Ubuntu – What PDF viewers are available for Ubuntu

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Every second e-mail I get suggests to download Adobe Acrobat reader, but adobe.com doesn’t provide a Linux version.

Which PDF Viewer are there available for Ubuntu?
I’m fine with partial solutions, a perfect match however would not only display PDF files, but also be able to:

  • stageless zoom (not just predefined steps)
  • open files in tabs
  • display comments added with other PDF software
  • add and save comments
  • display forms filled in with other PDF software
  • fill in and save PDF forms
  • create and save bookmarks
  • have a presentation mode

Best Answer

Lightweight

  • evince - the default document viewer on Gnome/Ubuntu, with support for PDF, PostScript, and a few other formats. Can fill forms, highlight text, and annotate. Normal text selection. Remembers window size and document zoom. Dark mode. [install]

  • qpdfview (see answer) - tabbed interface, can fill forms, remembers window size and document zoom. Block selection by holding Shift. [install]

  • MuPDF - extremely fast and minimalistic. Block selection by dragging with the right mouse button, search with /. Can't annotate, fill forms, sign, or anything else. Doesn't remember the zoom factor, or the window size/position. [install]

  • Zathura - extremely fast and minimalistic (uses the MuPDF ending via a plugin system). Keyboard-navigation, bookmarks, auto-reload on changes. Block selection by dragging with the left mouse button. No form filling or other features. Doesn't remember the zoom factor, or the window size/position. [install]

  • xpdf - "Xpdf is a small and efficient program which uses standard X fonts". Lightweight, but with outdated interface. [install]

  • gv - an old lightweight pdf viewer with an old interface. Size of the package is only 580k. gv is an X front-end for the Ghostscript PostScript(TM) interpreter. [install]

Full-featured

  • okular - Multi-format document viewer (PDF, CHM, ePub, others). Requires many KDE prerequisites. Can easily copy text and images. May be slow and have issues with printing. [install]

  • Browsers like Firefox and Chromium derivatives also have great support for PDF viewing and form filling, but no support for annotations or signatures.

Non-FOSS

  • Foxit Reader - View, create, convert, annotate, print, collaborate, share, fill forms and sign.

  • PDF Studio Viewer - free version can annotate, fill&save forms. Paid versions can sign, OCR, split/merge/insert/remove/rotate pages, add watermarks/header/footer/bookmarks, edit, redact, compare, optimize, batch process etc.

  • Master PDF Editor - View, create, modify, fill forms, sign, scan, OCR, annotate, split/insert/remove/rotate pages, add bookmarks. Free version allows editing text and objects, annotating, and filling forms.

Unsupported/outdated

  • kpdf - Extremely outdated (2008) PDF viewer based on xpdf, for KDE 3. [install]
  • acroread - Adobe Acrobat Reader, no longer supported for Linux by Adobe, seems to be no longer supported by Ubuntu.
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