Acrobat Reader and the " Portable Document Format " ( PDF ) were a blessing for Internet communications when they were first introduced. Thanks to this file format invented by Adobe, it was possible to share documents, preserving the formatting and modification of the same, regardless of the word processing software that was used to create it. Over time, the PDF format has become a worldwide standard for disseminating documents, both in the workplace and in the company, as well as in the home and school environment. Adobe has become rich and powerful and has tried to improve its Reader, the program created to read and open pdf files.
By improving and developing, always adding new additional features, Adobe Acrobat Reader has become a big and heavy programmer with a lot of functions useless for 99% of users.
From the first version to the last, version 10 Adobe Reader 11, it has gone from a 2 MB to a 35 MB software which after installing it occupies about 150 MB of space on the computer.
Practically, when you open a pdf file with Reader 9 the loading time and the memory used are tripled and it is not clear why.
The alternatives to Acrobat Reader are therefore used to read pdf files as if you were reading a web page, which opens quickly, even on older and less powerful computers.
The best programs to replace Adobe software are:
1) Sumatra PDF is the one most recommended by me, the lightest, portable one that should not be installed but works as it is and opensource, without advertising and for free.
2) Foxit Reader is a 3.56 MB software that installed occupies 7.14 MB but there is also an even lighter portable version.
Foxit's layout is very similar to Adobe Reader and has many of the same features. You can add notes, zoom in, search for text, view the document without images, and more.
Foxit Reader and SumatraPDf are discussed in another post on Programs to open PDF on PC .
3) Nitro PDF Reader, treated in another article, is a more solid and powerful program, with options for modification and conversion too.
4) SlimPDF is a small 1.4 MB software that allows you to read PDF documents quickly, with buttons for printing, zooming and rotation.
Very essential, perhaps a little less good than Sumatra but still a convenient better choice than the heavy Adobe reader.
5) PDF-Xchange Viewer is a more powerful software and without additions of advertising bars.
Overall, the download has a size of 17.9 MB while after installing it weighs about 25 MB.
There are several options for improving or decreasing the visual quality of a document and images.
The most important function is to insert text and fill in pdf document forms.
6) Perfect PDF Reader for Windows 10 is still a bit bigger but the installation package that weighs 22 MB also contains other programs that you don't need to install so once installed it doesn't exceed 15 MB. If you choose this reader to open the pdf files then remember to deselect everything except the Reader during the installation procedure. This time the interface is reminiscent of Office 2007, in fact it is practically identical in graphics with the icon on the left and the menu with the mixed items.
Curious the presence of a button that says "Open in Acrobat Reader"; but how, I use you to replace it and you want me to use it?
7) Cool PDF Reader is small, small, very light, portable and fast, it works without installation it does nothing but read the pdf files opening them in a moment as if you were surfing the internet. The only options are zooming in to zoom in or out and keys to switch pages back and forth.
8) For Mac OS X the best should be, but I await confirmation, the Skim program of about 9 MB.
9) For Linux Ubuntu instead the best PDf reader is Evince.
Who does not want to install any program, both for Mac, for Linux and Windows, you can open the pdf with Google Chrome browser.
Finally, I remember that if you used LibreOffice instead of Microsoft Office as Suite Office, you would open PDF directly from Word.
In addition, Google Docs opens PDFs directly using the internet browser while GMail allows you to read attachments and PDF documents that are received in e-mail.
