Author Topic: So, what pdf reader app is your fav? (Read 49186 times)

Curt · « **on:** April 09, 2015, 03:56 AM »

Wanted: a lightweight pdf file viewer with a few editing features.

So, what pdf reader app is your fav?
-New topic

The said question would usually make me answer Tracker's Pdf-XChange Viewer Pro. The free version was a file viewer. The PRO version had a few editing features, but was basically the same file as the free version, and as such very, very fast.

I know that Sumatra is even faster - but my prime reason for sticking with Tracker is the PRO version's few, but useful, editing features.

However, ...

...as hinted by the year-number to be seen in the photo, I have not updated my version for quite some time: 3 years!

"But, Curt", you may ask, "we know that you have spend an absolute fortune on software programs that you would only use a few times in your life, how come you suddenly seem to be trying to save money on a type of program that you are using many times a day?"

Well, Tracker grew this idea that the PRO version of their free PDF viewer was not as successful as could be, given how many people were using the free version, (I am guessing, of course they never said that out loud!), so they turned the PRO version of their pdf viewer into a full pdf editor. And a full editor is of course both slower and a lot more expensive, so I didn't upgrade,...

... but began looking for a replacement. I still haven't found what I am looking for. It seems to me that my 2012 PRO version of Tracker's viewer (including these few editor features) still is the best of the kind? Of course the 2014 version would be even better ~ because it's the same program, just updated for two more years ~ but it took the company so many years to introduce the new editor, that my license ran out long before, and their new prices are too high for what I am looking for. The price may of course be right for a full editor, but be it Lite or Heavy, I already have an even better editor, Nitro Pro. Unfortunately Nitro is very slow to launch,

so, a (cheap) ultra fast combo-app like an updated Pdf-XChange Viewer Pro is what I need. Do you know any?

And while you are here, please tell us what you are using yourself

tomos · « **Reply #1 on:** April 09, 2015, 05:23 AM »

I use Adobe Reader as my main viewer.
It has a good range of shortcuts, good zoom controls, and good whats-the-word 'drawing' of vector graphics -
all of which are very important to me with PDFs.

PDFXchange viewer (not pro), I use when adding comments to a PDF.
I'm doing even better than you Curt - using the portable version

Screenshot - 2015-04-09 , 12_14_50.png

from 2011

Why do you want to move from the older version Curt ?
I guess security could be a factor...

MilesAhead · « **Reply #2 on:** April 09, 2015, 05:37 AM »

PDFXchange Editor is free for private use. I don't know if it is light or fast exactly. I don't get into PDF much. But I saw this free and you don't see a full PDF Editor for free often so I installed it. Also it has a plugin for FF to display PDF inside the browser.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #3 on:** April 09, 2015, 07:04 AM »

Derp! ...Apparently I've been using the Editor for a while now and didn't realize it.

PDF-XChange Editor.jpg

My PDF requirements are fairly minimal, just view and occasionally create (with Cute PDF)...but the view part must be fast. Apparently the Editor is a bit slower than the viewer - I had been wondering about that - but not enough to be really aggravating.

hpearce · « **Reply #4 on:** April 09, 2015, 07:30 AM »

And if you use the editor, you don't really need the viewer any more as far as I am concerned. The editor can be the viewer too.

Vurbal · « **Reply #5 on:** April 09, 2015, 09:54 AM »

I didn't realize there was a free version of their editor. I have their free reader on my computer as a second reader, although I haven't used anything but Sumatra for some time now. I'm sure there were a couple things I preferred PDF-XChange for, I just don't remember what they were ATM.

Maybe I should be replacing it with the free editor.

dr_andus · « **Reply #6 on:** April 09, 2015, 12:04 PM »

Apparently the Editor is a bit slower than the viewer - I had been wondering about that - but not enough to be really aggravating.
-Stoic Joker (April 09, 2015, 07:04 AM)

I haven't noticed much degradation in speed from Viewer to Editor (I have PRO), or it's not bothering me enough to notice it. I think the Editor's extra features (and the way it integrates with Dopus) make up for any slowness (such as the ability to collapse various toolbars and panes or the macros one can set up for saving file names when converting them to image files etc.).

Curt · « **Reply #7 on:** April 09, 2015, 12:40 PM »

I'm doing even better than you Curt - using the portable version from 2011
-tomos (April 09, 2015, 05:23 AM)

-hehe, tomos. Now why risk anything, when the old one already is doing a good job?

-------------------------

Almost every day I will click "Print", and as I don't have a printer, this is "Print to pdf file". And because the print job was an article from the Internet, there is very often too much gibberish on the bottom part of the last page. Quite often so much that I want to be able to click "Delete page", when the viewer is on the last page.

However, Tracker's new FREE editor does not offer to delete pages from a pdf file:

-but such a feature is the very reason I am using the PRO version of the old viewer:

So, why I want to update? Maybe only because it now is more than 3 years old?

So far I am sticking to the old PRO viewer!

IainB · « **Reply #8 on:** April 09, 2015, 01:31 PM »

I'm still using PDF-XChange Viewer (latest $FREE version) after this: PDF-XChange Viewer ($FREE version) - Mini-Review.
The OCR is pretty good.

Nod5 · « **Reply #9 on:** April 10, 2015, 03:00 AM »

I use and swear by the Sumatra PDF viewer. Very fast. Minimal GUI.

Curt, can you list what editing features you need? Deleting a page in a pdf can be done over command line with the free tool pdftk so autohotkey could probably be used to make a hotkey for that action.

If you don't use the editing features all the time (apart from the delete last page action) then one alternative is to use Sumatra or some such fast, minimal tool for basic viewing and keep an editor installed for use only when you need to edit. This old thread has some scripts for quick toggling a file from viewer to editor.

Renegade · « **Reply #10 on:** April 10, 2015, 03:32 AM »

I use Acrobat 9 Pro, and it's very fast. Small files open instantly, and opening larger ones only takes a few seconds. (3 seconds with a 150 MB file I just checked.) However, it's rather expensive. It does include all the bells & whistles, but most are rarely needed, similar to how few of MS Office features are ever needed.

Just throwing that out there as nobody had mentioned it, and it is very fast.

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #11 on:** April 10, 2015, 04:55 AM »

My machine is currently set on STDV - Scientific and Technical Documentation Viewer.

http://www.stdutility.com/

I ended up with it because it's also supposed to handle some of the ebook formats. (Though I tend not to see many of those - and weird formats annoy me!)

I don't think it's all that fast, and it def doesn't have many editing features if any at all.

I'm pretty sure the main reason I'm using it is because it does handle a few ebooks if those ever become some day's topic of the day.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #12 on:** April 10, 2015, 07:02 AM »

I use Acrobat 9 Pro, and it's very fast. Small files open instantly, and opening larger ones only takes a few seconds. (3 seconds with a 150 MB file I just checked.) However, it's rather expensive. It does include all the bells & whistles, but most are rarely needed, similar to how few of MS Office features are ever needed.

Just throwing that out there as nobody had mentioned it, and it is very fast.
-Renegade (April 10, 2015, 03:32 AM)

Isn't 9 EoL, or do you still get security updates for it?

Renegade · « **Reply #13 on:** April 10, 2015, 12:10 PM »

Isn't 9 EoL, or do you still get security updates for it?
-Stoic Joker (April 10, 2015, 07:02 AM)

Not sure. I've got 9.5.5 now. Haven't paid for any new versions. And I rarely download PDF files. I *always* check the source.

MerleOne · « **Reply #14 on:** April 12, 2015, 06:59 AM »

SumatraPDF, it also reads Comics under .cbz format and others. Very fast.

Nod5 · « **Reply #15 on:** April 12, 2015, 07:12 AM »

Yes, Sumatra can handle all these file formats: PDF, ePub, MOBI, CHM, XPS, DjVu, CBZ, CBR

xtabber · « **Reply #16 on:** April 12, 2015, 11:12 PM »

SumatraPDF is a great file viewer and the fact that it supports so many formats makes it a great tool to keep on hand, particularly as a portable viewer. That said, it is too bare-bones to be my regular pdf viewer. A major problem for me is print support - pages cannot be resized or fitted to paper size. It also has no editing support and does not support forms at all, making it unusable in many situations.

Adobe Reader is now ridiculously bloated and larded with "features" that attempt to get you to buy additional online services from Adobe. I gave up on it after Version 9.5. For several years, I have used PDF Xchange Pro, but the free version is probably adequate for most people. It's not noticeably slower than SumatraPDF and actually performs better with very large and complex documents, in my experience.

MerleOne · « **Reply #17 on:** April 13, 2015, 04:05 AM »

Granted, I never use SumatraPDF for editing neither printing, just viewing and it is just perfect for that.

Curt · « **Reply #18 on:** August 14, 2015, 03:46 AM »

Note: For those users that would still like to use the licensed "PRO" version of PDF-XChange Viewer, the Serial keys for PDF-XChange Editor, PDF-Tools and PDF-XChange Pro are compatible for directly unlocking the "Pro" features of the Viewer.
-Tracker Software Products

^...hehe; "you're welcome to use this $25 program, if you pay us $44 or more"

http://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer

---------------

What do 'we' use on Win 10?

I was pleasently surprised to see how fast the default pdf-reader in Win 10 is, and to realize Win 10 even has print-to-pdf as default (maybe because I have no physical printer connected)! But I need editor features, so I am still in the market for a lightweight editor / heavyweight viewer...

Has Win 10 made you change your pdf programs?

mouser · « **Reply #19 on:** August 14, 2015, 07:33 AM »

I've been using FoxIt free.. I guess i should try sumatra.

Ath · « **Reply #20 on:** August 14, 2015, 08:16 AM »

Also, by default, installed FoxIt free on Windows 10. Hardly even tried the built-in PDF viewer, but that's still doable

wraith808 · « **Reply #21 on:** August 14, 2015, 02:11 PM »

Isn't 9 EoL, or do you still get security updates for it?
-Stoic Joker (April 10, 2015, 07:02 AM)

Not sure. I've got 9.5.5 now. Haven't paid for any new versions. And I rarely download PDF files. I *always* check the source.
-Renegade (April 10, 2015, 12:10 PM)

I have a strong aversion to Adobe- mostly because I have to develop for it, and doing that let's you know what kind of arsehats they are.

xtabber · « **Reply #22 on:** August 14, 2015, 02:27 PM »

Note: For those users that would still like to use the licensed "PRO" version of PDF-XChange Viewer, the Serial keys for PDF-XChange Editor, PDF-Tools and PDF-XChange Pro are compatible for directly unlocking the "Pro" features of the Viewer.
-Tracker Software Products

^...hehe; "you're welcome to use this $25 program, if you pay us $44 or more" http://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer

-Curt (August 14, 2015, 03:46 AM)

This is actually a good deal because it allows you to use the viewer in pro mode in addition to the editor, tools or pro versions if you have a license for any of the latter. Among other things, the viewer comes in a portable version, which the others do not.

tomos · « **Reply #23 on:** August 14, 2015, 03:15 PM »

Isn't 9 EoL, or do you still get security updates for it?
-Stoic Joker (April 10, 2015, 07:02 AM)

Not sure. I've got 9.5.5 now. Haven't paid for any new versions. And I rarely download PDF files. I *always* check the source.
-Renegade (April 10, 2015, 12:10 PM)

I have a strong aversion to Adobe- mostly because I have to develop for it, and doing that let's you know what kind of arsehats they are.
-wraith808 (August 14, 2015, 02:11 PM)

being a customer helps that way too lol
Saying that, I'm still using the Adobe Reader - also in spite of the invasive bloat. It is getting harder and harder to find how to close some of that 'helpful' stuff, mind you if you root around you'll find various shortcut keys to show a leaner UI.

I'll have to try some of the others again. In the past PDFXchange Viewer had very poor keyboard support - any program that make me use a mouse for actions that I repeatedly do wont last long here, unless there's no alternative. Adobe Reader is still the best in that sense AFAIK.

app103 · « **Reply #24 on:** August 16, 2015, 12:29 PM »

When needing to insert or delete pages, or change their order, or combine multiple PDFs or images into one PDF file, I use the software that came with my Cannon printer/scanner.

But just for viewing PDFs, I use Foxit, except for a few bus & train schedule PDF files, for which I grab the latest version via a bookmark and view in Chrome.