Alternative PDF Viewer to Acrobat Reader: Foxit Reader
Adobe Acrobat Reader is the official and free application from Adobe that allows users to open, view, read and print files and documents in PDF (Portable Document Format), a de facto open file format for printable documents and business documents or publications that has to maintain the exact look in a device-independent way. But Adobe Acrobat Reader is resource hungry. Not only Acrobat Reader takes a long time to load as it parses and install add-ins and plug-ins one by one, the bloated reader also takes up the precious memory, not to mention the big 20MB download size. Sometimes, Adobe Reader will prompt you for updates and other free apps after the initial loading, instead of bring you directly to the PDF documents which you would have expected.
Now you have the alternative to open, view and print the PDF documents with Foxit Reader. Foxit Reader is a free PDF document viewer and printer, with incredible small size (only 1.5 M download size). The latest version, Foxit Reader 2.0 has the following features:
- Incredibly small: The download size of Foxit Reader is only 1.5 M which is a fraction of Acrobat Reader 20 M size.
- Breezing-fast: When you run Foxit Reader, it launches instantly without any delay. You are not forced to view an annoying splash window displaying company logo, author names, etc.
- Annotation tool: Have you ever wished to annotate (or comment on) a PDF document when you are reading it? Foxit Reader 2.0 allows you to draw graphics, highlight text, type text and make notes on a PDF document and then print out or save the annotated document.
- Text converter: You may convert the whole PDF document into a simple text file.
- High security and privacy: Foxit Reader highly respects the security and privacy of users and will never connect to Internet without users’ permission. While other PDF Reader often silently connects to the Internet in the background. Foxit PDF Reader does not contain any spyware or adware.
- Interactive form filler: Now you don’t have to print out PDF forms first and then manually fill out paper forms. Instead, you can use PC to fill out interactive forms directly, and then print them out, save them, email them or export the form data into FDF file for further processing.
- Multi-language UI that can be dynamically switched: The user interface of Foxit Reader now can be switched to different languages dynamically, thanks to the generous help from our user community.
- On-demand download of add-on: With add-ons, the function of Foxit Reader can be extended unlimitedly. Advanced feature modules and seldom-used modules are packed as add-on to be downloaded when needed.
- Self-upgrade: In the past, when you want to upgrade Foxit Reader, you have to frequently visit Foxit website, check for new release, and then manually download the new version, uninstall the old version and re-install the new version. Now this whole process is simplified and you only need to click on the menu item “Check for update now”.
- Javascript support: Advanced users are able to use Javascript to create complex logic for PDF forms, to validate user input and process data.
- Improved printing speed: Printing a PDF file with many images on it to a PostScript printer used to be slow. Version 2.0 has been optimized for such printing.
- Streamlined UI: Version 2.0 comes with a neat UI. Annotation tool buttons are grouped together and no longer being showed on several toolbars.
Foxit Reader 2.0 is available for free download. The free edition of Foxit Reader 2.0 allows users to view or print PDF document, fill out PDF forms and save them, view PDF as text plus usage of critical add-ons, such as UI language package, JPEG2000/JBIG decoder, CJK package, GDI+ for early Windows version, etc. Other features will available in Foxit Reader Pro which costs the price between $22.00 and $39.00.
Foxit Reader supports Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003, with PDF core function compatible with PDF Standard 1.6. Foxit Reader for Windows Mobile, Embedded Linux, Desktop Linux and U3 are also available.
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October 19th, 2009 23:18
The first problem I have with thisis the size.
Above article states “•Incredibly small: The download size of Foxit Reader is only 1.5 M” whereas if you click on the “Free download” link it takes you to a “Installer: .exe, 5.05 MB”.
Now I know the above article relates to version 2.0 of Foxit Reader but in the space 1 version and 1 revision the file size has increased 336.66%. Now if you looked at Acrobat reader is on Version 9.2 and is 42Mb what size do you think Foxit will be by time it gets to Version 9.2?
Don’t get me wrong, the reason I’m here is because I’m tired ofwaiting for acrobat but lets base the first and foremost reason for using a package on something other that file size of the installer.
October 5th, 2008 02:38
Another cheap and good alternative http://pdffiller.com
February 13th, 2007 00:55
[...] you’re using alternative Acrobat PDF reader like Foxit Reader, then you will need to modify the PDF preview handler source code so that Windows Vista and Office [...]
February 9th, 2007 11:18
I’m abandoning Adobe’s version too. It takes such a long time to open PDF files. Foxit is a well tested Reader. I’ve found Nitro PDF Professional http://www.nitropdf.com to be reliable editor. I love that we now have a choice when it comes to choosing to the right software.
February 7th, 2007 22:30
Yes, this one is great and I’m starting to abandon Adobe’s version. Another annoying problem with the Adobe variant is that it seems to be completely riddled with security holes as the very same version comes with frequent patches for it. If they can’t develop a document reader in native code properly without buffer overruns or whatever, write it in managed code or something. :-p