Just like Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader has been standard for viewing PDF files for years. However, Most used is not always better, once snappy and light Adobe Reader is now too much bloated, filled with too many options and too heavy on size.
This makes Adobe Reader slow and heavy on resources.
Sure it comes with many bells and whistles, Not everyone needs them. If your work does not involve PDF signing and heavy annotating, Following are some of the best Adobe Reader Alternatives.
Microsoft Edge
An Adobe Reader alternative list kicking off with a Web browser? Yes, Microsoft Edge and almost all modern web browsers have necessary components to show PDF documents. Unlike other software, you don’t have to worry about software updates because web browsers are generally automatically updated.
To open a PDF File in Google Chrome or Any other web browser, right click on it and from the menu, click on Open With> Microsoft Edge.
SumatraPDF
SumatraPDF is my default PDF viewer and if you need more powerful PDF viewer than a web browser, it should be the fist one to see.
SumatraPDF is small and light, it can open PDF files quickly and it is compatible with most PDF Files.
Despite being small, it has many important features such as a start page listing all the recently opened files, A tabbed window to manage multiple opened documents, a system to create nad manage favorites and more. If you want an Adobe Reader Alternative that is fast and feature rich, SumatraPDF is best for you.
Foxit Reader
It is not the smallest but surely it os one the prettiest alternative to Adobe Reader. Foxit reader was created to compete directly with Adobe Reader and in many aspects, it does that. FoxIt has two UIs to manage document viewing, the first one is new Ribbon UI which looks and feels like Microsoft Office ribbon.
The other one is older Menu bar and toolbar system that looks like Adobe Reader. If you want, you can change colour from the Options in Foxit Reader.
Cool PDF Reader
It is cool because it is only 3.5 MB in size, Cool PDF Reader is a freeware and it can open many other file formats such as JPG, GIF, PNG, WMF, EMF etc.
It is straight forward and easy to use. You don’t need to dig in thousands of menus and options, with Cool PDF Reader, you can open PDF Files, Zoom In and Out, take snapshots and print them too. The reader is also available in a standalone version which does not installation.
TL; DR
So, in conclusion, Following are the best Adobe Reader Alternatives:
- Sumatra PDF
- Cool PDF Reader
- Foxit Reader
- Built in PDF viewer in Microsoft Edge Browser
Do you know about any other Adobe Reader Alternative? Which one do you prefer? Share with us in the comments below.
