Rating and comments for Sumatra PDF

It's quite good, very basic pdf viewer. The main disadvantage of this program is that you can't select and copy text form pdf's documents.

Super fast! It's faster than Foxit Reader and it doesn't exhibit any problems with the PDF files I read (musical scores). Foxit had refresh issues with these files. Adobe Reader didn't, but neither come close to Sumatra's speed.

anonymous said....

a>...I read (musical scores). Foxit had refresh issues with these files. Adobe Reader didn't, but neither come close ...

I also read jazz charts and find when I use Acrobat to capture a chart using the 'graphics select tool' and save it to my file viewer (Vueprint), the quality of the graphic page is much less. The printing of that capture is also poor.

Aside from the full version of Acrobat, is there software including Sumatra, that will capture a page from the Real Book and paste the chart accurately or with minimal loss
into Vueprint or other graphics reader?

cheers

Wayne Renardson
wayne at renardson dot org

I just come back from restarting XP. Restart was necessary due to Adobe Reader's request during deinstallation ;-)

5 Stars for
- speed
- being a viewer, no more, no less
- window layout (document only - nagging icons etc. gone to hell)
- using ~5.6 MB of RAM (Adobe Reader: ~113 MB)
- speed!

Very fast!
sumatra is Open source (gpl)
foxit is freeware!

Pro:
Its fast, lighting fast compared to adobe reader.

Cons:
You litterly have no functionality, besides zoom. You can't select text, if there are book marks you will not be able to access them. Doesn't play media, show comments, etc. etc.

This is just ment to read pdfs and not waste time loading adobes over bloated reader.

I found it not to work properly with Stagecoach bus time tables so I had to opt for the official bloated client :(.

To address a comment above, you can select text if you hold down the Control key and drag with the left mouse button.

Sorry for the thumbs down, but not being able to select or copy text is a complete showstopper.

Nice, but I hate not being to select-copy text, and that mouse scrolling scrolls pages not text per se.

Not bad, but rendering speed is pretty bad compared to Adobe Reader (startup speed is not everything, people!) and has many compatibility problems.

Main advantage is that it allows overwriting the PDF that is open, and will automatically reload it. Great as a previewer for TeX when it works.

As noted above, you CAN COPY AND PASTE TEXT IN SUMATRA!

To copy and paste:

HOLD DOWN CTRL, THEN CLICK WITH LEFT MOUSE BUTTON AND HIGHLIGHT THE TEXT YOU WANT TO COPY

ONCE HIGHLIGHTED, CTRL+C TO COPY

CTRL+V TO PASTE

It is not super precise and sometimes picks up bits and pieces you did not intent do, but it doesn't bother me.

The program is fast, but I haven't used any image-intense documents yet. I like the way it looks, and others said, it's less RAM intensive.

Can't say much about compatibility issues yet either...

Need more experience.

Also I am confused by the "and that the mouse scrolls pages not text per se" comment. When I scroll, it just goes up and down.. it doesn't JUMP from page to page, which to me is what that comment implies.

Anyway, check it out!

Great fast and light weight, but copy text would be needed for a permanent replacement. But great while waiting for 9.2 Adobe problems to be fixed!

Wouldn't open my pdf and doesn't integrate into OS.

It's speedy, opens all my PDFs, and makes a great counterpart
to PDF Creator if you're stuck using Windows. And, unlike
Acrobat Reader 9.3 (latest version as of today) it isn't
vulnerable to the many viral PDFs out there, which auto-
preview in Outlook and install malware right under your nose.

I suggest that the developer integrates the select/copy/paste
functionality into the menus and toolbar, because otherwise
most users will not be able to find it (using CTRL-Drag).
Other than that, very impressed, great alternative to Adobe
bloatware. I previous tried Foxit, but I definitely prefer
Sumatra.

The latest 1.1 version for windows is fast, small and works well. I like it.

I tested many shareware, trialware, freeware, and open source
PDF readers, and (for Windows) this is the best. With Adobe
getting more and more bloated, and installing adware with
their products, this is the perfect solution. Small, fast,
simple.