Open any PDF in your browser without installing Adobe Reader. The viewer uses the same kind of open-source PDF engine that web browsers use to display PDFs, so text, fonts, vector graphics and images are drawn faithfully.
Features
- Page navigation and jump to page
- Zoom, fit to width and full screen
- Text search across the document
- Print and download
- Handles JPEG 2000 and JBIG2 images found in scanned documents
When to use it
It is handy on shared or work computers where you cannot install software, on Chromebooks, or when a PDF opens incorrectly in your default app. Some mail apps and phone previews show only the first page, drop images or show blank pages for scanned documents; opening the same file here usually shows all of it.
Common problems
| What happens | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Search finds nothing | The PDF is a scan, so its pages are pictures | Get the text with PDF to Text, which reads scanned pages |
| A notice says the PDF is encrypted | It is password-protected | Open it in an app where you can enter the password |
| Some letters look slightly different | A font is not embedded in the file | The text is still correct; standard fonts are used as a substitute |
| A large file is slow on a phone | Every page is drawn on your device | Jump to the page you need instead of scrolling, or use a computer |
Search tips
- Search finds words in PDFs that contain real text: exports from Word, invoices from billing software, e-books and most bank statements.
- If you can select a word with the mouse, you can search for it. If the whole page highlights like an image, it is a scan.
- Numbers may be written with spaces or different separators than you expect, so search for part of a number, such as the last four digits.
Working with the PDF
This page shows the PDF and does not change it. When you need to do more:
- Merge PDF to join several files into one
- Split PDF to keep only some pages
- Compress PDF to make a large file smaller
- PDF to JPG to turn pages into images
The PDF is opened from your device and drawn in the browser tab, so bank statements, contracts and medical letters are not sent anywhere.