PDF - Readers (10)

Free PDF readers (Adobe's or otherwise) are so common and easy to obtain that I'm wondering how necessary it is to offer an alternative format, especially one that wouldn't work on Macs or Linux systems. If I knew for sure that my audience were all Windows users, I guess I might consider distributing .EXE files, but if it were up to me I'd prefer that everyone just had some kind of PDF reader.

12/01/09: PDF2EXE is shareware (not freeware) as states the website.

Here is download link to Portable PDF2EXE 1.0.0.128
http://tinyurl.com/2u9srqe

@Cornflower: It is true that the first duckduck.go links point to pages that actually do not host the "desired" version. But further down in the list of pages, I could download the file from https://en.taiwebs.com/windows/download-foxit-reader-portable-3493.html

I noticed that the page mentions a "password" which was not needed for accessing or running the app.

I checked on virustotal FoxitReaderPortable_2023.2.0.21408.paf.exe (what you download) and FoxitReaderPortable.exe (after uniextracting the paf file), and both came up clean.
But I did not check the "multitude" of DLLs ...

I could launch the app, and did not go further, since I have no use for this app.

I added 2023.2 as a legacy download for you: https://portableapps.com/apps/office/foxit_reader_portable#download_details

@JohnTHaller : Thank you for posting this earlier version. I deleted the one I got from my "unknown potentially unreliable web page".
Relief !!!!

v 3.4.3 out now
https://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/download-free-pdf-viewer

sumatra cannot read certain edited pdf documents
instead use sumatra prerelease :
https://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/prerelease
or use another reader : ex adobe reader

older sumatra as 3.4.1 also with read problem
note : prerelease is not recommended as default reader !

Thanks for including a changelog in pdf_reader_v16.zip !

The changelog is also available at the bottom of this site: http://xelitan.com/help/xelitan-pdf-reader

Thanks for updating the listing!

Biggest changes:
- can read: PDF, CBZ, CBT, JPEG, TXT
- everything it can read it can save to: PDF, TXT, PNG, HTML

oneof the wirst readers i used

This PDF reader is of very poor quality and besides it shows ads it has a nag screen on program's exit ("Do you need...", "Do you want...", etc).

CoolPdfReader v3.5.0.550, a commendably compact (3Mb) PDF utility,
unfortunately creates about 16 objectionable registry entries,
instead of a distinct settings file...:-(

Redeeming feature:
It does print PDF docs without fuss (under XP yet...),
an elementary operation my currently installed Adobe Reader XI v11.0.18 stubbornly refuses to perform

FYI, additional languages OCR downloads are available from http://www.tracker-software.com/pdf-xchange-viewer-ocr ...

@zorro:
I updated my default PDF viewer (PDF-XChange Viewer 2.5.320) today. Tracker Software still updates the Viewer.
Why don't I use the PDF-XChange Editor? Simple, I need a PDF viewer, not an editor.

Mixture is correct. Only need as viewer with able to add text comment (download utility bills and mark date paid, less paper stored).

Doesn`t work half the time, keeps saying the epub file is corrupt. Yet, they open in Sumatra and just about any other epub viewer with no issues.

Anyone know security-wise if this is still worth using? It's now been more than two years without an update and I wonder what the risk to using it is, vs say Adobe Reader with its never-ending vulnerabilities.

@Specular: I think if you're asking a question like that, it's probably wise to use an updated viewer. There have been a few PDF vulnerabilities over the past year, but I think you have to enable various Adobe-only extras that I don't think STDU has in it's program.

@Checker: fair enough, let the discrepancy between releases stand... :)

This is the fastest PDF viewer. Awesome for high graphics magagine kind of PDFs. I have a lower mid range laptop. Universal viewer throws sumatra, pdfxcange, foxit out of water when it comes to speed of loading one after another high graphics page. And it's the lightest of all the PDF viewers I have tested, uses minimal CPU unlike others I have mentioned.

Ignore my previous comment. I am an idiot. It actually uses an old version of Sumatra, which was faster and lighter.

I've done this, but I still get the "Register Now" nag. Pressing clears the nag, but it's awfully irritating. Is there a way of disabling it?

OK managed to get a register code; use it once and hey presto away you go. BUT the code is written o a local gsview.ini which also incorporates named drive letters. Move your USB stick to another host machine where it will very likely be named differently and gsview.ini is suddenly broken -- you have to supply the reg code again. Very VERY annoying; not true portable freeware, at all ...

Setup is a bit more tricky then running a self-extracting executable, and dumping Ghostscript in the same folder. Here's what I had to do:
1. Download the GSView self-extracting exe and the associated Ghostscript exe
2. Open the GSView self-extracting exe with 7-zip or other archive software and extract everything except the files indicated in 'How to Extract'. (RUNNING the exe will install a non-portable version!!)
3. Create a 'gs9.04' subfolder in the folder that GSviewPortable is in. (it seems the name is usually 'gs' followed by the version #).
4. Open the Ghostscript exe with an archive utility, go to $_OUTDIR, and extract all the files from that folder into the subfolder just created (in this case, gs9.04)
5. Now you can run GSviewPortable

*Note: I can verify what Fergus says - Registration screen pops up on run. Not a huge deal for me