i can't help but comment about this wonderful software! i have been using adobe for years, and was not willing to use foxit as i found some problems before; however, this new version works like a charm. adobe reader has become a headache specially given the fact that after opening the file, it takes too long to become scrollable. will not uninstall adobe but i have kept foxit as default PDF reader now. you can drag-n-drop and read all PDFs in tabs!

Thanks for feedback, abc. Current PDF-XChange user here, too. :)

I think the reason PDF-XChange took it's place is because development has been stagnant for several years, now they are just copying features and put adware in their installers. Not a good idea when your main user base is the computer techie type.

Well for one thing, it's still nowhere near the amount of bloat that adobe pdf has to offer and won't break as many things if you decided to uninstall so it's still a viable alternative. Definitely get the Portable Apps version if you must have this one though. I prefer PDF-XChange as it's natively portable and has more features.

Haven't tested Foxit in a long while, but looks like it became bloatware. Anyone vouching for it?

PDF-XChange offers OCR for Free. I was impressed how my work with pdfs becomes nice and easy. I can search words even in image pdfs. Love this Viewer much-much more!!!

I like Foxit Reader, but this new update is ridiculous as it forces you to install the Ask toolbar and change your search and homepage to Ask. Here's how to avoid that mess:

http://www.computer-maint.com/apps/blog/show/7197026-don-t-install-toolbar-when-updating-to-foxit-reader-5

I've been using the zip version for a long time including the last version (4.3.1.0323) released on 03-24-2011. This is the first time in many moons Foxit hasn't offered a zip file.

If you search Older Versions - Foxit Reader - More Download a popup will appear which includes URL2: - notice the date... :)

The zip was retired quite some time ago. The PortableApps.com Format package is done with publisher permission and does not contain the Ask toolbar.

I dunno about version 5. Twice the size, slower and that toolbar! Hmmm....

They foisted the toolbar on users with v5, and I can't find the zip version - it may be time to change.

http://forums.foxitsoftware.com/showthread.php?28021-New-version-forces-installation-of-toolbar

One word: PDF-Exchange Viewer.

On an unrelated note, I just tried the newest version version of Foxit Reader (5.0.1.0523) on my desktop and couldn't believe the trouble it caused! First of all, it rearranged my screen icons into a monolithic display of alphabetized icons! I spent the next minute rearranging the icons back to the listing I had. Second of all, it was slower and bigger than v4.3.1.0323. When I tried to view one of my protected PDF eBooks, it displayed differently then it did in the previous version. I uninstalled v5.0.1.0523 as fast as I could use Revo Uninstaller. I reinstalled v4.3.1.0323 and I'm going to stay with this version. If v5.0.1.0523 ever becomes portable, I hope everybody tests it hard and tough. I learned my lesson the hard way.

very good, fast and reliable program!
Downloaded it as a portable version Foxit Reader Portable V4.3.1.0323
It needs a small installation for copying the needed files and asks for the installation path.
Then you have to assign the .PDF-files to the FoxitReaderPortable.exe that can be found in the installation directory. Therefore open one PDF file with the Windows Explorer with a rightclick and "Open with...".Then chose the path with the FoxitReaderPortable.exe file in it and mark "Open Always with this program".

New versions Foxit I like less but PDF-XChange much more. Now I can say that I prefer PDF-XChange. It becomes bettter.

Used Foxit for a long time, but it got bigger and slower from version to version. When this ugly - and useless - buttons appeared on the main screen, I searched for a different product: PDF XChange Viewer is it now, I even paid for it to get the cool editing functions as well

Having problems with v4.xx, the program loads but no window. Older versions worked just fine, maybe just my computer?

all functions in foxit reader can now be used for free, and it is so smaller than adobe, I like it!

Foxit runs virus code from maliciously crafted PDFs, no way I'm gonna use it!

Locks up permanently every time under Win7 64-bit when trying to convert a DOCX file.

Correction of my previous post [2010-07-28 00:18]:

Today I received an email from Foxit Software (in response to my complaint that Foxit Reader 4.x was not listed in the System Requirements at http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/system_required.php) with the following good news for Win2k users:

"Foxit Reader 4.x runs successfully on the following systems. If your computer does not meet these requirements, you may not be able to use Foxit Reader.
Windows 2000; Windows XP; Windows Server 2003; Windows Vista; Windows 7." [Semicolons to replace line breaks added by me.]

However, it still is true that I have not yet test-installed version 4.x.

JPE file in forum cannot be downloaded. HTTP 404.

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

foxit is adware, even the portable version.

I use sumatra

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

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

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

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*.

********** Why oh why did Foxit think users need another stupid internet browser toolbar. -----Stay away from Foxit.----

Im still using version 1.3 Build 1209, since xp, vista and now Win7, still works great and small 2.55mb.

"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.

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)

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.

I will take Foxit readers 5mb over Adobe readers 100+mb ANY day!

"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.

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.

Is JPE Laucher compatible with a newer version of foxit reader (now is 3.1.0.0824)

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.

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.

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!

You could've mentioned that it is bloatware. It installs ebay crap without informing beforehand

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

Thanks!!

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Foxit Reader make me feel better on doing my job. A good choice to make you feel better.

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.

Correction: I'm using version Foxit 2.2...

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.

My choice is PDF-XChange Viewer Portable. But Foxit is rather good too.

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/

".....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.

"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.

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.

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..

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.

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.

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)

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.

@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.

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.

Great tool! Very fast! unfortunately I experienced some problems with Personal Firewall after opening some pdf files .

a great tool - I don't need Acrobat any longer

Foxit Reader is my best choice for pdf reader. Fast, and complete stuff.

Thanks joby_toss. I could swear that I tried compressing version 2.1 and it didn't work. Now I can stick with Foxit.

@melendz: you might want to consider UPX compression, so 5,5mb becomes 1,7mb !

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.

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!

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..

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.

Foxit Reader is my best choice for pdf reader. Fast, and complete stuff.