PDF-XChange Viewer - Free, Small, Great Features, and Fast

What is better for one user is not necessarily better for another. For me, PDF-XChange Viewer is better than other viewers I have tried such as Adobe Reader and Foxit Reader, for a variety of reasons. One of them is that there is a plugin that works in Opera. There is also a plugin for Internet Explorer and for Firefox.

If you prefer some other reader, that's cool, but maybe take the trouble to review it and discuss it in another thread. This thread is not in the Debates and Discussion forum. If you have tried PDF-XChange Viewer and have some questions about it you could ask on their support forum.

PDF-XChange
Free Viewer

This PDF Viewer is an excellent alternative to Adobe Reader. Since it is not bloated with unnecessary features it loads faster. However, it does have some very nice features not found in Adobe Reader. One of my favourite features is the Loupe.

The Loupe

This is a zoom window that shows a magnified view of the page underneath a transparent rectangle that can be dragged around the page.



Drag the slider click the buttons, or select a value from the drop list to change the zoom level. Click on the camera icon (bottom right) to take a snapshot of the zoomed area. The loupe window can be resized and positioned anywhere on the monitor, even outside of the PDF-XChange window so if you have a wide-screen monitor you will find these feature even more useful. Resizing the loupe window simultaneously resizes the transparent rectangle. Resizing the rectangle changes the zoom level in the loupe window. Move the transparent rectangle pans the view in the loupe window.

The Pan & Zoom Window

This is another very comfortable way to view magnified documents. It is the reverse of the loupe. If you zoom in on the main window so that the page is bigger than the window, the Pan & Zoom Window shows a thumbnail of the page, with a transparent rectangle that you drag around to pan the document in the main window. The Pan & Zoom Window can be resized and repositioned anywhere on the monitor.

If the window is maximised, try putting it in the top right corner. That will cover the advertisement in the free version, which is otherwise wasted space and barely intrude into the document viewing area. It has four blue buttons for navigating the document pages, zoom buttons, and a drop list for selecting the zoom level.

Resizing the blue transparent rectangle will change the zoom level in the main document window and simultaneously change the viewed area.

Either one of these two viewing methods is far superior to using the drag hand or dynamic zoom in Adobe Reader, although that was also quite useful. I say “was” because I won’t want to use it any more after trying these new methods.

Page Thumbnails

When viewing PDF documents in single page mode, when you drag on the scroll handle, a thumbnail of the current page pops up by the side of the scroll bar and changes to show the page that will be displayed when you release the mouse button.

This is another neat feature in PDF-XChange that helps when browsing long PDF files. Although of limited usefulness when browsing reams of plain text unless you know the page number that you are seeking, if documents contain at least a few pictures, tables, or illustrations, it is a great aid to finding the page that you’re looking for.

Commenting and Markup Tools

You can add sticky notes, text boxes, lines, arrows, shapes and text to PDF documents. You can highlight, strikeout, or underline selected text. Comments and markup are saved with the document and can be modified or deleted later.

Multiple Document Interface

The Document Tab Toolbar is on by default, but you can turn it off in Preferences if you want to save space. Even if it is off, you can switch to other open documents from the Window menu or with the Control Tab key shortcut.

The tile icon shows a page of thumbnails with the current view on all open documents. This is another feature that is streets ahead of anything I have seen elsewhere. If you work on multiple PDF documents and constantly have to cross-reference what you were reading earlier, it is so easy to find what you want with just two clicks — one on the tile icon, then one on the appropriate thumbnail.



There is an option to turn off the multiple document interface, just in case you like to do things the hard way. You can allow multiple instances of PDF-Xchange, or allow only one instance to be active, thus keeping all open documents within one window.

Fullscreen Mode

If you just want to concentrate on reading, enter the fullscreen mode (F12). The more usual F11 shortcut will toggle the Toolbars and Menu on/off in both screen modes. Even with the toolbars off, you can switch to other documents with Control Tab, and use the Pan and Zoom Window to navigate the current document. Press Escape to exit from fullscreen mode.

Export as Image

Export any document to a Multipage TIFF image, or to any of the popular image formats — PNG, GIF, JPG PCX, or BMP — and some formats I am not familiar with. Set the resolution to 72 dpi or 2,400. Change the page background colour or make it transparent. Automatically assign file names to the images with variables.



Navigation of Views

A new feature added in build 024 that lets the user navigate back and forth between different views on the same document. Very useful for finding your place again after searching for something elsewhere in the document. The shortcuts Alter Left Arrow and Alter Right Arrow are sensible and therefore easy to remember.

Remember Previous View

PDF-XChange remembers the previous view of each document. On reopening a document, whether from Windows Explorer or from the recent files menu, it reopens at the same place as last time, and at the same zoom level. This is a huge time saver. I wish all of my favourite programs had this feature. Open at last editing position is available in OpenOffice, and open fonts from last time is an option FontCreator, but a similar feature is not yet available in MainType or PagePlus.

Conclusions

This application blows Adobe Reader out of the water. It is faster, has a better feature set, and an easier to use interface. There are no banners, no watermarks on documents, no limitations or restrictions, just a small banner ad for other products by the same company. There is also a support forum that responds promptly to any problems. Bugs are usually fixed quickly with frequent updates. The history of changes (added at my request) shows the latest bug fixes and new features. This one is a keeper. Download it now. You may never open Adobe Reader again.

The default fullscreen mode is always single page. Customise a standard toolbar to add icons for facing or continuous facing pages, and assign shortcuts to show/hide the toolbar (and for page layout modes if you wish). The fullscreen toolbar setup is remembered independently from windowed mode, and browser plugin.

You can also opt to show the cover page on the right in facing mode (from the View menu, Page Layout) so that odd pages are on the right, and you can remove the space between facing pages. The end result is like this in fullscreen.



Sessions
PDF-XChange will remember the last session, but only one session.

If you need to work with multiple sessions, a Tracker forum member Podhorny wrote this utility — PDF Session to work with sessions.

• Save the text file with an extension of *.ses
• Run the utility and open the session file, or drag and drop the session file onto PDFsession.exe to open the session

If you also have PDF-XChange set to remember its last session, the utility will open the session files and the remembered session's files will open too.

I've been using this for quite a while. The 64 bit version is good as well. I know Adobe have vastly improved their PDF Reader, but I am reluctant to change. This is one of the 'great' freeware products online IMO.

Pesala,

Thank you so very much for recommending this viewer. I have been using it instead of Acrobat Reader for quite a while and love it. As you point out, it works very well with Opera.

I just bought a new printer/fax/scanner and have decided to try PDF-XChange PRO (their top-of-the line program) instead of PaperPort for scanning to PDF, as well as its many other features. If not for your posts, I would not know about this family of programs.

Originally posted by chileverde:

I just bought a new printer/fax/scanner and have decided to try PDF-XChange PRO (their top-of-the line program) instead of PaperPort for scanning to PDF, as well as its many other features.

In fact, even the free version will perform OCR on scanned documents. However, there are some other useful features available only in the Pro version.

Comparison Chart

PDF-XChange Editor v3.0.301 is now out:
http://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-editor
This is to be the successor to PDF-VChange Viewer and is intended to offer all the same features as the viewer with full editing facilities. Much of these in the free version. At the moment, although they call it the 'Gold' release, some features from viewer 2.5 have not yet been implemented and it is still a little buggy. I had big issues with 2.5 with semiconductor datasheets which rendered badly, Editor shows them correctly.

PDF-XChange Editor 305 was released, and replaces the free Viewer, which has now reached the end of its development.

The editor is also free for viewing PDF files — register to get the full editing tools without watermarks. It is faster than the viewer at finding text and Opening Multiple Documents.

It is now customisable, though not yet quite as feature rich as the viewer. It looks very nice.

version 2.5.212.0 release - 29-08-2013 is the latest version of PDF-XChange Viewer.

• Fixed rare crash of the Viewer on some JPEG streams. (T# 1924)
• Changed touch/stylus handling in pencil tool. (T# 1911)
• Fixed typos in the Viewer UI.

Pesala,

Thanks for the update. I continue to be grateful to you that I learned about this software here.

I purchased PDF-XChange Pro, although my license expired several months ago, and I just updated the free viewer in order to use the current plugin with Firefox. I am generally pleased with what I have. I use it for scanning, merging files, printing to PDF, and light editing.

The editing I do generally involves rotating pages, inserting text with Text Tool or Typewriter Tool, or writing an X in a box with Pencil Tool.

Would my "editing experience" be significantly different in the new Editor? I am trying to figure out whether it is worth buying the new software. (My computer runs XP SP3—I have no need to have the very latest software.)

Originally posted by Pesala:

PDF-XChange Editor 305 was released, and replaces the free Viewer, which has now reached the end of its development.

Cool. This really fits my need on 2 levels. The Basic editor is perfect. I need to edit current text in a pdf 4 times a year. This worked perfectly. And best of all when you open it the cursor is a standard arrow vs the hand. Bravo!

I'm missing one thing. When you are viewing a pdf in your browser there was a button down in the lower right where you could open it in the external version. I did find the command "Document, launch" and that will work but the button was sure easier. Searching Tracker online help I didn't find anything that might help me.

Originally posted by chileverde:

Would my "editing experience" be significantly different in the new Editor? I am trying to figure out whether it is worth buying the new software. (My computer runs XP SP3—I have no need to have the very latest software.)

See this thread about upgrade licensing conditions

You can keep both products installed, and the Editor is free with watermarks being added for Pro features, so you can test it thoroughly to see if it meets your needs before paying for it.

Originally posted by rif:

I did find the command "Document, launch" and that will work but the button was sure easier.

It doesn't yet seem to be possible to add toolbars or add buttons to toolbars, but one can edit shortcuts.

1. From the View menu, Toolbars, select Customize toolbars.
2. On the Commands Tab of the Customize dialogue, select the Document category
3. Scroll down and select the Launch command
4. Click Properties.
5. On the Command Properties dialogue you can assign a shortcut to the Launch command

Build 306 is now available, but the Shell Extension doesn't seem to be included yet. You will need to keep the Viewer installed for now.

There are other features available in the Viewer, which are not available in the Editor, so it's probably a good idea to keep installed unless you never use the missing features, e.g. Search Providers

Pesala,

On your Web page you linked to above ("Search Providers") you say that one will not need Adobe Reader anymore after installing PDF-Xchange Viewer. Actually, I have found I needed to keep Adobe Reader installed in order to properly use many forms with complex features. I will love it if Editor works well with such forms.

I just received an e-mail from Tracker announcing this new program. It states: "The FREE version is available to all and if you own a license to use the PDF-XChange Viewer PRO, purchased on or after Jan 1st 2012, the full PRO version will be available to you using your existing Viewer PRO license details - no upgrade or new serial number required." Since I bought PRO last year, I can get Editor, so I will try it soon, when I have time.

Originally posted by chileverde:

Actually, I have found I needed to keep Adobe Reader installed in order to properly use many forms with complex features.

There may be other document types too, such as slideshows, or documents with attachments, that PDF-XChange cannot handle properly. I haven't much experience of using PDF forms, but the Editor has menu options for importing/exporting form data.

Just installed Editor and tried it with one of my complicated forms. This one has drop-down boxes, two of which change version of the form, e.g., according to language. The drop-down boxes either would not work or would take maybe 10 sec for a response. And when I tried to change the date in a calendar pop-up to two days into the future, it changed the year to 2495.

Will clearly need to keep Adobe Reader around for forms.

Reposted with Corrections

Build 307 of the Editor is available, and it now includes the Shell Extension. Build 214 of the Viewer was also released. The Viewer is no longer being developed, but bugs are still being fixed when needed.

The plugin works OK in Opera 12.16 or Opera 18, but is badly broken in Opera 11.64. The toolbars are now customisable again, so the interface can be configured with just the tools that you need visible.

The Editor now has most features, though you will need to keep the viewer installed to export images without a watermark (this is supposed to be free, and will be again soon). The Editor also lacks the Search providers, which can be used to search any selected text with the search engine of your choice.

The Launch Toolbar (bottom right), allows you to open a PDF file in the any installed PDF viewer, including Adobe Reader or Foxit Reader. This feature was removed from the Viewer, but returned by popular demands. It's useful if you occasionally come across a PDF that doesn't render properly in PDF-XChange, or one with unsupported features (rare in my experience).

The History of Changes for the Editor is now available and currently up-to-date.

The History of Changes for the Viewer is not quite up-to-date and may not be updated again, as the Viewer is no longer being developed (just some bug fixes).

An update is now available to build 307.1 that fixes the Export to Images bug. No watermark is applied now when exporting images from the Free version.

On this subject I can agree. I have the paid for version and it is well worth it. I've been using it for quite a long time and it is nice to have the ability to scan docs, etc. all within the PDF program. The OCR works well and is in the high 90% accuracy bracket. It only misses on some of the legal papers that have odd mark-ups.

These discussions have been very valuable.

But I recently received an e-mail from Opera saying they will close the Forum soon. Is there another place we can discuss PDF-Xchange? I guess Tracker has its own forum, which I have not looked at much.

Originally posted by chileverde:

Opera saying they will close the Forum soon

If you read the message at the top of the forums more carefully, you will see that they will close My Opera, and the forums will move.

What about the forums?

Our forums will be moving to www.opera.com. The most important existing threads will be moved across, and you will be able to use your My Opera account to log in and continue the discussion. In other words: Your My Opera account has become your new Opera account that you can use for all Opera services and products.

Whether the Software forums will be included in “the most important existing threads,” is dubious.

The tracker forums is the obvious place to ask about their own software, but it's not a discussion forum. It is somewhere to get help or make improvement suggestions.

Build 307.2 of the Viewer and Editor are now available.

The History of Changes for the Editor is now available and currently up-to-date.

The History of Changes for the Viewer is not quite up-to-date and may not be updated again, as the Viewer is no longer being developed (just some bug fixes).

I am sticking with the viewer. The download and install base of the editor is huge, practically the same as Adobe, gone are the day of 'small and compact' which both PDFXChange and Foxit used to tout.