OS X: What PDF viewer do people use?

bjohas

Hello,

The OS X Preview app (at least up to 10.7) does have some problems, such as (repeated?) highlighting / annotation making the document unsearchable. I'm not sure whether the problem is to do with the search function, or with the way Preview saved annotated documents. I've experienced issues with Preview-annotated PDF documents with other tools as well (e.g. conversion to plain text), so it may be the saving of annotated documents that's an issue.

However, I do like Preview. It's relatively "clean", not bloated, no "paid-for add-ons". I like the way it opens several documents together, etc.

My question:

1. Does anybody have experience with Preview on OS X higher than 10.7? Have these issues been fixed by Apple?

2. What other PDF viewers do people use (on OS X, 10.7 or higher)?

Thanks!
Bjoern

bwiernik

I have never encountered the search issues you're experiencing with Preview on OS X 10.9 or 10.10. In general, I find Preview to meet all of my needs. I would recommend you try to update and see if the issues you're experiencing are resolved.

One recommendation you may read is to use Skim. Skim's an excellent program, but it uses a non-standard annotation system that doesn't work well with other programs. Annotations can't easily be emailed or copied to new computers, for example. It won't work with Zotfile's annotation features, and there have been some reports of other issues with Zotero's PDF importing and Skim annotations.

bjohas

Thanks, that's helpful!
Bjoern

bjohas

Follow up question - does anybody have a idea as to what damage Preview causes when annotating documents, and how to revert this? Removing highlights, or building a search index in Acrobat Pro, doesn't work.

Any thoughts?
Bjoern