Selecting a 'Reader'

In an upcoming release of our version 7 products, we are going to remove Adobe’s Acrobat Reader from the installation. Right now, if you do not have a Reader installed on your workstation, our install detects this and asks if you would like us to install Acrobat Reader. A ‘Reader’ is a free tool that allows you to view and print Portable Document Format (PDF) files. If you’ve ever opened a PDF online, you have some form of Reader installed. For example, you need a Reader to view the user guides on our website.

We’ve found that providing this option really isn’t necessary since nearly everyone already has a Reader installed, and because we want our users to have the latest version of their reader – something we cannot update between releases.

Available Readers
While Adobe’s Acrobat Reader is the most prominent (and most feature-rich), there are a lot of other free Readers out there as well. I’ve read some good reviews on these applications, but I can’t really recommend any because I’ve only used Adobe’s Reader. However, if you are interested in other options, a quick Google search will yield plenty of results. Wikipedia even has a complete list of free Readers and categorizes them according to operating systems.

Just keep in mind, you might be able to find a tool that takes up less space on your hard drive, or something a little faster, but that’s probably because it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that come packaged with Acrobat Reader. For example, Foxit Reader's download size is 2.55 MB, which is less than half the size of Acrobat's, and Foxit promises to launch instantly, without any delay. That probably sounds appealing to most users, just be sure you aren't leaving any needed, and free, functionality on the table.

If you are interested in Acrobat Reader, you can download the latest version (currently 8.1.2) from the Adobe’s website at no charge.