Wow! I'm impressed.

[BrianG]

I have been a PDF-XChange Viewer diehard for many years, periodically looking at Editor but finding its UI distasteful until this morning. After spending about an hour with the current portable version (8.0.336.0) I am seriously impressed with the current toolbar customization capabilities.

My sole use of Viewer is as a reader and annotator so up until now, the toolbars and ribbons of Editor have been just too much, and unappealing (IMHO). Being able to add the tools I use to the Quick Access toolbar and hide everything else makes me giddy. This is probably old news to many but it's been awhile since I've looked at Editor so it's new and exciting to me. I'm actually looking forward to real-world usage. Thank you Tracker developers!!!!

Curiosity question regarding the properties toolbar... I saw forum discussion about hiding it when an object wasn't selected or making it floating. Did anything come of that? Like others, I find it unnecessary when the Hand tool is active but invaluable when using a comment tool.

[Timur Born]

You can easily switch from the ribbon bar to the classic bar.

[BrianG]

The classic bar is worse that the ribbon bar to me. I'm grateful to be able to hide both and have more screen real estate with just the tools I use regularly in the quick access area.

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Hello Brian,

I am glad to hear you are pleased with the move! Lets see if I can help with your questions there.
The ribbon UI has moved the functions from the properties toolbar into a few other menus. Mostly the new dynamic "format" tab, which will show only when a tool which offers such customizations is selected (such as the hand or typewriter tools):

All functions that were present on the old properties toolbar can also be found in the properties pane (Ctrl+`) which can be setup as a floating menu just like any other pane, simply by dragging it away from its default docking point in the software.

I hope this helps!

[BrianG]

Thanks Daniel. The dynamic "format" tab is cool but, as previously mentioned, I'm trying to keep the ribbon or toolbars minimized and work from a customized quick access area.

In Viewer, the properties toolbar is dynamic, expanding only when a comment tool is selected. In Editor it appears that my options are a properties toolbar or a floating properties menu, either one always being there, even when there are no properties (eg: Snapshot tool). I will work with both to see which one is preferable.

Thanks again!

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

If you double click on any "tab" the ribbon toolbar will collapse, and then a single click on any tab will temporarily open that tab (including the format tab) until you select a specific tool or return to the document, looking like this in practice:

Does this work for your needs?

[BrianG]

Not really. I routinely add annotations (typewriter,lines, arrows,circles,clouds,stamps) so I want those tools at my fingertips. Repeatedly clicking the Comment tab to toggle its ribbon toolbar between tool uses doesn't make much sense to me. Having them in the Quick Access area is much easier. Of course this requires the use of classic toolbars but keeping the tabs toolbar open provides easy access to additional functions with minimal encroachment on document space.

I still haven't spent much time actually using Editor so only time will tell whether my thinking work out in real world practice.

[BrianG]

I just found the Properties Pane which I believe will have better functionality for me than the Properties toolbar. This sort of flexibility and customization is rare and greatly appreciated.

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]