document, then I use Iceni's Infix PDF Editor 4.

[Pinga]

Impressive: STDU Viewer does them all. There is a portable version, too!

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=289850

[Daveski17]

-{ Quote: "SumatraPDF :thumb:
Case Closed. ;)" }-

I'm using PDF X-Change, but I have had a look at Sumatra & it is beautifully simple (almost Zen-like). I may convert yet!

[Mr.PC]

The pdf inquiry lasted some months...
From Phoxit Phantom to Adobe Reader X and finally to SumatraPDF.

Honestly, 99% of .pdf files deals with simple reading. ;)
SumatraPDF is good enough and light! :thumb:

[hayc59]

PDF-XChange Viewer

[vasa1]

I just got a password-protected PDF file that could be opened only with Adobe Reader. Since I don't have Adobe Reader, I had to use a friend's PC which did have it. (It didn't open with the latest Foxit or with Chrome's built-in PDF file viewer.)

If I want to have the Adobe reader for such cases, do I have to install the ~60 MB elephant or is there a light-weight alternative from Adobe that just lets one open PDF files, including password-protected PDF files?

[J_L]

-{ Quote: "I just got a password-protected PDF file that could be opened only with Adobe Reader. Since I don't have Adobe Reader, I had to use a friend's PC which did have it. (It didn't open with the latest Foxit or with Chrome's built-in PDF file viewer.)

If I want to have the Adobe reader for such cases, do I have to install the ~60 MB elephant or is there a light-weight alternative from Adobe that just lets one open PDF files, including password-protected PDF files?" }-
Have you tried other readers such as PDF-XChange?

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "Have you tried other readers such as PDF-XChange?" }-

No. Just the ones I mentioned. I still have that PDF file and can mail it and the password, which is a one-use only one and hence not important to me, to anyone who has a lot of PDF file readers and is interested in this aspect.

When you refer to PDF-XChange are you talking about a "lite" free version or the full version?

[J_L]

-{ Quote: "No. Just the ones I mentioned. I still have that PDF file and can mail it and the password, which is a one-use only one and hence not important to me, to anyone who has a lot of PDF file readers and is interested in this aspect.

When you refer to PDF-XChange are you talking about a "lite" free version or the full version?" }-
Can you PM me it for a test?

Free version.

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "Can you PM me it for a test?

Free version." }-

Thanks to J_L who could open the file with PDF Exchange Viewer (free version). :thumb:

In edit: downloaded the ~7 MB zip.

[Peaches4U]

Foxit is my choice. :thumb:

[bigc73542]

Foxit for sure

[zfactor]

i have given up on pdf xchange due to the crazy mem usage. so my main pdf reader is foxit still though i have been liking the free nitro reader a lot. uses a bit more mem than foxit and is pretty fast. it has some trouble with pics when you expand the size though. so for me its still foxit.

[acuariano]

try Sumatra is excellent..

[monkeybutt]

Nitro, its a nice.;D

[moontan]

since i only use PDF readers for reading my main priority is speed.

of the top apps, PDF-Xchange viewer was the fastest at rendering pages.
it is also the smoothest when scrolling documents.

i have not tried Adobe Reader for a few years now, so i don't know how it fares.

[zapjb]

-{ Quote: "Okular." }-
Yes Okular. In doze though, Sumatra. FoxIt is so 2007.

[Scifi]

I'm using adobe pdf reading, never bothered to try something else.

[FicmanS]

Foxit is my choice

[sm1]

I use adobe reader x. It is safe as it has protected mode and with disabling javascript and opening non pdf file attachments most of the exploits can be avoided. It doesn't drag my system resources that much. Also all pdf files will open correctly with adobe reader:)

[John0]

Well I am currently using Adobe Reader that is very good for me and also my favorite one . its incredible PDF Reader . Whenever I download files from Internet that are in PDF format I always use Adobe Reader to open and read these files .

[TeXaCo]

I don't need much from a PDF program so I use sumatra

[ashishtx]

Preview :)

[hogndog]

Fox It..:thumb:

Hogndog

[vasa1]

This one (http://www.neowin.net/news/mozilla-developing-firefox-pdf-renderer), maybe!

[ichito]

STDU Vievew...it's fast and enough :)

[funkydude]

Sumatra until Windows 8 brings us one.

[Trooper]

Foxit.

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "This one (http://www.neowin.net/news/mozilla-developing-firefox-pdf-renderer), maybe!" }-

Some more here (http://www.newsfactor.com/news/Chrome--Firefox-Build-in-PDF-Functions/story.xhtml?story_id=10100BGPJTHY).

It'll be great to have the PDF readability integrated into browsers that are updated frequently and are OS-agnostic and not Adobe.

This is a link to a Mozilla dev working on the issue:
-http://andreasgal.com/2011/06/15/pdf-js/-

[dw426]

I don't have a favorite anymore. I was using PDF exchange, but I'm going to give Reader-X a try. I'm not that fond of Chromes' built in one.

[Robin A.]

Deleted.

[jknext]

currently I am using Chrome for reading PDFs.

[nisby79]

chrome built-in PDF reader

[operamail]

Sumatra for simple reading, coz it loads very fast.
And Adobe for working.

[luciddream]

-{ Quote: "Re. 2: Sumatra also does this quite well (ctrl+left click and drag).

So now my only excuse for not using Sumatra is that I can't change the colour of text or the page background, both of which are doable in Adobe & Foxit.

Maybe if I ask nicely @ the Sumatra forum ...?" }-

I hope not. A small addition, but then they decide to add 2-3 more things, ect... and before you know it it's no longer the light, simple reader it was designed to be.

In case you couldn't tell, I voted Sumatra.

[zfactor]

if sumatra would add editing or text entering feature it would be all i use. i use foxit because i always need to fill out pdf's.

[manOFpeace]

Foxit Reader! Of course. 8) 8)

[Mr.PC]

-{ Quote: "if sumatra would add editing or text entering feature, it would be all i use.
i use foxit because i always need to fill out pdfs." }-
You have a point, here.
The Sumatra PDF developers need to take a closer look at it...;)