PDF XChange Forum

I?m a very happy user of pdf xchangepro. However, i'm struggling to have text selection tool by default in windows explorer, instead of hand selection tool.

How can I do ?

Hi,

Normally you should be able to set your preferred choice in PDF-XChange Editor via File/Edit > Preferences > Tools.

Best regards.

Thanks for the help Willy.

Indeed, this is the setting he needs.

Hi,

thanks. I already have this option, which activates well in pdf xchange pro, but has no influence on my windows 10 french pdf preview in windows folder browsing.

Is there another solution ? Does the fact having a french version fo windows change somthing ?

Hi, cabinet de psychiatrie

Unfortunately it is not possible to enable the "select text" tool within the preview handler extension for the Windows File Explorer. If you wish to select text in a file, you will need to open the document directly.

Kind regards,

thanks.

Is it possible to ask this as a new feature ?

TrackerSupp-Daniel wrote: ↑Thu Dec 24, 2020 5:49 pm Hi, cabinet de psychiatrie

Unfortunately it is not possible to enable the "select text" tool within the preview handler extension for the Windows File Explorer. If you wish to select text in a file, you will need to open the document directly.

Kind regards,

Isn't there a registry hack to get selection tool ?

Hi, cabinet de psychiatrie

I have proposed the idea to our Dev team, but cannot promise it will be implemented.

As for an alternative, unfortunately no, there are no registry hacks or anything of the like that those of us at the office know of currently. I will check again with the rest of the team when they return from holidays, but I suspect there will not be any changes. If there is anything, I will followup here on Monday.

Kind regards,

In an older version of PDF-xchange editor, hovering the hand tool over text would automatically switch over to the select text tool in maybe 1 second. But with the latest version, this doesn't seem to happen for me. Is there a way to turn it back on?

Otherwise, it would be great to have keyboard shortcuts. For Adobe, it's the H (hand) and V (select) keys. Also, holding the spacebar activates the hand tool when in any other tool.

After you have clicked the Hand tool in the Home ribbon, you will see that an additional Hand Tool/Format ribbon becomes available.
In that ribbon, click the Select Text/Images icon to turn that option ON.

Currently, there are no keyboard shortcuts assigned to the Hand Tool nor the Select Text Tool.
If you like, you can do this via Customize Toolbars.

Best regards.

Thank you. It works now after activating the function.

TrackerSupp-Daniel wrote: ↑Thu Dec 31, 2020 6:21 pm Hi, cabinet de psychiatrie

I have proposed the idea to our Dev team, but cannot promise it will be implemented.

As for an alternative, unfortunately no, there are no registry hacks or anything of the like that those of us at the office know of currently. I will check again with the rest of the team when they return from holidays, but I suspect there will not be any changes. If there is anything, I will followup here on Monday.

Kind regards,

Hi : with PDF xchange as default pdf viewr in my windows 10, there is right click with several options from pdf xchange. Isn't it possible to add a select text/Hand tools ?
I think it concerns preview handler surrogate host

Hello cabinet de psychiatrie,

This is an option that you can only use inside the Editor when a file is already opened. It has no meaning for a context menu in WE. Also - the preview pane in Windows Explorer is just that - a rasater preview, and you can not work with the file directly in that preview.

Kind regards,
Stefan

Hi Stefan,

I disagree on your analysis : in my case I use windows explorer with preview as a way to read and copy info from pdfa documents, wihout the need to open the doc in it's own editor windows.

This means an efficiency gain, in my use scenario

Best regards

Hi, cabinet de psychiatrie

Stefans statement was not an analysis, he was clarifying the fact that when we show a preview, it is not loading the entire document, the text content is not present or loaded to be selected, only a rasterized preview of the page is loaded. Thus, even if we did offer the ability to enable the "select text" tool, it would not be possible to actually select text, since it is not loaded into this preview pane at all.

Kind regards,

TrackerSupp-Daniel wrote: ↑Wed Mar 24, 2021 10:30 pmonly a rasterized preview of the page is loaded

It's a pity, because the handler from Microsoft Office 2019 loads text as text:
_

Hello Jensen Head,

Word documents are usually much simpler and lightweight. PDF files could very well have interactive elements in them as well.
So showing more than just a rendered image in the preview pane for PDF files will be much more complex than just a rendered image. That's why we are going that approach and I do not think there are any plans for this to change for the time being.

Kind regards,
Stefan