Over time, PDF readers have earned themselves a bad rep as slow, lumbering beasts – thanks primarily to Adobe Reader. Sumatra PDF stands out by being small, slimline, lightweight and lightning fast – something Adobe Reader couldn’t claim for itself.
It also supports multiple languages and provides convenient hotkey commands to make page navigation simpler; unfortunately it’s only available for Windows platforms.
Fast
Adobe Reader may have earned itself a bad rap as being slow and cumbersome; but Sumatra PDF stands out from its counterparts with its lightweight application that starts quickly, loads quickly, runs efficiently on Windows systems, and offers an intuitive layout and set of viewing modes for comfortable reading on-the-go.
Krzysztof Kowalczyk and Simon Bunzli’s open source software is widely recognized for its performance and efficiency, making minimal use of system resources while taking up minimal disk space. Furthermore, its user interface offers various hotkey commands to navigate pages easily while making updates or making modifications to documents quickly and effortlessly.
The latest version, 1.3, enhances both speed and functionality by increasing image rendering speed and decreasing memory usage. This was one of the primary goals of the project which sought to provide an alternative PDF reader that wasn’t as system-burdening than Adobe Reader; for those that require quick and effortless document navigating abilities this reader is an excellent solution. Though not packed with features it still makes life easier.
While different users will respond differently depending on their individual needs and tastes, most will agree that the program is lightweight, fast, and user-friendly compared to programs like Adobe Reader. Some have even praised it as an easier user-experience.
Sumatra PDF’s primary drawback is being limited to Windows systems only, which may limit some users who need access their files on multiple devices with different operating systems for work purposes. As a result, others may prefer having additional PDF solutions handy as backup when necessary – for instance Wondershare PDFelement – PDF Editor is one such full-featured PDF solution which works well on Windows, Mac and Android platforms and boasts similar loading speed as Sumatra PDF.
Simple
Sumatra PDF takes an uncluttered approach to reading PDF files. Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, its primary focus is providing users with essential tools for accomplishing the job at hand. As a result, this lightweight reader is extremely user-friendly and won’t clog up their computers with unnecessary features.
Adobe Reader’s light footprint makes it one of the best alternatives to Adobe Reader for users who do not wish to tax their system with heavyweight applications, yet still want a reliable reader capable of handling large documents without any delays or lags in response time. Furthermore, this reader offers various viewing modes so users can customize their display and aid with navigation.
Additionally, this tool offers an easy text translation feature. Users can select text and then let the program translate it using one of several available services – Google Translate and DeepL are currently supported; more translation services can be added by editing a configuration file with text editing software.
Sumatra PDF offers another impressive feature in its ability to send documents directly through email from within its UI, saving time for those constantly proofing and sending PDFs out for review. This could prove very handy for individuals responsible for proofing and sending PDFs around for proofing or client review.
This reader is ideal for anyone seeking to organize their library of EBooks and PDFs, with its portability making it ideal for carrying with them on a USB drive. Furthermore, this device doubles up as an eBook reader by opening both ePub and Mobi files effortlessly.
Sumatra PDF now provides support for highlighting and underlining, text search and navigation toolbar, allowing users to search for specific words or phrases within documents to jump directly to them, window size adjustment and zoom level configuration controls are also included. This free PDF viewer is recommended for anyone in search of an easy, fast and lightweight alternative to Adobe Reader; download from official website or FileHorse today.
Portable
Sumatra PDF was designed to assist with PDFs and EBooks of any variety. Furthermore, its portable nature makes it ideal for taking an eBook library anywhere with them using USB storage – perfect for frequent PDF proofreaders who must send off documents at work without first needing to install a program first! This portable feature also makes the proofing of documents easier as users simply carry around a portable drive containing their library of books for review before sending.
Not only is the software portable and fast, it is also extremely light. Requiring only minimal amounts of memory (RAM) and CPU processing power, it offers an intuitive user-friendly experience for computers with limited processing power. Users can annotate documents by highlighting, underlining, striking out or doing squiggly underlines; or read documents in dark mode for comfortable usage under low light conditions.
Although it does have some restrictions, PDF Reader Pro remains one of the fastest and easiest PDF readers available. While not intended as a full replacement for Adobe Acrobat Reader, PDF Reader Pro offers lightweight reading of both PDFs and XPS files while supporting various fonts.
This program is free to use and comes as a single executable file that runs directly off a USB drive, not writing to the registry and needing no installation process or components for setup. It makes an excellent alternative to other PDF viewers that tend to be bulky and slow down computer performance.
Sumatra PDF reader is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X platforms and maintained by its developer on their official website, with documentation and updates. The most recent release version, 1.4.3 was made available in June 2018 with minimal dependencies like GD, FFmpeg and Qt libraries required for operation and works across any X11 Window System compatible system. Krzysztof Kowalczyk and Simon Bunzli lead its development while it has been translated into multiple languages to make Sumatra an excellent lightweight PDF reader solution!
Free
Sumatra PDF is an incredibly straightforward free and open-source PDF reader that is both straightforward and user-friendly. Unlike Adobe Reader or similar programs that may be slow or cumbersome to load, Sumatra PDF’s lightweight interface makes for an effortless reading experience. While its feature set doesn’t match that of its competitors such as annotation or form filling functionality, Sumatra PDF still excels at viewing PDFs efficiently.
This program also allows users to customize their user interface by changing keyboard shortcuts and choosing from dark and light themes. Furthermore, the software supports various document formats including PDF, ePub, MOBI, XPS, DjVu, CHM and Comic Book Archive (CBZ and CBR) files for viewing. Furthermore, password-protected PDF documents can be opened with ease as can text in different languages be displayed alongside full-screen mode and sidebar bookmarks for ease of navigation.
Sumatra PDF’s light design makes it the ideal solution for those with older computers or lower sec netbooks that use minimal resources, like older notebooks and netbooks. Furthermore, its minimal system resource consumption makes it portable; even on portable devices. With an intuitive user interface offering language options as well as search and zoom functions for searching documents quickly; thumbnail previews for recently opened documents as well as various keyboard commands make working with Sumatra PDF much simpler than other PDF readers available today.
Though Sumatra PDF does not match Adobe’s PDF reader for features and capabilities, it still proves an effective alternative with low memory footprint and regular updates that keep it current and functional. Users can customize the graphical user interface by changing toolbar, background and color schemes to their taste. Furthermore, this program remembers their last page and bookmarks for easy access. Additionally, this app can customize document layout to the user’s preference and offers various display modes such as fit to width/height/full screen/presentation. Furthermore, multiple languages are supported, while you can even hide toolbars, scroll bars and bookmarks to maximize viewing area.
