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Lightweight PDF Reader Sumatra reaches version 3.0

There are two core options when it comes to reading pdf documents on your computer that are hosted on the Internet. The first is to read the document right in the browser, either by using the browser's native option to to so or by using a third-party plugin or extension that adds the capability to the program. Google Chrome and Firefox support this for example out of the box.

The second option is to download the pdf document to the local system to read it there. The advantage of this method is that desktop readers are usually more powerful than browser solutions and that the document is stored on the computer in the process so that it can be opened at any time again without having to download it again.

Sumatra is a popular pdf reader for Windows. One of the main reasons for its popularity is that it is lightweight, but that is not the only reason.

The author of the program releases new versions regularly that add new functionality to the application or fix bugs, all without bloating the program in the process.

Sumatra 3.0 has been released a couple of days ago and it is as usual available as a portable version or installer. The jump from version 2.5.2 to 3.0 is a major one and the changelog reflects that as it is quite large and introduces several new interesting features.

sumatra 3.0

The first thing that you will notice is that the yellow background is gone that the program used to start with and that tabs are now enabled by default. It is still possible to go back to the old user interface under Settings > Options > Advanced > Use Tabs if that is that is preferred.

As far as support for new features is concerned, this is new:

  • Support for PalmDoc ebooks.
  • Support for CB7 and CBT comic book formats.
  • Support for LZMA and PPMd compression in CBZ comic books.
  • Table of contents and links in ebook UI.
  • Comic book files can now be exported to pdf.

That is not all though. Sumatra supports a new measurement user interface which you can activate with a tap on the m key on the keyboard. doing so switches between pt, mm and in.

Some key-bindings have changed. You can press F11 now to go fullscreen and F5 to enter presentation mode. The old key-bindings are still valid as well though.

The unrar file that has been used previously by the application has been replaced with another one. This can cause issues with some CBR files. The author of Sumatra suggests to download the file unrar.dll from Rarlabs and to place it in Sumatra's directory to resolve the issue.

Another change concerns Sumatra's browser plugin. It has been deprecated but will be kept on systems were it was installed in an earlier version.

Last but not least, new advanced settings have been added: FullPathInTitle, UseSysColors and UseTabs.

This article was first seen on ComTek's "TekBits" Technology News

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