What program is needed to read pdf files. PDF Readers


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Adobe reader is the most popular PDF reader application. An important factor in the distribution of Adobe Reader is its presence on many discs with drivers, games and other applications. The developer has attached PDF documentation to his product, but standard means Windows won't let you read it. Need to add to disk special program... Her choice in the overwhelming majority of cases is not original - it is Adobe Reader.

New versions of applications, the development of which began a long time ago, often acquire a mass of secondary functions, the interface becomes more complicated, and the speed of work decreases. And now more progressive and nimble competitors are slowly pushing the old man out of the market. But this has nothing to do with Adobe Reader. Against, latest versions the programs are much easier to learn than their older brothers. The program is developing, first of all, towards support of new PDF standards, allowing to display more complex documents using Newest technologies visualization.

The working window of Adobe Reader contains a toolbar with a small amount buttons (nothing superfluous), as well as a small side panel from which the main service modes applications. There is no status line in its usual sense.

Toolbars are flexibly customizable. You can add or remove buttons on them, move them, block changes.

Ease of reading documents is provided by a powerful scaling system. You can show the entire page on the screen, snap its scale horizontally or vertically. The latter option is not found in other applications. In addition, you can bind relative to the page content. The document is shown slightly larger by excluding fields.

Supported viewing on Full Screen... Unlike some competitors, this mode lives up to its name one hundred percent. There are no controls left on the screen, only the pages of the open document. There is also a second, less radical regime. It hides all panels, except for the window title and the main menu. Again, there is a big saving of free space on the screen.

The program has a powerful search engine. You can search for text not only in open document but also in all PDFs inside the specified folder. Full word search is supported, case sensitive. You can search not only directly in the text of the document, but also in bookmarks and comments.

Adobe Reader has support for working with forms. With its help, you can enter, save and send information. There is support for bar codes. You can customize the rules for automatic form filling. If you have permission, you can add comments to the forms. And, the main thing that distinguishes Adobe Reader from other applications is the ability to check spelling in text input fields.

There is support for document authentication, viewing protection. You can specify trusted persons, certificates. The Accessibility Assistant allows you to change the rules for displaying the current document, if its protection does not prohibit such actions. This is necessary, for example, for visually impaired users. Adobe Reader makes it easier for people with disabilities to view and navigate PDF documents. Advanced features include automatic text scrolling, PDF reflow, keyboard-only control, and text reading aloud.

A separate panel allows you to view a list of document comments. You can search them for text. It is possible to sort them by type, status, reviewers. All changes made to the document are monitored by the revision inspector. You can view your own adjustments, history of changes, a list of what needs to be done.

The program contains an RSS news reader. You can subscribe to channels, read them in a separate dialog box. To be honest, it's not entirely clear why the PDF reader also needed an RSS reader. Network functions this is not limited to. You can also organize online conferences with with Adobe Reader, and also carry out joint viewing of documents.

You can work with digital signatures. For this, certificates are used. By configuring directory servers, you can determine the location of certificates, store them.

The last Adobe version Reader supports all modern standards used in PDF documents. For this reason, a hardware accelerated 3D viewer is included in the product. A special panel of models allows you to view their list, open, rotate, scale.

The program has a fairly detailed local help system... But the most complete information is provided online, at official page applications. It is already in English.

If there are no specific requirements for the application, then Adobe Reader is today optimal choice for reading PDF documents. Support for all standards allows you not to worry about whether any complex file will display correctly. In addition, the program is embedded in modern browsers, which makes it possible to quickly view online documents downloaded from the Web.

The only point where an alternative application can be at its best is system requirements... Adobe Reader has a fairly large distribution size, takes up quite a lot of space in random access memory and is slightly slower than some competitors. However, the program was tested on a fairly old machine, and even opening electronic versions of magazines, books with a volume of tens of megabytes did not lead to noticeable slowdowns. Adobe works Reader.

Adobe Acrobat Reader - a program from the developer of the PDF format

The leader among programs for viewing PDF documents is the program from the developer of this format - Adobe acrobat Reader.

There are a great many reasons for this.

First, no one knows this format better than Adobe. It is for this reason that no one can keep up with Adobe and create a reader capable of working with all possible versions of this format. If you use any of the alternative programs, then sooner or later you will come across a document that will be displayed only partially, or not shown at all.

Why use a program whose reliability should be doubted?

It is much easier to initially use a reliable product, and besides, it is free.

It is also worth mentioning that the program from Adobe is available on all popular modern operating systems.

Foxit Reader is a program with big pluses and even bigger minuses

Since version 4.0 this program has become free. More precisely, it has a free branch.

Foxit Reader is quite small and also works quite fast. But, I stopped using it after it could not open out of 10 documents from different manufacturers. And those that I opened were with distorted images.

After that, all the "bells and whistles" (bookmarks, virus checking, etc.) cease to play at least some role.

Although if you only come across a PDF with bare text, then maybe it will suit you.

PDF-XChange Viewer - almost as good as Adobe Acrobat Reader

PDF-XChange Viewer does more than just view PDF documents. This program has received recognition from many eminent publications and the main reason for this is the ability not only to view, but also to some editing functions of documents. In particular, PDF-XChange Viewer allows you to work with PDF forms and save documents with completed forms. It allows you to export documents to common image formats.

It is also worth noting that the quality of processing documents and images within documents in this program is much better than that of Foxit Reader. But on the other hand, it works with a speed comparable to that of Adobe Reader, and besides, it also has a rather large volume.

Cool PDF reader - one megabyte viewer ...

… even less.

Enough interesting program, which does the job of displaying PDF documents quite well, but it has a very unpleasant feature- Cool PDF reader does not know how to make smooth scrolling of documents, as well as rendering, that is, preparing the display of a document, takes the most time of all the programs described in this article.

Moreover, this program can even export documents to various image formats.

If you had to download books, reports or other text documents from the Internet, then you probably came across files that have the pdf extension. Once in such a situation, users often do not know how to open a PDF file. As a rule, programs for working with PDF are simply installed on the computer, which baffles many. In this article, we will take a short look at a number of popular programs that allow you to open PDF files.

One of the most popular programs is definitely Adobe (Acrobat) Reader. This software is developed by Adobe. Adobe Reader provides the user with a complete set of basic functions for reading and viewing PDF documents... If this is your first time encountering this type of document and you don't know how to open a PDF file, then Adobe Reader is the perfect choice for you.

In addition to Adobe Reader, Adobe releases software for PDF creation documents. This is Adobe Acrobat software. This program is a paid program and comes in two flavors, Acrobat Standard and Acrobat Pro.

Screenshot of Adobe (Acrobat) Reader:

Learn more about Adobe program Reader is available from the official site.

Another fairly popular program for working with PDF documents. Foxit Reader has gained its popularity due to its simplicity and low system resource requirements. Foxit Reader can be used without any problems even on the most weak computers... For a long time this program was distributed without an installer, just like EXE file ready to go.

At the same time, Foxit Reader is practically in no way inferior to Adobe Reader. It has all the functions you need to fully work with PDF files. When I am asked how to open a pdf file, I recommend this particular program.

It should be noted that Foxit Reader is a cross-platform solution. Now there are versions of this program for such Operating Systems how: Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, Linux, iOS, Android and Symbian.

Screenshot of Foxit Reader:

To learn more about this software, visit the official site.

Another easy and quick program for pdf reading documents. In addition to simple reading pdf documents, Cool PDF Reader is equipped with a number of other functions that distinguish it favorably from competitors.

Let's take a closer look at the main features of Cool PDF Reader:

  • View and print PDF documents;
  • Convert PDF documents to such formats as: TXT, BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG, WMF, EMF and EPS;
  • Extract text from PDF format to TXT;
  • Support for all versions of PDF format;
  • Support for 68 different languages;
  • View PDF files as a slideshow;

At the same time, the program has a size of only 808 kilobytes and is not very demanding on computer resources.

Screenshot of Cool PDF Reader:

You can find out more about Cool PDF Reader on the official website.

Sumatra PDF is open source software. In addition to PDF files, it can also work with files in ePub, XPS, MOBI, CHM, DjVu, CBZ and CBR formats. This program is available both as an installer and in a portable version.

Other features of the Sumatra PDF program include:

  • Simple and intuitive interface;
  • Support for over 60 languages;
  • Correct anti-aliasing of images when scaling a document;
  • Regular updates;

Screenshot of Sumatra PDF program:

You can find out more about the program on the official website.

STDU Viewer is a versatile viewer electronic documents... STDU Viewer supports a large number of formats and is equipped with all the necessary functions to work with them. By setting this program, you will no longer have any questions about how to open a PDF file, or a document in another format. STDU Viewer will solve all your problems.

Let's take a closer look at the main features of the STDU Viewer program:

  • View documents in formats: PDF, Comic Book Archive (CBR or CBZ), DjVu, FB2, XPS, TCR, ePub, multipage TIFF, TXT, EMF, WMF, PalmDoc, BMP, JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG, PCX, DCX , PSD, MOBI and AZW;
  • Simple and intuitive tabbed interface;
  • Ability to customize document display parameters (brightness, contrast, etc.);
  • View thumbnails of pages;
  • Creation of custom bookmarks;
  • For text documents, the user can control the size and color of fonts;
  • Powerful search in text documents;
  • Support for several languages, including Russian;
  • The ability to print documents;

STDU Viewer is a fairly young program. The first version of STDU Viewer appeared in 2007. Then the program supported only three formats: PDF, DjVu and TIFF. As you can see, the program has come a long way during its development and now allows you to open a large number of different formats.

Screenshot of STDU Viewer program:

You can find out more about this program on the official website.

A few words about the PFD format

PDF or Portable Document Format is one of the most common electronic document formats. This format was developed by Adobe Systems. The first version of the format appeared back in 1993. Since then, the format has been actively developing. Almost every year it added support for new features. So, during development in Portable Document Format, such features were added as: password protection, Unicode support, interactive elements, links, digital signatures, transparency, text layers, shapes, encryption, and more.

The main purpose of PDF is to publish printed products in in electronic format... Most professional printing equipment supports the format, and can print such documents without additional processing or transformations.

At the beginning of its journey, the PDF format was not very popular. And there were objective reasons for this:

  • The software required to work with the format was paid;
  • There was no support in the format external links, which did not allow its full use on the World Wide Web;
  • PDF files weighed significantly more than regular text documents. It also created barriers to its use on the Internet;
  • Document processing in this format required significant system resources, which led to slow display of the document on slow computers:
  • In addition, there were other formats that created competition.

Now, none of these problems are relevant anymore. PDF format... Adobe has released a free version of the program for viewing PDF files, and programs from other manufacturers have also appeared.

For more than 10 years of its existence, the format has come a long way of development and this moment is a very powerful and flexible document creation tool.

Most people don't think about the PDF reader software that you can install. They just install the Adobe Reader they are used to. But after all, PDF Reader from Adobe is no longer the only option, and there are really high-quality free PDF viewers that work in the operating room. Windows system and not only.

Some alternative PDF readers are lightweight applications with minimal functionality designed to easily view PDF files, while others have a host of additional options and capabilities. There are programs that provide features that Adobe Reader does not provide.

Built-in PDF readers

If you are using, then you already have a PDF reader. It's not feature-rich, but fast. Browser display is perhaps the most easy way reading PDF document without installation separate application... It displays any PDF document like a regular web page, the only difference is an additional toolbar that appears when you hover over the document. is also working on its integrated PDF reader called PDF.js, which was included in Firefox 14 (though it is disabled by default). Firefox browser should definitely have its own built-in PDF viewer, which the developers have been promising to release for quite some time. Now there is no doubt that in Firefox 15 or, at worst, in Firefox 16 (if something goes wrong) we will definitely see it.

It is also expected to have its own PDF reader. It turns out that programs that read PDF files are increasingly integrated into the browsers and operating systems we use every day, gradually eliminating the need to install individual instruments for reading PDF documents.

Foxit Reader

Foxit is one of the first names that comes to mind when people start thinking about alternative PDF readers. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it was one of the first alternative tools for viewing PDF format.

Unfortunately, when installing this utility tries to install an additional toolbar in and changes your home page... But unlike the lighter options, Foxit has built-in support for annotating, highlighting, and other PDF editing capabilities. It is a true full-featured alternative to Adobe Reader.

Sumatra PDF

Sumatra PDF can be considered as the lightest PDF reader available. It is very fast and has a simple interface, and is also available as a handy portable version that you can take with you wherever you go.

This development, unfortunately, does not have additional opportunities editing or other bonus features, but downloads and displays any PDF files in no time.

Sumatra also supports keyboard shortcuts, which makes fast PDF reading perfect. Supports other file formats, including ePub and CBZ eBooks, and CBZ and CBR comics.

Nitro PDF Reader

Nitro PDF Reader stands out among its free analogues some unique features and nice interface. The program has certain features that you will not find in another application. For example, the QuickSign feature lets you capture a digital image of your signature and apply it to any PDF documents. Nitro PDF also manages files from Microsoft Word and other formats to PDF, convert PDFs to text, and even extract images from PDFs.

PDF-XChange Viewer

PDF-XChange Viewer is a fast application, although not as lightweight as some of the other programs reviewed, for reading PDFs. The utility does an excellent job of editing and annotating, although complex changes to documents will require more powerful paid applications such as Adobe Acrobat.

Adobe reader

Adobe Reader is still the standard for PDF readers, although, admittedly, it is not the most fast application... Most PDF documents open fine in other PDF readers, but there are also files that will display correctly only in Adobe Reader. If you prefer another program for reading such files, then do not be surprised if you have to launch Adobe Reader from time to time to view complex PDF files that do not open properly in other applications.

For the same reason built in Chrome browser PDF viewer sometimes offers its users (or download) Adobe Reader for correct viewing of a separate file.

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For convenience, we distinguish four types of programs: viewers (for reading and annotating), editors (for editing text and other content), managers (for splitting, compressing and other file manipulations) and converters (for converting PDF to other formats).

Most applications can be classified into several types at once.

  • A type: viewer, editor, converter, manager.
  • Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.

Very intuitive and convenient program with an impressive number of features. When you launch Sejda PDF, you will immediately see all the tools grouped by category. Select the desired one, drag the required file into the program window and start manipulating. Most of this application can be done in a few seconds, even if this is your first time using it.

What you can do in Sejda PDF:

  • edit text, add images and shapes;
  • convert PDF to Excel formats, JPG (and vice versa), Word (and vice versa);
  • combine and split files by pages, compress their size;
  • protect documents with a password;
  • add watermarks;
  • discolor documents;
  • crop the page area;
  • sign documents.

The free version of the program has restrictions. For example, files should not exceed 200 pages and exceed 50 MB. In addition, you cannot perform more than three operations with documents during the day. Price full version Sejda PDF is $ 5.25 per month.

  • A type: manager, converter, editor.
  • Platforms: Windows, macOS,.

PDFsam cannot boast of polished to perfection, user-friendly interface... In addition, the program does not allow you to convert PDF and edit document content for free. But it has several useful managerial functions available to everyone without payment or any restrictions.

What you can do in PDFsam:

  • merge PDF in several modes (merge in parts or shuffle page by page);
  • split PDF by pages, bookmarks (in places with specified words) and size into separate documents;
  • rotate pages (if some of them were scanned upside down);
  • extract pages with specified numbers;
  • convert Excel, Word, PowerPoint formats to PDF;
  • Convert PDF to Excel, Word and PowerPoint ($ 10);
  • edit text and other content of files ($ 30).

  • A type
  • Platforms: Windows.

Very functional program with a classic office-style interface Microsoft applications... PDF-XChange Editor is not very beginner friendly. To master all the features of the program, you need to spend some time. Fortunately, all internal descriptions and tips have been translated into Russian.

What you can do in PDF-XChange Editor:

  • add annotations and highlight text;
  • edit text and other content;
  • recognize text using OCR;
  • extract pages from documents;
  • encrypt documents (paid);
  • convert PDF to Word, Excel and PowerPoint formats and vice versa (paid);
  • compress files (paid);
  • sort pages in any order (paid).

These are just a few of the features you can find in PDF-XChange Editor. The program is available in several versions with a different number of possibilities. Paid versions start at $ 43.5.

  • A type: viewer, manager, converter, editor.
  • Platforms: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS.

Popular universal program for working with PDF from the company. Free version is a very convenient document viewer, the rest of the functions are available by subscription at a price of 149 rubles per month.

What you can do in Adobe Acrobat Reader:

  • view documents, highlight and comment on text, search for words and phrases;
  • sign documents (paid);
  • edit text and other content (paid);
  • combine documents into one file (paid);
  • compress files (paid);
  • convert PDF to Word, Excel and PowerPoint formats (paid);
  • convert images JPG formats, JPEG, TIF and BMP to PDF (paid).

All these and other features are available in the desktop versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader. Mobile versions programs only allow you to view and annotate documents, as well as - after subscribing - to convert them into different formats.

  • A type: viewer, converter.
  • Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS.

Fast and convenient PDF reader with different modes viewing. Ideal for users looking for a simple document reader with no clutter additional functions... The program is available on all major platforms.

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