PDF-XChange Review Update

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 9:39 am

I just updated my review of PDf-XChange free viewer to include mention of the browser plugins and other recent enhancements.

Post here if you think I missed anything important.

angusj · Post by **angusj** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:30 am

Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:I just updated my review of PDf-XChange free viewer to include mention of the browser plugins and other recent enhancements.

Firstly, it's a excellent review - and I liked your web design too.
I also spotted a nice review of an old program of mine. Thanks!

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 1:15 pm

Excellent Bhikkhu,

Many thanks for a very professional job

benpal · Post by **benpal** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:24 am

Excellent.

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:27 pm

Updaed again to mention how to take High Resolution Snapshots

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:57 am

Updated again for version 2.036 and to mention the Preview Thumbnails on the File Open dialogue. Another useful feature not found in Adobe Reader 7 or Foxit Reader.

benpal · Post by **benpal** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 6:10 am

Two excellent features!

Thanks for the hint.

Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:57 pm

Thanks Bhikkhu

mike1234 · Post by **mike1234** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:43 am

Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:I just updated [Trash Post =http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pesala/Hom ... hange.html]my review of PDf-XChange[/url] free viewer to include mention of the browser plugins and other recent enhancements.

Post here if you think I missed anything important.

Hi, maybe you can put some examples of PDF annotation and highlighting in your review. I was using software called Bluebeam PDF Revu to do this on PDF eBooks (I am a student) and they suck because they only allow it to use on one computer and require activation. It is good but too expensive. I finally found PDF XChange Viewer and it does 70% of what that expensive software does for me. I am now using PDF XChange Viewer instead of Bluebeam software.

I sent emails to all my friends to use it instead of Adobe reader or any other PDF viewers.

Thanks to Tracker software for providing this for free. That's a lot of free marketing for them for their other paid software as well. Word of mouth marketing is great. I am telling everyone to ditch adobe reader or bluebeam pdf revu and switch to PDF XChange Viewer.

Hopefully Tracker software will keep the existing features Free and add a lot more features in the PRO version. Also, please allow PRO software to be used on upto 3 computers by a single user. Everyone these days has a PC, laptop and work computer.
This is the reason I am not using Bluebeam PDF Revu because it costs a lot and they limit it to one computer. I want something that I can install on upto 3 computers for a good price keeping in mind that I am the only single user.

Maybe for the PRO version:
- A single user, single computer license for - $14.95
- A single user, three computer license for - $19.95
- A 3-user three computer license for - $39.90
- and so on

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 5:59 am

mike1234 wrote:Hi, maybe you can put some examples of PDF annotation and highlighting in your review.

Done.

Commenting and Markup

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:54 am

Hi,

Thanks for the comments - we have no objection to you using on your main desktop and laptop providing they are not used by multiple users - but I am afraid that is where we draw the line.

HTH

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 6:42 pm

Updated my review again to show just some of what you can do with the new Customisable Interface feature. This is how it looks in a small tab using the Opera Plugin (which is also customisable).

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:02 pm

cool thanks Bhikkhu !

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:56 pm

Updated again for Build 39 to include some info about the measuring tools, comment summaries, and PDF Form Export. Anyone can let me know if anything is wrong or unclear, as I haven't used these tools before.

benpal · Post by **benpal** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 7:00 pm

Thanks, very informative and helpful to get to know new (and old, but forgotten) features.

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 7:55 pm

Updated again for Build 40.4. Check out the new Tile, N-up and Booklet printing features:

benpal · Post by **benpal** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 8:45 pm

Great updates to the product ... and thanks for the hint - with live example.

Thu Nov 06, 2008 7:22 am

Please note 'link' "Composite view" on Preview in Tile printing mode.

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 3:25 pm

Ivan - Tracker Software wrote:Please note 'link' "Composite view" on Preview in Tile printing mode.

Noted and updated:

Tiling, N-up, and Booklet Printing

TabletThree · Post by **TabletThree** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 8:28 pm

Great review - told me about features I had yet to discover!

Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:Updaed again to mention how to take High Resolution Snapshots

So what is the resolution of a screen snap if you don't set a fixed resolution in the: Edit, Preferences, Snapshot Tool, Use Fixed Resolution for snapshot images

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 8:32 pm

It is 96 dpi @ 100% zoom, but it changes with the zoom level.

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Thu Nov 27, 2008 10:51 am

I have updated my review again for build 40.7.

I noticed some huge improvements in memory use, and added A Note on Memory Use to my review.

I welcome some comments on this, as I am not an expert. In my experience, PDF-XChange is smoother than Foxit Reader or Adobe Reader, and now uses less memory too. How do you guys achieve this?

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 8:05 pm

Updated my review for build 41.

Note that the “Squiggly Line Tool” mentioned in the Version History is not a new tool, but a new option for the existing underline text tool, so don't go looling for it. Edit the properties of the underline tool. Current default properties are shown in the new Tooltips on toolbar icons.

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 6:55 pm

Updated for Build 42

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 6:39 pm

Thanks Bhikkhu - very much appreciated !

benpal · Post by **benpal** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:36 am

Yes, very much appreciated!

paul1149 · Post by **paul1149** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:51 pm

Thanks for a great tutorial!

p.

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 12:04 pm

I have been playing around with the customisation features again in the latest build. Now I have all the toolbars and menus on the File toolbar, which can be hidden and shown with a shortcut (f) whether you're using Windowed mode or Fullscreen mode.

Compact Interface

I gave recent files its own menu, and moved the Pro Features that I don't use from the Document and Comments menus to the Tools menu to save space.

I like the tab thumbnails, but I also added the tip on how to turn them off if you don't like them.

Post by **Tracker Supp-Stefan** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 1:15 pm

Great Bhikkhu,

Many thanks for your work.

With Respect,
Stefan

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:32 am

Updated again for build 42.3

I think many users will find the new measurements options useful. They can be found in Preferences, Measurements. Snapping options can also be configured, and rulers and guides.

There are currently no icons for the new grids, rulers, and guides features in the customising interface. You can add them to the toolbars as text or as blank icons with the text hidden. The icon's tooltip will show the button's function and assigned keyboard shortcut.

Mon Aug 17, 2009 1:03 pm

Icons for new command items will be added in the next build.

Thanks.

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Sun Jan 10, 2010 9:33 pm

Updated again for build 44.0

The icons have now been added in the customising interface for the new grids, rulers, and guides features.

Search speed is marginally faster on my single document test, though it is marginally slower but it finds more instances when searching bookmarks and comments across multiple files. The time elapsed for the search is now shown too.

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 6:03 pm

Updated again for build 49.0 and retested Find text feature in the latest versions of Foxit Reader and Adobe Reader.

Search speed is marginally slower on my single document test, though it is marginally faster across multiple files. The time elapsed for the search is now shown too. Adobe Reader 9.3.1 got slower on the long document, but faster on multiple documents compared to version 9.2.

Post by **Paul - Tracker Supp** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 6:23 pm

Thanks again Bhikkhu,

I'd be interested to read your review after the next build with the added security options... Next build due out this afternoon...

gbeckerman · Post by **gbeckerman** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 4:36 pm

Yup!. I'm up to date and the F-Keys solved the problem. All is well. Thanks for the quick response. Over and out.

Gary

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 6:04 pm

Thanks Gary and build 2.050 is indeed out.

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 5:31 pm

Updated for build 50.0.

Not many changes to the review — I mentioned the new security options and Presentation Mode.

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 2:35 pm

Many thanks Bhikkhu !

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Sun May 16, 2010 10:42 am

Updated for build 51.

I repeated the find text speed tests with the latest versions of Foxit Reader and Adobe Reader. Not much change here. I also tested the loading speed and memory use with multiple documents. Adobe Reader comes a poor third in this test too (just try using task manager to switch to another application while viewing 50 documents). PDF-XChange is the clear winner, using less memory, and loading documents faster with less fuss. The Quick Tabs view makes it easier to work with large numbers of open documents.

I mentioned the new option to Clone Comments with Control Drag, and filter comments by author. I noticed that Sticky Notes cannot be cloned in this way.

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Mon May 17, 2010 4:26 pm

Thanks Bhikkhu,

Much appreciated - will check on the cloning of Sticky Notes and see if this can be added..

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 9:36 am

Deleted.

ZoNi · Post by **ZoNi** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 6:36 pm

Great review - I have added link to it on my blog

http://www.zoniweb.com/2010/04/pdf-xchange-viewer.html

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 9:15 pm

Post by **Tracker Supp-Stefan** » Mon Nov 29, 2010 3:34 pm

Thanks a ton for the update Bhikkhu!

Cheers,
Stefan

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 9:22 am

Updated a few things for 2.5.191

I have made a few more notes about the Fullscreen mode, Booklet Printing and Memory Use.

Post by **Tracker Supp-Stefan** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 3:41 pm

Appreciate the update Bhikkhu!

Cheers,
Stefan

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 8:02 pm

Updated for 2.5.192

Nothing much to comment on here. Find text seems a few seconds faster, which is probably due to defragmenting my hard drive recently rather than any change to the code. Loading multiple documents is still (much) slower than in earlier versions.

This is mostly a bug fix release. See the history of changes link in my signature.

Just bumping the thread for the benefit of those who haven't seen the review before.

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Fri Jul 08, 2011 4:06 am

I have moved my review to a WebPlus.net domain @ softerviews.org and updated them all using WebPlus X5 from Serif™ instead of NetObjects Fusion Essentials.

I hope I have fixed all of the broken links in this thread — let me know if I missed any.

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 11:31 am

Updated for 2.5.197

Retested Find Text. PDF-XChange is still winning that race.

Loading multiple documents is still (much) slower than in earlier versions — I hope Version 3 fixing the slow file loading issue.

Post by **Tracker Supp-Stefan** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 2:12 pm

Thanks Bhikkhu,

Glad to hear that we are still way faster in searching, and I too hope that loading speed will improve in ver3.

Thanks for your continuing updates!
Much appreciated!

Stefan
Tracker