PDF Viewer with tabs

Question

Is there a non-bloated PDF viewer where I could open different chapters (pages) in the same PDF File in different tabs? I'm so tired of jumping around chapter to chapter. Especially, when I'm just trying to go to the appendix for a brief look.

Solution 1

No, there isn't. There are PDF readers (e.g. Foxit Reader) that can display different PDFs in separate tabs, but none of them can display different pages from the same document in separate tabs.

If you're using Adobe Reader then Alt + Left or Right Arrow will take you to the previous or next view, if you just want to flick between two pages.

Solution 2

Foxit Reader has multiple-tab support:

However, this is only for separate PDF files, not chapters within a single PDF file, so you won't be able to do this directly in the Foxit UI. However, you can come at it by getting your PDF into multiple files and then opening these as tabs in Foxit Reader. You can do one of the following to get your PDF into multiple files:

• If disk space is not an issue, just make separate copies of the PDF file.
• If disk space is a concern, use NTFS Link to easily create hardlinks of the original file. These will open up as separate tabs in Foxit.
• Use PDF Split and Merge to split the PDF chapters into individual PDFs

Solution 3

You can use Okular pdf reader. It can be installed with following command if you are using apt package:

sudo apt install okular

After installing Okular, you need to enable the multitab option as explained here.

Settings > Configrue Okular... > Program Features > Open new files in tabs

You can open the same document in the same window by drag and drop in different tabs.

Solution 4

It is possible to do it. Infact, I use this feature everyday. I have Foxit Reader version 3.0 (build 1506, but that should not matter)

1. Open a pdf document in foxit.
2. go to Window menu
3. click on New Window option.
4. Now you have two tabs of the same pdf document. you can keep the two different chapters and just switch between them by clicking on tabs!

I find this feature very helpful, but seems later versions of the foxit reader removed this options. Hence, I still use version 3.0

View more solutions

Comments

[Joey]

Note however, that Foxit is buggy with regards to Unicode file names. Open bug for a few years now and more than a note that they will fix it anytime I didn't get from them so far.

[xxl3ww]

Yea, I've had to steer clear of Foxit for this. Also, how do you do tabbed browsing in Foxit?

[rockit]

As far as I know, Foxit can let you view different PDF files in different tabs...but reading different chapters in different tabs? I'm not sure it can do that.

[arathorn]

@lsxek: Ah, I see. I'll update my answer a bit with a possible solution.

[Gnoupi]

I can't find such function in Foxit. I tried also to open again the same file (that would in a way provide different "pointers" on the text), but it recognized as being same file, and won't open another tab.

[xxl3ww]

Yea, Isxek hit the nail right on the head. Thanks for trying to find a solution. I've been looking all morning.

[xxl3ww]

I guess one work-around right now is to allow multiple instances and just open the file twice. That way I could have the appendix in one window and another chapter in the original window.

[rockit]

Hopefully PDF viewer software developers are reading this thread :)

[xxl3ww]

should i mark this as an accepted answer? i mean, maybe you're just 99.99% sure :D.