The pdf format was developed by Adobe Systems in 1991. Most often, files with this extension contain scanned books, magazines and various text instructions. Since December 2008, this file type has become an open standard and widely adopted. Preserves images, fonts, and the very structure of the document on any platform, including Windows, UNIX and Mac. To work with pdf documents, you need to install one of the special programs.
Adobe Reader - the official pdf viewer
The application was created by the developer of the pdf format. Therefore, it is not surprising that the functionality of Adobe Reader significantly surpasses all existing counterparts from third-party manufacturers.
Main advantages:
• Convenient document scaling system - it is possible to open the page in full screen, as well as to anchor the scale horizontally and vertically;
• a powerful search system that allows you to find text not only within the open document, but also in all pdf-files located in the specified folder;
• spellchecking;
• customization of the application for users with disabilities - automatic scrolling of the document, control of one keyboard without using the mouse, reading the document aloud.
Flaws:
• large size of the distribution kit;
• takes up a lot of space in RAM;
• works slower than some competing programs.
The latest version of Adobe Reader is available at https://www.adobe.com/en/products/reader.html. There you can also find a detailed description of the program and a link to training resources.
Third Party Programs
The home user rarely needs all the many features of an official Adobe application. Third-party software can be a good alternative.
Foxit Reader
The program is not overloaded with additional functions, but it has everything you need for comfortable viewing of documents. It has a small distribution kit, does not require installation and has a high speed of work.
Foxit Reader supports three zoom options: 100%, fit to page width and snapping to window borders. It is possible to add and save comments, as well as print. The built-in document search system is used.
The main drawback of the utility is not always correct image processing. As well as watermarking the attached notes and adding ads when using some features in the free version.
You can download the program on the developer's website at https://www.foxitsoftware.com. The application is compatible with any version of Windows and has a Russian interface.
STDU Viewer
Free utility for viewing documents, which can replace several programs. The main feature of STDU Viewer is support for multiple file formats: PDF, DjVu, TXT, TCR, Comic Book Archive, EMF, BMP, TIFF, PNG, GIF, JPEG, PSD.
The application has the ability to adjust brightness, contrast, gamma for comfortable work with files. And besides there is a function to change the viewing resolution of the displayed page.
STDU Viewer offers many scaling options: display the page to full screen, scale to selection or screen, and scale to width. The function of changing the view resolution of a single page has been implemented.
The utility is available for download at: https://www.stduviewer.ru/download.html. The developer's site also has articles on setting up the application.
Sumatra PDF
A very compact and fast file viewer. It has a simple interface that even an inexperienced user can understand. Convenient keyboard shortcuts are used to navigate the document.
The Sumatra PDF distribution can be downloaded from https://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/download-free-pdf-viewer-en.html. A feature of the program is that Sumatra PDF does not block files. Documents opened in this application are available for simultaneous editing in other programs.
How to open a pdf using an internet browser
Modern versions of browsers such as Firefox or Google Chrome have a built-in pdf viewer. It is enabled by default and allows you to view documents found on the network. In this case, you can flip and scale pages, copy the desired fragment of text or download a document to your computer, and also send it to print. In addition, plugins have been developed to extend the functionality of the built-in viewer.
In addition, there are many online services on the Internet that allow not only viewing files with the pdf extension, but also performing various operations with them - editing, deleting metadata, protecting, converting. One of the most functional is FoxyUtils. In addition to standard operations for editing and converting pdf, the service supports the functions of merging and splitting documents, as well as unlocking and setting protection. Unfortunately, like on other similar resources, there are a number of restrictions. The service works with files no more than 50 megabytes in size. You can download the result within an hour.
