What's your PDF viewer/editor software of choice? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2021, 09:47:08 pm
content: I've been using chrome to view datasheets but it's very limited in its capability.I've tried a few chrome extensions but they kinda suck.And i'm looking for free software because of course i would.There are two main things that i want to do in a PDF:* Highlight because i often lose my track i the sea of text.* Bookmarks because jumping between registers in micro datasheets is a major PITA.I epecially hate when the datasheet tells you to look atfigure xfor whatever diagram or chart they want to show you and the text has a link that takes you to the figure, so you click the link and get teleported to an unknown location within the datasheet with no way to get back to where you were previously. So then you have to scroll and search for the spot where you were before you clicked on the link, which gets really tiresome and interruptive for my non-existent attention span. Sometimes by the time you get back to where you left you have already forgotten what the figure was about so you have to go backOrfigure xis not a link so you have to scroll around and search for the figure otherwise you don't know what the tempco is, or the timings, or the data structure, or the block diagram of the device.In Dave's recent jellybean video he used some kind of PDF viewer which looked pretty interesting, i wonder what it's called.Didn't look like it needed an account or anything, i assume it's free? (i'm such a cheapskate, don't even mention it)I'm interested to hear your opinions.

author: shakalnokturn
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2021, 11:03:14 pm
content: I got over pissed off with Adobe PDF viewer years ago, have been using Foxit since. It suits my needs most of the time, I'm not sure it has all the features you want though. It is free.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2021, 11:05:07 pm
content: SumatraPDF on Windows, Preview on macOS.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2021, 08:46:07 am
content: Foxit on Windows. But then I vocally hate PDF, and the viewer is in that loop so maybe part of the cause? (I don't think so though.)By chance I happened to install the latest version of free Foxit PDF viewer on a laptop yesterday.Apparently the free version no longer has PDF creation capability (which I never used anyway.)The installer uses the usual weasel wording to try to get you to agree to also installing some other crap; just read that user agreement page carefully and decline all.It has a start window with self-promoting static adverts - but they can be turned off permanently. (ask google how)It uses the 'top ribbon' controls abomination, but you can easyily banish that.Some space-wasting crap down the left edge of the window, also easily kicked off.Leaving a nice clean window with no waste of screen area.

author: hans
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2021, 09:13:07 am
content: Qpdfview on Linux. I hardly do any serious datasheet intensive work on Windows anymore (or perhaps in a VM), so I don't know about Foxit features.. What attracted me to qpdfview is that I can simply duplicate a PDF tab, and have the same PDF document open at the same place and then scroll from there.I got way too pissed off at the Adobe reader many moons ago that it thought sanity was only 1 reader/tab open at once per PDF file. Even web browsers would have better reading support

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2021, 09:45:56 am
content: mupdf is a lightweight PDF viewer with unobtrusive UI and fairly sophisticated navigation features based on the vi editor. That means it involves getting used to a few keyboard shortcuts, but if you aren't already familiar with vi navigation you should probably seriously reconsider your priorities in life anywayNot sure what you mean by highliting, but in mupdf it probably doesn't exist - you can only select a block of text (and that disappears when you go to a different page) and search results are highlighted.One thing that I personally miss is an ability to display two pages side by side.

author: voltsandjolts
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 27, 2021, 10:27:20 am
content: Quote from: Refrigerator on November 26, 2021, 09:47:08 pmHaven't seen that video, but in others he has used DrawboardPDF which has a free version in the Windows Store.

author: TheBay
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 27, 2021, 01:17:59 pm
content: I've used Acrobat reader for years, but with each update it is really starting to annoy me.The latest nag on there now is when you click the rotate button it asks you to take out a subscription!But yet you can right click and select rotate there. It does not make sense.Following this thread for alternatives.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2021, 01:43:36 pm
content: Long-time user of pdfXchange:https://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-editorThe paid-for version is good value, but in its free guise it is still very good. My partner uses it for for editing and even created a set of markup stamps for it which are used by other professionals. We've tried other pfd tools but they all fall behind in some way - perhaps annotations aren't editable, or they don't show contents when dragging, of they used ribbons, etc.Speaking of which, the thing I like about it is the perpetual license (getting to be uncommon now), and the ability to have a ribbon, menu, ribbon and menu, collapsible ribbon, hidden menus, you name it and the chances are the interface can be set accordingly.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2021, 01:45:16 pm
content: Okular.