Feature request(s):

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FelixPDF
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Feature request(s):

Post by FelixPDF »

Dear Tracker Software team,

I have been using PDF-Exchange for some time now as an replacement for Adobe and have purchased a few licenses to support the work. However, for productive use PDF-Exchange lacks improved touch / pen support.

  • removal of automatic object grouping in drawings ... this would prevent (unintentional) moving of individual drawn lines.
  • manual grouping of objects (lines, drawings, images, ...)
  • a simpler menu for changing the pen properties in "touch mode" ... possibly optional insertion of a small menu bar ... see Samsung and Apple
  • Microsoft Surface Pen (and other pens): Assignment settings for pen buttons ... e.g. selection key for selecting objects ("Free Form Selection") ... Currently, this button triggers the context menu ... but this functionality can already be invoked via finger touch.
  • improvement of the eraser ... please make it easier to resize the eraser and switch between 'complete line eraser' and 'area eraser'
I would be very happy if you could integrate usability improvements.
Many thanks and best regards!
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rakunavi
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Re: Feature request(s):

Post by rakunavi »

Hello FelixPDF,
FelixPDF wrote: Mon Jan 09, 2023 9:14 am Microsoft Surface Pen (and other pens): Assignment settings for pen buttons ... e.g. selection key for selecting objects ("Free Form Selection") ... Currently, this button triggers the context menu ... but this functionality can already be invoked via finger touch.
I too would very much like the same feature, and when I recently requested it, I received the following response from the developer team.
Tracker Supp-Stefan wrote: Fri Dec 16, 2022 12:33 pm This has been turned down as too niche/ not very useful for PDF files.
Best regards,
rakunavi

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following was added on 3/21/2023
FelixPDF wrote: Mon Jan 09, 2023 9:14 am
  • removal of automatic object grouping in drawings ... this would prevent (unintentional) moving of individual drawn lines.
You can solve this issue by changing the registry settings described in the following post.

I learned about it from Stefan in this post(viewtopic.php?p=168181#p168181).
Last edited by rakunavi on Mon Mar 20, 2023 10:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Paul - Tracker Supp
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Re: Feature request(s):

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Thanks for the posts guys.

I made sure to point this discussion out to the dev team, I do not have any hard feedback on the request, I doubt that much has changed, however we do appreciate the feedback and suggestions.

We will have to see what, from all this, the dev team decide to adopt or not as we continue to improve the software.

cheers
Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
Tracker Support North America
http://www.tracker-software.com
JohnCLeBlanc
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Re: Feature request(s):

Post by JohnCLeBlanc »

I want to add my support for more touch and pen settings in PDF exchange. I'm using my Windows 10 computer more and more in tablet mode but I'm finding it difficult to use PDF exchange. I'm now tending to use Drawboard PDF while in tablet mode because this app is designed around the use of a pen. Note that with text-heavy PDF documents, reading and annotating on a tablet in portrait mode is very useful since the vast majority of text documents are in portrait rather than landscape mode . The use of a pen and tablet mode for PDF documents is just not for graphics.
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Paul - Tracker Supp
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Re: Feature request(s):

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Hi John,

thanks for the feedback John. I am interested in what specifically you would like to see changed?

The lasso select was specifically rejected, but I am keen to hear what is is about that competing app that makes it easier to use? What are the most glaring challenges you have using a pen like this?

I can't promise to deliver everything, but I am keen to know what we can do to make this more appealing/usable/intuitive.

cheers
Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
Tracker Support North America
http://www.tracker-software.com
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rakunavi
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Re: Feature request(s):

Post by rakunavi »

Hello all,

When using the Pencil tool with a pressure-sensitive stylus, the line width is determined only after a single stroke is completed, which greatly reduces the writing experience of the digital pen, especially when writing characters with a large number of strokes.

With applications that support a pressure-sensitive stylus, such as Drawboard and OneNote, the line width is determined from the moment the stylus tip is placed on the screen, so the writing experience is very natural.

This is not only my request, but a general request that has been posted on other forums.

  • https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/11fe53o/comment/jbjuno5/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
A verification video is attached for your reference.

I hope that PDF-XChange Editor will evolve into a pen-friendly app in the future. However, it might be released as a separate app like PDF-XChange Note, since even the request of a lasso select tool, which all other pen-friendly apps have, was quickly rejected.

Best regards,
rakunavi
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Paul - Tracker Supp
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Re: Feature request(s):

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Hi Rakunavi,

thanks for the clearly explained and illustrated difference in how this is done. I have passed this on to the Development team and asked if this is something they plan to change or not and will let you know here what they have to say.

Thanks as always for the clear and precise description of the issue.
Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
Tracker Support North America
http://www.tracker-software.com
bcgirton
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Re: Feature request(s):

Post by bcgirton »

I agree that pen support has room for improvement. Most computers have touch screens and pens now, and pens have buttons. Pressing the button on my pen closest to the tip makes the line narrower; what's the sense of that? It should turn on the eraser. That may seem trivial, but is an example of the general problem: there's no conformance to standard Windows 11 settings, and the application is not configurable in this respect, nor is there any information in the user manual. It's 2023; to remain relevant, it's necessary to keep up with the movement of the industry, including hardware evolution. Smart phones, tablets, pens and touch screens have interwoven themselves into our lives. PDFs are signed and drawn on by the millions every day. I love ,your product - please continue to be better than Adobe Acrobat.
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Feature request(s):

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, bcgirton

Thank you for the comments, we are certainly working towards these goals, and I am happy to hear you like using our software.
One thing I wanted to address in your post:
bcgirton wrote: Tue Mar 14, 2023 11:18 pm Pressing the button on my pen closest to the tip makes the line narrower; what's the sense of that? It should turn on the eraser.
We handle the pen touch buttons with respect to how the windows device settings are configured. If that button is set through windows to be the "eraser" it should do as much. In the case of most styluses, the default for that button would be to emulate a "right click".
Your statement that it make the line thinner is, to be quite honest, confounding... the only way I could see that being the case is if the stylus you are using is pretending to be a "pressure sensitive" stylus, buy having a "hard/light" toggle function built in.
Fixing that is something beyond what we can offer, and you will want to check the sofwtare that came with your stylus to figure out if you can reconfigure that.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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rakunavi
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Re: Feature request(s):

Post by rakunavi »

Hello bcgirton,
bcgirton wrote: Tue Mar 14, 2023 11:18 pm Pressing the button on my pen closest to the tip makes the line narrower; what's the sense of that? It should turn on the eraser.
Is the following option in the "Commenting" category of the Preferences dialog enabled? It is disabled by default.

  • Automatically switch to Pencil or Eraser tool with Stylus
  • commentoptions.png
To use the eraser feature with the side button near the pen tip, at a minimum, the above setting should be enabled in PDF-XChange Editor, although as Daniel points out, other settings might also be involved.

Best regards,
rakunavi
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forum.pdf-xchange.com/viewtopic.php?t=41002 DisableTouchSelect
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Feature request(s):

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Thank you, rakunavi, I forgot that setting is not enabled by default! Its been a while since I reset the tablet to defaults, probably worth doing that now to remind myself. :lol:

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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rakunavi
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Re: Feature request(s):

Post by rakunavi »

Hi Daniel, thank you for your comment.

It would be better if pen-related settings could be made all together in one place. Also, the Smooth Level setting in the Pencil Tool Properties seems to be difficult to notice. I think that more people would notice its existence if the settings were also displayed on the Format tab of the Ribbon UI, without having to open Properties. Even if a setting is available, if it is buried, it will be useless treasure.

  • penciltoolproperties.png
    penciltoolproperties.png (5.31 KiB) Viewed 503 times
Best regards,
rakunavi
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forum.pdf-xchange.com/viewtopic.php?t=37353 FulScrMultiMon
forum.pdf-xchange.com/viewtopic.php?t=41002 DisableTouchSelect
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Feature request(s):

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, rakunavi

Excellent suggestion, I will pass that along to the Dev team, hopefully it will not be too difficult to duplicate that option to the format tab.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Our Web site domain and email address has changed as of 26/10/2023.
https://www.pdf-xchange.com
Support@pdf-xchange.com
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