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foxit-reader posts

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware

Foxit PDF Reader 3.0 for Windows now works with Firefox

Foxit Firefox
While Adobe may have been the driving force behind the PDF, Adobe Acrobat Reader has grown to be a bloated application which can take an excruciatingly long time to load. One of my favorite alternatives is Foxit Reader, which can open most PDF files in just a second or two, while providing many of the same features you'd expect from Adobe Acrobat Reader, like the ability to fill in text boxes or open password protected documents.

Last week the Foxit team released version 3.0, with a ton of updates. Possibly the most exiciting is a plugin for Firefox that lets you open documents in your web browser. Adobe has offered this feature for ages, but again, it often takes forever to load. To be honest, the Foxit plugin isn't exactly a speed demon. You may find it faster to download some files and open them in the desktop version of Foxit Reader. But it's nice to have the option of opening them in your browser.

Here are a few other new features:
  • Thumbnail previews of each page
  • Attachment panel shows list of files attached to a PDF and allows you to open, delete, or perform other actions on them
  • The text select tool now also lets you add annotations like highlights, strikeout, or underline
  • You can transfer your preference settings by copying an INI file
  • New Foxit OnDemand Content Management add-on allows users to share and collaborate on documents online
You can find a complete list of updates in the Foxit 3.0 release notes.

[via CyberNotes]

Filed under: Utilities, Adobe, Freeware

Adobe Reader Lite: Blazing fast version of Adobe Reader 8

Adobe Reader Lite
Adobe may have pioneered the PDF format, but it's been a long time since we've recommended anyone download the free but bulky Adobe Reader for viewing PDF files. Foxit Reader can open pretty much anything Adobe Reader can, but much much faster.

A few months ago we took another look at Adobe Reader, when we found Adobe Reader Speedup, which lets you remove some of the plugins that come with Adobe Reader that make its startup time so slow. But most users aren't going to want to install software just so they can uninstall components of other applications.

That's where Adobe Reader Lite comes in. The application is based on Adobe Reader 8, but several plugins and features have been removed, including:
  • Removed license agreement popups
  • Removed autorun and desktop shortcuts
  • Removed several plugins
It's not entirely clear which plugins were removed, but since most users probably use Adobe Reader just to open and read PDF files, odds are Adobe Reader Lite will do the trick. The application loads in no time at all and takes up significantly less storage space than the full version of Adobe Reader. On the other hand, Adobe Reader light still seems to eat up about 3 times the RAM and 7 times the disk space of Foxit Reader. But it might be worth keeping around in case you find a document that doesn't load properly in Foxit.

[via gHacks]

Filed under: Utilities, Freeware

Foxit Reader 2.2 released: Now with improved text select

Foxit 2.2Adobe may have innovated the PDF file format, but Foxit Reader is our favorite application for reading PDFs. That's because it's light-weight and blazing fast. You can open and close Foxit 2 or 3 times in the amount of time it takes Adobe Reader to load.

But while Foxit is light in terms of resources, it's also been a bit feature-light when it comes to things like copying text. Foxit 2.2 has an improved text copy feature, and a few other updates that make the program a full-fledged rival to Adobe Reader.
  • Search for text either in a single PDF file or in multiple PDF files.
  • Minimize to system tray
  • View the actual size of PDF pages
  • Better command line support
  • Bug fixes
The basic version of Foxit Reader is free. If you want to edit or annotate documents, you'll have to update to the Foxit Reader Pro pack.
[via CyberNet]

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