What is sumatra pdf. The most convenient and fastest reader is Sumatra pdf. How to make it the default program

Sumatra PDF is a universal program that is suitable for absolutely all users, because it allows you to work with documents. You can download sumatra pdf in Russian for free from the official website using the link below. The developer is Krzysztof Kowalczyk (Krzysztof Kowalczyk). He developed the program back in 2006 because of the growing popularity of the pdf format at that time.

The program is designed for use on Windows OS. Sumatra PDF is also intended for commercial use (organizations, firms, schools, institutes and other educational institutions). This is possible thanks to open source software.

The program competes with other well-known analogues (WinDjView, Adobe Reader, Foxit Reader and others). But it is smaller in size and, in terms of its parameters and capabilities, is not the last among similar applications. For example, compared to other applications, it is easy to use, has faster speed and better performance. In addition, it is free and has excellent rendering speed.
What are its capabilities? This is the ability to change the text scale according to parameters, view documents page by page or continuously, show 1 or 2 pages side by side.

Thus, Sumatra PDF allows you to view and work with formats such as pdf, xps, DjVu, ePub and others. It has all the necessary functions, while working quickly and using minimal PC system resources. You can download free sumatra pdf right now.

A little more about the functions of Sumatra Pdf. The application converts PDF files to TXT. It can be downloaded from portable (flash) devices, and no application installation is required. You can copy the text you need by selecting it with the mouse; search for specific text in a document; open the pdf file in a web browser. There are hotkeys to speed up work in the application. It is also important that Sumatra PDF can now be used for touch screens.

The application has a clear interface, quite simply designed. Hyperlinks that are present in the document are supported. Because of the MuPDF engine, word processing options become more efficient. So, you can change the scale of black and white images, for example, scans of documents, etc. But Acrobat Reader, for example, cannot do this.
It provides everything for the most convenient viewing of documents and their printing. However, there are certain disadvantages. For example, older printers may print documents a little slower. This happens due to the raster image into which the document page is converted.

The application is constantly updated, and the developers are trying to improve existing functionality and add new options to improve the performance of Sumatra PDF.

You can use one of the increasingly popular programs for viewing images and documents. To do this, you just need to download sumatra pdf for free from the link below.

To view PDF files A large number of programs have been created. Starting from complex, multifunctional applications and ending with simple reading programs.
If you need a minimalist program for PDF reader documents, then use Sumatra PDF. This program has a version that does not require installation, and a simple and intuitive interface will allow even an inexperienced PC user to understand the program.


The main difference between Sumatra PDF and other similar programs, such as PDF XChange Viewer, is the extreme simplicity of the interface. Here you won't find dozens of buttons and menus. All controls are several buttons and one drop-down menu. At the same time, the program contains all the necessary functions for comfortable PDF reading.

Despite the simplicity of the program, it is not inferior to other similar applications, such as Adobe Reader, in terms of PDF viewing. All the standard features for such programs are present: zooming out/increasing the document scale, rotating the document, viewing the document in 2 pages or in a spread.

The program is also capable of displaying PDF in presentation mode, in which switching between pages is done with a mouse click, and the document itself is displayed on Full Screen. This is useful when you need to show a PDF to the public.

Sumatra PDF is equipped search bar, allowing you to find the required fragment PDF document by word or phrase. In addition to PDF, the application supports a number of other electronic documents: Djvu, XPS, Mobi, etc.

Copy PDF content

You can copy the contents of a PDF document: text, images, tables, etc. for further use for your own purposes.

Print PDF

Printing a PDF document is also not a problem with Sumatra PDF.

Convert PDF to text file

With Sumatra PDF you can get text file from PDF. Just open the PDF in the program and save it as a text file.

Advantages of Sumatra PDF

1. Extremely simple appearance programs ideal for inexperienced PC users;
2. There is a portable version of the program;
3. The program is in Russian.

Cons of Sumatra PDF

1. Few additional features.

The simplicity of the Sumatra PDF program will even be a plus for some, since it allows you to minimize the number of steps required to view a PDF. Sumatra PDF will be an ideal option for older people - it is unlikely that they will be able to get confused in the five buttons and one menu of the application. Those who need something more functional should take a look at

Documentation PDF format popular in society, it is a convenient and universal format that is supported by almost all modern gadgets - from smartphones to computers, as well as a number of operating systems and platforms. One of the programs that opens documents of this format is Sumatra PDF.

What is this program and is it needed?

Sumatra PDF is a program that views files of the format PDF, DjVu, ePub, FB2, XPS only for operating system Microsoft Windows. This product is free and free. One of its distinctive features is its lightweight nature; the program does not require a large amount of memory (unlike Acrobat Reader). The amount of memory occupied is about 5 megabytes. This property is key, because often, when downloading a particular file and installing it on our device, we are concerned about the remaining memory.

Useful video

The video explains how to install and use the program. This is for those who perceive video information more easily.

The program was developed as portable, consisting of a single file and freed from external dependencies, so Sumatra PDF is a portable application, but the developers have created a second version - with installers.

Advantage Sumatra PDF has a minimalistic interface that is easy to understand even for a beginner.

The program supports the Russian language and provides the ability to copy the necessary part of the text being viewed, launch the program from command line and drag and drop, mouse swipe and customizable keyboard shortcuts. Sumatra PDF, due to its lightness and low weight, has good speed. The application remembers the place where you left off.

The program is based on the MuPDF engine, which allows you to more fully and correctly scale images in black and white mode. This is especially convenient when working with unrecognized scanned documents and books.

Let's note the disadvantages: in print mode, the page of the file being viewed is automatically converted into a raster image (a characteristic feature of this program); on older printer models, slow printing is possible. Also, when opening a file with images, the application may run slowly.

How to use?

Downloading a regular file

Use this program very easy. Once installed as the default program, we need to open required document the appropriate format. To make working with the program more convenient, it would be a good idea to change some settings.

To do this, we need to launch the program itself, click on the “Settings” button located on the top panel, then select “Options”, in the “Sumatra PDF Options” window that appears, change the “Default scale” to “Fit to width”, save the changes with the button "OK".


You can select your preferred method of displaying pages by clicking the “View” button - here there are two options: “Two pages” and “Page by page”.

It is possible to enable smooth scrolling of pages; to do this, click on the “Allow scrolling” button.

The “Rotate Left” and “Rotate Right” buttons rotate the page in the selected direction by 90 degrees.


Another function is to display pages as a presentation, with the page height taking up the entire height of your monitor. To do this, select the “Presentation” mode.

To display a document or book across the full width of the screen, select the "Full Screen" option.

The "Toolbar" contains the necessary tools, page navigation and a field to search the entire document.

How is the portable version different from the regular version?

The peculiarity of the portable version is that it does not require installation on a computer and does not make any changes while working on documents in the system. You can download the portable version of Sumatra PDF to your flash drive, after which you work with the program, using it on other devices and without transferring it from removable media.

It is important to remember that programs designed for a specific operating system will not work on other systems.

Download and install for free

To download the program, select a site with a Sumatra PDF download section, then download the program archive. After the necessary content has been downloaded, unzip the file contents into a folder on your computer (for convenience and quick finding, it is better to create a new one).

Next, it seems necessary to ensure that all documents and books that have formats pdf And djvu, were launched with a milking click through Sumatra PDF. Those. make the application the default program.

Next, in order for all books to be in pdf and djvu formats (also djv format, different from djvu format name only) opened from your computer by double-clicking on them, you need to install Sumatra PDF reader program default for these formats. This procedure is slightly different for Windows 7 and Windows XP, so I provide instructions for both systems.

How to make it the default program?


Portable version

To download the portable version, you need to find it on the website and download it directly to removable media, for example, a USB flash drive. Then also unzip the contents and start using the program with all existing functions on any computer.

Having understood the characteristics and features of the program, everyone will decide for themselves whether it is worth using this program or not. But in any case, it deserves attention, since it is not overloaded with unnecessary functions and is capable of doing the stated job perfectly.

Sumatra PDF is absolutely free application to open PDF documents in it, as well as files with extensions such as: .CBZ, .DjVu, .CHM, .CBZ, .CBR and .XPS. This application has a minimalist style interface, since the entire emphasis is on the functionality of the program, which consists in high speed processing supported documents when they are opened. If we compare this application with such a well-known program as Acrobat Reader, their speed differs significantly, and in favor of Sumatra PDF. This happens solely due to the presence in this program of a set of functions most necessary for the user.

In addition, the Sumatra PDF application has a very convenient plugin that can work with several browsers that are popular among users. Using it, you can open files without first saving them, but directly in the browser window.

This program has another interesting feature, which is that it has two options. The first includes the standard Sumatra PDF distribution, which will need to be installed on the computer with all the standard actions for such a situation: installing files in the default Program Files directory, as well as adding the necessary entries to system registry. The second version of this application is a portable version that does not require installation and consists of a single file, which can be launched from any external drive.

Additionally, it is worth noting that Sumatra PDF can be downloaded for free by any user who works with documents in the formats that this application supports, since the speed of working with these files will save a lot of time and effort for the people themselves who will actively use it.

Features of Sumatra PDF:

  • compact application size;
  • high speed of working with opened files;
  • the most simple and very clear interface;
  • integration into most popular browsers;
  • Availability of a compact portable version of the program.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that Sumatra PDF is suitable for all users without exception, even those who only speak their native language, since this application has a multilingual interface, which, among others, also has a Russian version.

In general, I read the comments and decided to compare “by eye”
I compared portable ones and on the same PDF file.
What is important is not so much the speed of opening as the loading of pages, moreover, with the transition from the end of the file to the beginning, then to the middle, etc.
For comparison, I took the rules board game- because there are a lot of pictures and there is a variety of fonts/text.
https://yadi.sk/i/AETn1WWedLUAY

My hard drives are relatively old and full + OS and PDF file on different logical ones, but one physical one; e-readers are on a different physical device, so everything is as slow as possible (no, not so much that you can fall asleep) but still))
Torrents and FireFox with many tabs are included (they don’t consume much, but in addition to RAM, they also take up hard drives)
Ram 8, chip - AMD Phenom 925
Files open with width scaling.
Stopwatch = count "one and two"

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Adobe Reader 9 (its folder has been lying around for a long time, so I added it to the comparison):
best speed; initially it’s not portable, but you don’t need to install it again (however, I think it doesn’t store the settings in its own folder - so that’s not quite right); folder with the program - fat 148MB (although, perhaps, there is something extra there))); as an editor - average.

I don’t even consider Adobe Reader XI 11.0.11 - Pro because of its enormous size:
second place in speed (in fact, sometimes faster, sometimes slower 9, but it feels like it’s slower in the end), but the big size is 194MB; many settings and editing capabilities; as an editor, I think it’s better than Foxit - and as a viewer it’s also faster.

Foxit Reader 7.2.5.930:
large size (122 when unpacking and using), but quite a lot additional functions, the speed is somewhat less than that of the AR.

SumatraPDF:
good for its size, but inferior in the speed of displaying and downloading PDFs, it is also exclusively a reader, without additional ones. functions. If you read “page by page” and not click, it loads pages faster than Foxit and sometimes even faster than AR.

Infix PDF editor v. 6.38 portable:
the size is average (65), but the speed.... hmm... however, unlike Sumatra, this is not just an e-reader... but when you have Foxit and Adobe...

STDU Viewer:
I really like the way the program is (both the size is 10MB and the functionality)... but the display speed...... is terrible...

Cool PDF Reader 3.1.6.308 ..... EXTREMELY slow... turned it off immediately - I don't recommend it to anyone.

I couldn’t find the rest of the portables, but based on the comments, they are all either in the same spirit as those discussed, or worse.

in general, Adobe and Foxit are noticeably faster than Sumatra.
If you flip through the document page by page, Sumatra, at times, turns out to be faster (however, AP9 almost does not overtake), but if you click on different parts of it, it begins to slow down and “thinks”, already, noticeably longer than Foxit and Adobe. Also, it takes longer to open the file itself.
Sumatra weighs less, but in essence - only viewing.

AR 9 is the fastest (now I'm looking for a portable one)))). 11 - somewhat slower, Foxit even slower...
and Sumatra is good only when read “page by page”; "-" no functionality "+" weight.