Foxit Reader Portable V4.0.0    Suggested by ekin_116 - Updated by Checker on 4 Jul 2010 10MB (uncompressed) - Popularity score (64307) Website - Screenshot - Download - Comments (52) - Post comment - Permalink

Posted comments:

 t0m: Foxit Reader is my best choice for pdf reader. Fast, and complete stuff. [2007-02-27 10:56]

 DG: Wow, I've been using Foxit 1.3 beta for a while now and it seems the newer version is 4 times as big and a lot harder to install. I've never had any issues with the older version. [2007-03-01 09:58]

 Yanez: This foxit installation procedure sucks ... Use the Sumatra PDF portable instead. It is easy to install and works great. Don't know why Foxit have to fuck it up like this. No need to really.. [2007-04-28 10:02]

 dweeb: Foxit makes a reader version for U3 devices which uses an .ini file instead of the registry. Too bad they won't do this for their 'standard' reader, making it portable as-is for everyone else! [2007-08-24 12:54]

 melendz: Foxit Reader beefed up after v2.1 and now is over 5.5 MB in size. I am starting to switch to Sumatra PDF which is more compact. [2007-10-03 16:07]

 joby_toss: @melendz: you might want to consider UPX compression, so 5,5mb becomes 1,7mb ! [2007-10-04 03:59]

 melendz: Thanks joby_toss. I could swear that I tried compressing version 2.1 and it didn't work. Now I can stick with Foxit. [2007-10-04 16:20]

 abo feras: Foxit Reader is my best choice for pdf reader. Fast, and complete stuff. [2007-11-09 23:09]

 Frank, Stuttgart/Germany: a great tool - I don't need Acrobat any longer [2008-01-15 04:36]

 torsten: Great tool! Very fast! unfortunately I experienced some problems with Personal Firewall after opening some pdf files . [2008-03-10 01:35]

 a: Foxit-Reader might be a good PDF reader, but why do people use it over PDF-XChange Viewer? It's also portable and just as powerful, roughly the same size and comes with a tabbed interface. [2008-04-29 10:18]

 PDF Viewer: @a: PDF-XChange Viewer is bigger(disk space) and it's RAM and VM useage become quite large after scrolling a few pages (~50-80MB). Although Foxit's 2.3 version is larger in both categories than Foxit's ever been this is in part due to it now being a tabbed pdf viewer just as PDF-XChange Viewer is. [2008-04-29 11:51]

 Omar: If I'm not mistaken, PDF-Xchange Viewer has a typewriter function, allowing the user to type and fill out PDF forms to your heart's content. That is one of the most desirable features of any PDF editor/viewer and has not been available through open source in quite a while. Unfortunately, Foxit freeware does not have this feature. I've never heard of of PDF-Xchange Viewer until this post. Thanks. [2008-04-30 12:18]

 Kermode: Well it works, but its slow - PDF-XChange is much faster, especially when you got PDF's with diagrams in them (it multi core aware) [2008-05-31 13:40]

 The Vulture: I am unable to open embedded PDF objects in a Powerpoint where the default reader is Foxit. It reports an out of memory condition, which itself is an error. Once I uninstall Foxit and fall back to Acrobat, the embedded objects work fine. [2008-07-26 06:35]

 glenn dothan: i think pdf xchange viewer is better. it has fairly good commenting functions, along with its typewriter feature. and the toolbar doesn't mess up like foxit. [2008-09-24 11:40]

 Ade: I tried it a while ago, can't remember the two versions, but one version messed up the toolbar pretty bad, which made it unusable, and both versions didn't allow proper text copying, which made it half unusable.. [2008-10-14 03:50]

 Kendogsbarn: Foxit is now ASK.com Hijackware. In my direct experience, even after opting NOT to install moronic ASK toolbar and homepage on Firefox F***it blitzed into a malicious install on IE7. Then IE7 "miraculously" became my default browser (yeah, right.) and Firefox would NOT EVEN LOAD! Had to remove F***it to recover Firefox. PISSED me right off. [2009-01-01 08:24]

 a: "For users who check for updates automatically, install Foxit Toolbar, or install free links to eBay, they can get some paid features with no charge. For more details, please see below:". ha-ha-ha. [2009-01-02 17:06]

 Peterm: ".....select "Automatically check for Foxit updates". Please note that this option is selected by default."

If I understand correctly, the program will phone home automatically by default. I am begining to wonder if such programs ought to be reclassified as contactware.

BTW I use an older version of Foxit for windows and also PDF XChange which runs quite well under Linux/Wine. [2009-01-03 08:01]

 Billy Bob: I abandoned Foxit about a year ago and use PDF Xchange Viewer which is much better, also free, small, portable and has far more features enabled without adding nagware - e.g. highlighting, underlining, comments, bubbles, "rubber stamps" (approved, draft, confidential etc.) and more, all removable any time. I think once Foxit adds any marks they are there permanently. You might ask why do care - simple reasons, I have a copy of a Python book I bought in PDF format, I underline and highlight, and sometimes go back and remove, or change my highlights to a different color to make some parts stand out more than others. They have both a Windows installer version and a portable version.

You can download the portable version here: http://www.docu-track.com/PDFX_Vwr_Port.zip This is a 5Mb download, the executable is 7.8Mb and UPX's down to 3.4Mb. None of the language files are needed if you only care about the default English.

The web page which tells you about the viewer is here: http://www.docu-track.com/home/prod_user/PDF-XChange_Tools/pdfx_viewer/ [2009-01-03 09:13]

 Iggi: My choice is PDF-XChange Viewer Portable. But Foxit is rather good too. [2009-01-04 12:18]

 Midas: I agree with the choir, Foxit has become less usable with time -- I'm still using version 2.1. I will look into PDF Xchange, but didn't much like it the last time I looked. [2009-01-05 08:45]

 Midas: Correction: I'm using version Foxit 2.2... [2009-01-10 13:49]

 Nathan: Gaah!!! As of v3.0, Foxit Reader is severely crippled in it's free form. For what I use it for, I didn't mind the evaluation marks left behind from marking up the file. v3.0 now doesn't even allow edits without paying (or accepting adware) for them. I'm sticking with v2.3. [2009-01-12 08:15]

 bambangp: Foxit Reader make me feel better on doing my job. A good choice to make you feel better. [2009-01-23 16:45]

 Adonis: I got rid of Adobe because its a bloat program and I tried Foxit..I don't like Foxit because of the toolbar you have to have in order to use the program. I'm back to square one looking for another pdf reader. Thanks [2009-02-02 10:08]

 Adonis: Adobe uses to much memory so I got rid of it and tired Foxit but Foxit has that dang toolbar which I don't like now I'm looking for another reader program [2009-02-02 10:11]

 harr150n: In what sense is this a portable app? I tried to install it without any footprint and it still writes itself into the registry as well as showing up in Add/Remove Programs. I tried to locate a portable version or instructions to install it with zero footprint but found nothing. [2009-02-03 13:30]

 Heaphestus: I like it fine, but Foxit does tend to hijack PDF seetings on any machine you run it on... sort of defeats the whole portable thing if it stuffs setting on the host machine. I still prefer sumatra PDF, faster and smaller. [2009-02-04 01:34]

 Guy D: Sadly, it seems inevitable that any time good freeware becomes popular, it will rapidly morph into hijackware. As with Foxit. Thanks to all for mentioning the alternatives, since as of Foxit 3.0 I'm looking for something smaller and truly portable too.
One thing though - the Foxit toolbar doesn't bother me, because I use Opera as my main browser, and Foxit doesn't Fuxor that. [2009-02-12 17:43]

 Bext: Can someone let me know if Foxit Reader 3 has a comments list function, like Adobe Reader? We've just had it installed.

Thanks!! [2009-02-23 06:51]

 ted: You could've mentioned that it is bloatware. It installs ebay crap without informing beforehand [2009-05-28 02:58]

 kj: With firefox just go into your firefox extensions folder
In C:Documents and Settings/ApplicationData/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/
extensions pick the folder with the same date that you installed Foxit, read the install.rfd file with notepad , it should have foxit written in the text.
If it does just delete the file and the foxit toolbar is gone forever! [2009-07-26 10:11]

 Carbonize: Just read a load of people complaining that Foxit installs a toolbar etc. Stop bitching as nobody forced you to download th einstaller when Foxit comes as a standalone executable. Just download the zip version.

Again this site is PORTABLEfreeware. [2009-08-09 18:30]

 Mike: This is still one of my favorite PDF readers even though the download size has gotten bigger over the years. Still way faster than Adobe Reader, though. [2009-08-20 18:09]

 TeeNoi: Is JPE Laucher compatible with a newer version of foxit reader (now is 3.1.0.0824) [2009-09-02 09:33]

 Ruth: Doesn't foxit reader allow you to copy? All I get is that hand, which moves the page up and down, but sometimes I need to copy text. [2009-11-02 21:08]

 PeterM: "All I get is that hand, which moves the page up and down, but sometimes I need to copy text."

You have to change from the hand tool to the copy or snapshot tool on the toolbar. For snapshot I changed the default resolution to 300DPI in preferences.

BTW as also per my previous post I am referring to the 2.2 version not the latest (too bloated and fancy) version. For viewing PDF docs the older version suits just fine. For commenting I also have PDF X-change for that. [2009-11-27 15:30]

 TavisJohn: I will take Foxit readers 5mb over Adobe readers 100+mb ANY day! [2009-11-27 16:36]

 infimum: There is a reason Adobe Reader is bigger. None of the programs listed in this category can handle non-European languages better than Adobe. What they are doing is taking away something from the PDF standard specifications set by Adobe. I am tempted to change Unicode support to at least partial for all the programs here. [2009-12-03 16:53]

 dot: I find all the alternative PDF readers (other than Adobe) display text *slightly* more blurred than original Adobe does. I use Foxit for reading PDF documents quickly online. But for longer reading sessions I prefer Adobe. It produces less strain on the eye as it renders text *a bit* more clearly. (well, you have to look closely to notice the difference) [2009-12-07 12:51]

 computerfreaker: "Stealth: no" - the link is to the PortableApps.com version of Foxit, which is definitely stealth.

Incidentally, Foxit has some big fat security problems - I've ditched it in favor of the less-featured but more-secure Sumatra. [2010-02-23 16:42]

 Foxit Reader 1.3 Build 1209: Im still using version 1.3 Build 1209, since xp, vista and now Win7, still works great and small 2.55mb. [2010-03-21 08:33]

 El chupacabra: ********** Why oh why did Foxit think users need another stupid internet browser toolbar. -----Stay away from Foxit.---- [2010-03-21 21:49]

 Roger: Just tried to install the latest updated version, no luck with the plugins plus it highjacked my browser's homepage and added a toolbar. Don't know what happened...Gave up on it. Back to Adobe Reader again *sigh*. [2010-04-02 18:33]

 dot: Good news:

1. in the next version that new stupid red "Ask"-icon in the Find-toolbar will be removed (they just didn't remove it for the latest security update). Obviously quite a few people didn't like it. Read up here: http://forums.foxitsoftware.com/archive/index.php/t-17898.html

2. How to remove the Ask-Toolbar easily (in case you missed to opt out during install) is described here: http://about.ask.com/apn/toolbar/docs/default/faq/en/ie/index.html#na4.

3. How to remove permanently the advertisement in the menu bar is described here: http://www.portablefreeware.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=20949#p20949 [2010-04-07 21:47]

 Paul: When I use the new 3.2.1 version and I open files from a site I always go to, it suddenly says that I have to fill in a password.
The older version does not do this, the company says the files are not protected and SumatraPDF also does open it in a normal way.
So there is defenitely something wrong with this viewer.
I changed to SumatraPDF [2010-05-31 18:30]

 That: Deliberate phoning home in version 4.0.0.619? Despite having all update checks disabled, removing preferences to avoid any upgrading issues, Foxit calls home on every start.

See here also: http://forums.foxitsoftware.com//showthread.php?&t=18789 [2010-06-30 23:12]

 maxnort: foxit is adware, even the portable version.

I use sumatra [2010-07-09 16:34]

 R.N. Folsom: Contradicting the information at the top of this web page, Foxit Reader 4.0 system requirements do NOT include any version of Windows 2000. (But I have NOT tested whether it would work with Win2k anyway.)
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/system_required.php [2010-07-28 00:18]

 Tun W N: JPE file in forum cannot be downloaded. HTTP 404. [2010-07-28 10:20]

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All HTML tags will be removed from your comment. URLs (http, https, ftp) will be automatically detected and hyperlinked. I reserve the right to delete irrelevant, frivolous or offensive comments. For more general topics (eg. whether apps that write to the registry, leave traces on the host machine, rely on certain versions of IE etc. can be considered portable), please post to the Portable Freeware Discussion forum. If your virus scanner has detected a virus in the application, please email the author directly or post to the forum. Note that false positives (i.e. flagging a virus when there is actually none) are extremely common for virus scanners. When in doubt, try an online scanner like Online Malware Scanner or VirusTotal, which scans files using multiple anti-virus engines. It is very likely to be a false positive if only a few engines raise the red flag.