Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2021 June 8

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June 8[edit]

PDF reader[edit]

Obvs you can't answer requests for opinions  :) but has anyone got any freeware pdf readers they could recommend? (The higher bang/buck ratio the better!) I've been using Foxit, but they have literally taken about five years to get their bloody thing to save open content to registry before a forcible reboot—and still not done it! ——Serial 14:02, 8 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

For which platform? Windows? —TheDJ (talkcontribs) 14:06, 8 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, sorry—W10 home (2004), 64 bit. I mean, thinking about it, I wouldn't have a problem paying minor beans if that brought extra bells and whistles; it's just that I'm pdf-dependent heavy atm and realise I need something more stable with a long term future. ——Serial 14:14, 8 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
If you're using Linux I would just use the default document viewer, it does pretty well everything you'd need to do with a PDF. It should be available on UNIX and Mac as well. You could also use WSL to get Linux functionality if you're still tied to Windows. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 14:13, 8 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry, Martin of Sheffield, I seem to have conflicted with you while replying to TheDJ—yep, still strapped to the advan I'm afraid. Unfortunately, my build isn't recent enough to come with WSL built-in. ——Serial 14:19, 8 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I have seen some good reviews for Nitro PDF Pro. It isn't free but it is used a lot by people who deal with PDFs as part of their job. They have a 14-day free trial. After that it reverts to a reader (no PDF creation) "with limited functionality". If you decide to try it, please come back here and report how "limited" the reader is. It might be useless or it might be good enough. --Guy Macon (talk) 17:15, 8 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Nitro PDF Pro is a complete and comprehensive pdf editing tool, the basic reader in the same package is free. I use PDF-Xchange Editor[1] which is completely free with a Pro licence available for some tools. It does everything I need, including adding bookmarks and re-formatting the page layout so that pp. 2 & 3 appear side by side. I don't know how well it integrates with a browser since I prefer reading pdfs as stand-alone. I have also used the Foxit reader in the past which I remember being somehow unsatisfactory. MinorProphet (talk) 04:42, 9 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
We have a useful List of PDF software.--Shantavira|feed me 07:07, 9 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Two more from that list that are worth looking at are Sumatra PDF and Inkscape. Being open source there is none of this crippleware "you can do X, but if you want to do Y, get out your credit card" nonsense. --Guy Macon (talk) 08:49, 9 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Also mentioned on that list, under "Viewers" is Chromium. Advantage is that this includes both the recent Edge and Google Chrome browser. Rmvandijk (talk) 10:33, 9 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]