FoxIT PDF Reader/Converter vs Adobe Acrobat Reader

[zepper]

Hey All,

. I just found out about this FoxIT PDF reader/converter this weekend (on a local computer talk show on radio) and thought you all might want to know. It has been mentioned in another thread but I think it deserves a thread of its own.

. Have you ever wondered why the Adobe Acrobat (PDF file) reader is so cumbersome and bloated? Why when you download a PDF directly into the Adobe plug-in in your browser, it is so much slower than downloading it to disk and then loading it into the reader? And what about the splash screen and slow loading of the plug-in - and the update hassle which seems like all the time...

. Well, now you don't have to deal with those annoyances any more. Just download the ~1MB zip file, expand it into the directory (folder) where you want it and run it. And if you need oriental character support (I seem to get that message a lot when loading .PDFs), FoxIT has you covered, but the file is bigger than the .zip of the program (but still under 2MB). Just download that into the folder where you put your your FoxIT reader program and you're set.
. Not only does the program read PDFs, it also converts files from most any program into PDFs by acting as a printer driver - just print your file to FoxIT and voila!
. Well Adobe's reader and its add-ons are gone from my system and I have about 100 more free MB of hard drive space than I had before and my PDF handling is now both FAST and hassle-free.
. It also works with IE and other browsers to automatically display PDFs, but I found that with Mozilla I had to uninstall Adobe before it would let me use FoxIT to display the PDFs. I had to set up FoxIT as a "helper" program. Its Mime Type is: application/pdf and its file extension is pdf .

There ya go - enjoy!

Download it from MajorGeeks (www.MajorGeeks.com) or direct from the author at FoxIT (http://www.foxitsoftware.com) - he has a few other neat items that might interest you. If you DL from MG's mirrors, you may get an older version than direct from the author's site.

.bh.

Bumpage is appreciated!

:D

[dajogejr]

Free bump.

I'll have to try it out. I have a few girls in marketing that have used acrobat pro for a while...they create pdfs from word and publisher. I'll have to check on the speed for them...

Thanks for the info...

[TempTunz]

I use the Foxit PDF Editor as well as the full Acrobat7. Foxit is better at object level editing than Acrobat but Acrobat will open many files than Foxit will not. We need A7 to maintain compatibility with our association. The Foxit editor's page handling capabilities are rather lame compared to Acrobat but I see now that Foxit has a separate app for that. By the time you add up all the Foxit components, you may not be saving much. That said, if you are in the publishing business and receive a lot of PDFs from advertisers that just want a few changes made, one should not be without the Foxit Editor.
As for the reader, I was impressed with its speed but was disappointed to find that any changes made with the Typewriter feature, which, presumably, is meant mainly for filling out PDF forms, are not saved when you thought that they had been saved. There is nothing to indicate that they were not saved unless you manually check the file. Apparently, this feature is reserved for the payware version of the reader. Another disappointment was - no help file to explain any of these things.
Because it does not require installation though, it gladdens those of us who like to load up our USB flash drives with small, handy apps. That, in itself is enough for me to give it 4 out of 5 stars. :D

[dajogejr]

Because it does not require installation though, it gladdens those of us who like to load up our USB flash drives with small, handy apps. That, in itself is enough for me to give it 4 out of 5 stars. :D

True dat...grabbed my keychain once I got done posting this.

Adobe reader is a good sized download...even with broadband.
This is a nice little handy app for tight spots!!

;)