Long before PDF, everyone had to have Microsoft Office to view documents created by others and this posed a lot of problems in terms of acquiring such an expensive software. But then came the viewers and instead of problems with opening it, it was more a problem of presentation. In came Adobe Reader with its PDF format and it seems that all was saved. Until you try opening one on a Pocket PC (PPC).

If you have tried the solution for PPC provided by Adobe , you might realize that some PDF files just cannot be opened. This seems kind of surprising to me considering they themselves created the format. But with an ever-vibrant Windows Mobile community, Sebastian Eifert has come up with a solution in PocketXpdf.

Currently in v0.50, this product has not been updated since 2006 but that does not seem to be a problem because it works well on Windows Mobile 2003 and Windows Mobile 5 as stated on the website. I have been running it on my Windows Mobile 6 device for some time now and it runs just as well. So no issues there. Because this program is licensed under GPL, you are FREE to use it in any way you want. For those interested in coding, the source is also available for your playing.

Functions

This program only does basic rendering of PDF files so you can only read them on your PPC. Edits are currently not available at this time and as development has been handed over to CVS , there is no news as to its future. Nonetheless, scrolling, moving from page to page, zooming in and out and even rotation functions are available. In addition, you can also save bookmarks on the PDF file, very useful if you are reading an ebook.

Bonus Feature

One thing I like about this program is it that it allows you to view your PDF as a text file as seen below. This is very useful if you just want the gist of the file and no spend time scrolling back and forth due to the graphics. Its definitely a nifty feature to have on the PPC which has a small screen for display.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a PDF reader for your PPC, look no further than PocketXpdf. It does what it needs to do and does it well. The $0.00 price tag that comes with it makes it even more enticing.

Tags: free software