View PDF Files

• Open a PDF File
• Save a PDF File
• Render Text, Line Art, and Thin Lines
• Read PDF Files in Multiple Instances
• Adjust PDF Views
• Read PDFs with Read Out Loud
• Display Rulers, Guides, Grids, and Line Weights
• Toggle Ruler
• View PDF/A Files
• View PDF Portfolios
• View 3D Content in PDFs
• Search & Index in PDFs
• Take a Snapshot of Selected PDF Contents
• Navigate PDF Files
• Word Count
• Compare PDF Files

Open a PDF File

Please choose one of the following to open a PDF file with Foxit PDF Editor:

• Launch Foxit PDF Editor, then drag and drop the PDF file in the Foxit PDF Editor workspace.
• Right-click the PDF file, and choose Open With Foxit PDF Editor.
• If you have set Foxit PDF Editor as the default PDF reader, you can double-click the PDF file directly to open it with Foxit PDF Editor.
• Click the Open button on the Quick Access toolbar, or choose File in the menu bar > Open. In the Open dialog box, select the PDF file, and click Open.
• Choose File in the Ribbon > Open, and do any of the following:
  • To open a recently-opened PDF file, click Recent Documents > select the PDF file from the Recent Documents list.
  • To open a PDF file from your local device, click Computer > Browse > select the PDF file > click Open.
  • To open a file in your ECM systems(iManage10 and Microsoft SharePoint) or cloud services (Google Drive, OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, Dropbox, and Box), click Add a place, and choose Add under the ECM or cloud service that you want to connect to. For more information, please refer to "Share PDF Files".
    Tip: If you select a non-PDF file (Microsoft Office, image, HTML, TXT file, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides), Foxit PDF Editor will convert it to PDF. For more information about PDF creation and conversion, please refer to "Create and Convert PDF Files".
• Click the Start tab, and click any file in the Recent file list (if any) to open a recently opened file, or click Open File to open a file from your local device.

Save a PDF File

By default, Foxit PDF Editor saves the changes to a file every 5 minutes automatically in case of system crash or power failure. If the application closes abnormally before you can save changes to a file, Foxit PDF Editor opens the recovery file automatically the next time you open it. The recovery file contains your changes up until the last time Foxit PDF Editor saved the document. You can change the time interval settings in Preferences > Documents > Save Setting > Automatically save file every x minutes.

After editing your PDF file, choose File > Save (or click the Save button in the Quick Access Toolbar) to save and replace the original file. You can also choose File in the Ribbon > Save As to save the PDF file as a copy in your local disks, ECM servers, or cloud servers. Using the Save As command also allows you to save the PDF file in other formats (e.g., Microsoft Office, HTML, or image files).

Foxit PDF Editor allows you to configure the preferred save as location so that your preferred location will be automatically chosen in the Save As dialog box when prompted to specify a location to save a document. To add a preferred save as location, please go to the File tab (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Documents > Preferred Save As Location. Then click Browse to select the location, or input the location in the Preferred Save As Location field. If you need to remove the configured output location, just delete the directory path in the Preferred Save As Location field.

Render Text, Line Art, and Thin Lines

While rendering PDF files, Foxit PDF Editor automatically smooths the jagged edges of text and line art (including path and shading objects) and enhances thin lines to improve their appearance and readability. To change the default settings, please go to File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Page Display, and modify the following options in the Rendering group.

• Smooth text: Optimally adjust text display that best suits your monitor. The “For Laptop/LCD Screens” option is selected by default. For legacy monitors, please choose Monitor instead. To turn off the smooth text rendering, please choose None.
• Smooth line art: Remove the abrupt angles in lines to make them smoother. Uncheck the option to turn off the feature.
• Enhance thin lines: Enhance the display of thin lines to make them more visible. Uncheck the option to turn off the feature.

Read PDF Files in Multiple Instances

By default, Foxit PDF Editor displays multiple PDF files in different tabs in a single instance. However, you can enable multiple instances mode to view PDF files in multiple instances when double-click to open PDF files, which is ideal for reading PDF side by side.

To enable multiple instances mode, choose File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Documents, check the Allow multiple instances option in Open Setting group, and click OK to apply the setting. While in multiple instances mode, you can revert to single instance mode by redoing the steps and unchecking the Allow multiple instances option.

Adjust PDF Views

Change the Page Display Mode

For a PDF file that does not include the preset page layout, Foxit PDF Editor will open it with the default page display mode or the last viewing settings (if you have enabled the application to restore the last view settings when reopening PDF files in Preferences > History). To change the default page display mode, please go to the File tab (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Page Display > Default Layout and Zoom, and select the desired option from the Page layout drop-down list. To change the page display mode while reading PDF files, click View in the Ribbon (or choose View in the menu bar > Page Display), and choose any of the following options:

• Single Page: Display one page at a time.
• Continuous: Display the pages in a continuous vertical column.
• Facing: Display a certain number of pages (two or more pages) side by side at a time. 
• Continuous Facing: Display facing pages side by side in a continuous vertical column.
• Separate Cover Page: Display the cover page separately. This option is only available when you select Facing or Continuous Facing mode.

By default, Foxit PDF Editor displays two pages side by side at a time in Facing or Continuous Facing mode. You can custom the display settings using the following two options by choosing File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Page Display.

• Custom facing: Set the number of pages displayed side by side in Facing or Continuous Facing mode. It is set to be two pages by default. You can input any integer between 2 and 99.
• Custom margin: Set the margins between pages with Facing or Continuous Facing page layout. The default is a margin of 8 pixels. You can input any integer between 0 and 100.

Read a PDF in Full Screen Mode

In Full Screen mode, Foxit PDF Editor Document Pane fills the entire screen, with Tab and Navigation pane hidden behind. The mouse pointer remains active in Full Screen mode so that you can click links.

Set Full Screen Preferences

Before reading a PDF file in Full Screen mode, you can set the Full Screen preferences which include appearances, transitions, and panels that can be shown in the Full Screen mode.

• Choose  File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences to open the Preferences dialog box.
• Choose Full Screen in the Preferences dialog box, and then do the following:
  • In the Full Screen Navigation group, you can specify how to navigate through PDF files in Full Screen Mode.
    • Specify whether to show the scroll bar, status bar, tab bar, navigation panels, exit button or not in Full Screen mode by checking or unchecking the corresponding option in the Full Screen Navigation group.
    • By default, Foxit PDF Editor will display a single page at a time in Full Screen mode. To display pages continuously in Full Screen mode, uncheck the One page at a time option.
    • Usually, you can page through a PDF document in Full Screen mode by scrolling the mouse wheel, or pressing Space, Shift + Space or the arrow keys. You can check the Left click to go forward one page; right click to go back one page option to move to the previous or next page by left-clicking or right-clicking anywhere on the document pane.

      Tip: If you need to use the context menu (for example, to adjust the page views) in Full Screen mode, please keep the Left click to go forward one page; right click to go back one page option unchecked.

    • If you scroll a PDF document automatically in Full Screen mode, automatic scrolling stops when the last page is fully displayed. If you need to return to the first page and page through a PDF file continuously, check the Loop after last page option.
    • To specify the frequency to automatically advance from page to page in Full Screen mode, please check the Advance every _ seconds option, and input a number (any integer between 1 and 99999). With this setting enabled, you can still page through a document manually using your mouse or keyboard shortcuts.
  • In the Full Screen Appearance group, click the color palette to choose the background color in Full Screen mode.
  • In the Full Screen Transitions group, choose a default transition and its direction from the drop-down list. If you need to control the page transition based on your navigation direction, check the Navigation control direction option. To ignore all transitions, check the Ignore all transitions option. Please note that the default transition settings in Preferences are specific to the application. The page transitions specified in a PDF document (if any) will prevail over the default settings.
• Click OK in the Preferences dialog box to apply the settings.

Enter and Exit Full Screen Mode

• To enter Full Screen mode, choose View in the menu bar > Full Screen, or click the Full Screen Mode button in the status bar.
• To exit Full Screen mode, click the Exit Full Screen Mode button on the top right corner, or press the Esc key.

Add Page Transitions

While reading a PDF file, you can add or edit the page transitions in the Full Screen mode. The changes can be saved in the PDF file so that users who open your PDF file with the supported application can page through the document in the Full Screen mode with the transition effect you have specified. 

To add or edit the page transitions of a PDF file, please follow the steps below:

• Do one of the following to open the Page Transitions dialog box:
  • Choose View in Ribbon > Page Transitions.
  • Right-click any page thumbnail in the Pages panel or the thumbnail window, and choose Page Transitions.   
• In the Page Transitions dialog box, choose the transition effect, direction, and speed from the Page Transition group, specify the page range that you want to apply the operation in the Page Range group, and click OK.  
• After applying the settings, you can instantly view the pages with the transition effect specified in the Full Screen mode. If you need to keep the changes in your PDF file, choose File > Save (or click the Save button  in the Quick Access Toolbar) to save the PDF file.  

Note: The page transitions specified and saved in a PDF document will prevail over the default transitions in Preferences. To show the page transitions in the Full Screen mode, make sure that you have unchecked the Ignore all transitions option in the Full Screen preferences.  

Resize the Page View

Set the Default Zoom Level

For a PDF file that does not include the preset magnification level, Foxit PDF Editor will open it with the default page zoom level or the last viewing settings (if you have enabled the application to restore the last view settings when reopening PDF files in Preferences > History). To change the default zoom level, please go to the File tab (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Page Display > Default Layout and Zoom, and select the desired option from the Zoom level drop-down list. While reading a PDF file, you can use the zoom tools to change the page magnification. For more information, please refer to Quick Zoom, Resize the Page View with Zoom Tools, and Change the Page Magnification with Magnifier, Loupe, or Marquee Command.

Quick Zoom

To quickly zoom in or out on a PDF page, do any of the following:

• Pinch with two finger with Mac trackpad.
• In the Status bar, click the Minus sign or Plus sign , or drag the slider.
• Press Control, and scroll the mouse wheel.
• Go to File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > General, and check Make Hand Tool use mouse-wheel zooming in the Basic Tools group. Then you can directly scroll the mouse wheel to zoom in or out on a PDF page in the Hand mode. This method is useful for users to browse large drawings.

Resize the Page View with Zoom Tools

To adjust the page at a specified size or make it to fit the document or window, do the following:

• Access the Zoom tools by any of the following ways:
  • Choose View in the menu bar > Zoom.
  • Choose Home > Zoom or Page Fit Option.
  • Right-click on the document pane, and find the options in the context menu.
  • Click the [Percentage] button (like ) in the Status bar, and find the options in the list.
• Choose any of the options to resize the page view:
  • Zoom Out: Zoom out of the page.
  • Zoom In: Zoom in the page for a clearer view.
  • Zoom To: Resize the page to a specific zoom level or make the page fit the window.
  • Actual Size: Display the page in its actual size.
  • Fit Page: Resize the page to fit entirely in the document pane.
  • Fit Width: Resize the page to fit the width of the window. Part of the page may be out of view.
  • Fit Visible: Resize the page to make the text and images fit the visible width of the window, removing the margins.
  • [Percentage](e.g. 150%): Resize the page at the specified zoom level.

Change the Page Magnification with Magnifier, Loupe, or Marquee Command

Magnifier Command

With the Magnifier command, you can magnify part of the page by using a magnifying glass.

• Choose View in the Ribbon > Assistant > Magnifier.
• Move the Magnifier to the places you want to view.
• To switch between Magnifier and Fisheye Magnifier, press the left mouse button.
• To change the size of the magnifier window, press the right mouse button.
• To turn off the Magnifier, press the Esc key.

Loupe Command

The Loupe command allows you to view part of the page in a separate window with the specified zoom level.

• Choose View in the Ribbon > Assistant > Loupe.
• Do one of the following to get a closer view:
  • Move the Loupe command to the places you want to view, you will see the amplificatory or decreased objects in the Loupe Tool dialog box.
  • Check the Lock option in the Loupe Tool dialog box, and you will find a red rectangle in the document, corresponding to the area shown in the Loupe Tool dialog box. You can drag or resize the rectangle to change the Loupe command view.
• By default, the Loupe command magnifies the page by 200%. You can do any of the following to change the magnification level in the Loupe Tool dialog box.
  • Enter a value in the zoom text box, or choose a preset ratio from the drop-down list of the zoom text box.
  • Click the minus or plus icon.
  • Drag the slider.
• To turn off the Loupe, click the Close icon in the Loupe Tool dialog box, or press the Esc key.

Marquee Command

The Marquee command helps you expand the selected area of the page to fill the entire view or increase the magnification of the clicked area by one preset level (centering on the point where you clicked).

• Choose View in the Ribbon > Assistant > Marquee.
• To increase the magnification, drag a rectangle to select the area or just click on the page.
• To decrease the magnification, press the Command key, and drag a rectangle to select the area or just click on the page.
• To turn off the Marquee, press the Esc key.

Reverse View

To read documents in a backward order, please choose View in the Ribbon > Reverse View.

Rotate the Page View

Do one of the following to rotate the view of the document pages:

• Go to View > Rotate View > Rotate Right or Rotate Left.
• Right-click the document, and choose Rotate Right or Rotate Left.
• Move two fingers around each other with Mac trackpad.

Note: The rotate view setting only temporarily changes your view of the page in 90-degree increments. If you need to change the page orientation and save the changes to the PDF file, please use the “Organize PDF Pages” features.

Change the Page Background Color

Do one of the following to change the page background color:

1. From the Preferences

• Choose File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences to open the Preferences dialog box.
• Select Accessibility in the Preferences dialog box.
• In the Document Color Options group, check Replace document colors. 
• Click the color pane beside the Page background or Document text option.
• In the pop-up Colors window, select or customize a color, and click OK.
• Click OK in the Preferences dialog box to apply the color.

2. From the document pane

• Click View in the Ribbon.
• Click Change Color, and you will find the color options with a menu separator in between. On the left side of the menu separator are the preset colors, while on the right are the custom ones.
  • To apply a preset background color, select any of the colors on the left of the menu separator.
  • To customize colors, click the Custom Colors icon  on the right of the menu separator, and pick the desired color in the Colors dialog box. When a custom color is applied to the document, the icon right before the Custom Color icon (i.e. the first icon on the right of the menu separator), which is in white by default, will be changed to the color you have customized. You can click that icon to switch from the current background color to your customized one.

Read PDFs with Read Out Loud

Read Out Loud is a Text-to-Speech (TTS) tool. It reads the text in a PDF aloud, including the text in comments and alternate text descriptions for images, tables, and fillable fields. Text is read based on the order of the page content.

Read Out Loud uses the available voices installed on your system. Read Out Loud isn’t a screen reader, it may not be available in some operating systems.

Set Speech Preferences

• Choose File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Speech.
• Specify the following options in the Read Out Loud Options group:
  • Volume: Set the reading volume of Read out Loud.
  • Use default voice: Check it to read content with default language, or you can select the required one from the combo box.
  • Use default speech attribute: Check it to read with default pitch and rate, or you can uncheck it and then set pitch and rate in the combo box as needed.
  • Read comments: Check it to enable the application to read out the comments when executing Read out Loud.
  • Read form fields: Check it to enable the application to read out the form fields when executing Read out Loud.

Activate or Deactivate Read Out Loud

You need to activate Read Out Loud before using it.

• To activate Read Out Loud: select View in the Ribbon > Read group > Read > Activate Read.
• To deactivate Read Out Loud: select View in the Ribbon > Read group > Read > Deactivate Read. 

Tip: You can press the shortcut key Command + Shift + Y to activate or deactivate Read Out Loud, based on the current status of the feature.

Read a PDF Out Loud

• Navigate to the page that you want to read out.
• Choose View in the Ribbon > Read group > Read > Read Current Page or Read from Current Page.

Tip: If you need to read the text in the comments while reading a PDF out loud, please make sure you have checked the Read comments option in the Speech preferences.

Control Reading

While reading a PDF file or form field, you can interrupt the reading and adjust reading volume and speed as needed.

• To adjust the reading speed: choose View in the Ribbon > Read > Speed > drag the slider.
• To adjust the reading volume: choose View in the Ribbon > Read > Volume > drag the slider.
• To pause reading: choose View in the Ribbon > Read > Pause.
• To stop reading: choose View in the Ribbon > Read group > Read > Stop.

Display Rulers, Guides, Grids, and Line Weights

Rulers and Guides

Foxit PDF Editor provides horizontal and vertical ruler guides to help you align and position text, graphics, or other objects on the page. They can also be used to check the size and margins of your documents.

Show or Hide Rulers and Guides

To show or hide rulers and guides in the current PDF file, please do any of the following:

• Choose View in the menu bar > Rulers & Grids, and select or unselect Rulers/Guides.
• Choose View in the Ribbon, and check or uncheck Rulers/Guides in the View toolbar.
• Right-click anywhere on the document pane, and select or unselect Rulers/Guides in the context menu.
• To show or hide rulers, you can also press the shortcut key Option + Command + R.
• When rulers are displayed, you can right-click the rulers, and select or unselect Show Guides to show or hide guides. Right-clicking rulers and selecting Hide Rulers can hide rulers as well.

Create Ruler Guides

• Follow the step in “Show or Hide Rulers and Guides” to show rulers first.
• (Optional) The unit for ruler guides is set as inch by default. Please right-click on the rulers or choose File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Measuring to change the unit, if necessary.
• Do one of the following:
  • Drag down the horizontal ruler to create a horizontal guide, or drag to the right of the vertical ruler to create a vertical guide.
  • Double-click a location on the horizontal ruler to create a vertical guide, or double-click a location on the vertical ruler to create a horizontal guide.

Move Ruler Guides

To move ruler guides, select the Hand command, click and hold the guide, and then drag it to a new location.

Delete Ruler Guides

To delete ruler guides, please do one of the following:

• To delete a guide, click the guide to select it, and then press the Delete key.
• To delete all guides on a certain page, scroll to the page, right-click the ruler area, and choose Clear Guides on Page.
• To delete all guides, right-click in the ruler area, and choose Clear All Guides.

Grids

Document Grid

Document grid acts as the baseline for you to line up form fields and objects (including text, image, path, and shading objects) in a PDF document. When you create or move a form field or object, Snap to Grid can align the form field or object with the nearest grid line.

• To set the grid preferences including grid color, spacing and line, choose File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Layout Grid.
• To show or hide the grid, navigate to View in the menu bar > Rulers & Grids > check/uncheck Grid.
• To turn on or off the Snap to Grid option, navigate to View in the menu bar > Rulers & Grids > check/uncheck Snap to Grid.

Transparency Grid

Transparency grid is used to visualize transparent areas by displaying a checkerboard grid behind transparent objects. To show or hide the transparency grid, please go to File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Page Display, and check or uncheck Display transparency grid in the Page Content group.

Line Weights View

In Line Weights View, the lines will be displayed with the weights defined in the PDF file. When Line Weights View is turned off, the lines will be displayed with the constant stroke width (1 pixel), regardless of zoom. Foxit PDF Editor will display PDF files in Line Weights view by default. To turn on or off Line Weights view while reading PDF files, please do any of the following:

• Click View in the Ribbon, and then check or uncheck the Line Weights option in the View toolbar.
• Press the shortcut key Control + Command + 5.

Toggle Ruler

The Toggle Ruler feature in the View tab is a “ruler” you can show and drag freely over any part of your document, which is frequently used to go through line items quickly and easily, especially when you need to read tables.

To show Toggle Ruler, click View in the Ribbon > Toggle Ruler. You can click and drag Toggle Ruler almost anywhere on your screen. To hide/close Toggle Ruler, click Toggle Ruler in the View tab again, or click the Close icon  on the ruler, or press the ESC key (when the focus is on the ruler).

To resize Toggle Ruler, put the cursor over the left or right edge of the ruler (top or bottom edge when the ruler is vertical). When the cursor changes into a double-arrow  handle, drag the handle to resize the ruler.

Clicking the  icon drops down a menu with more options, which allows you to do more settings:

• Horizontal/Vertical: Specify the orientation of Toggle Ruler. You can also click the  icon on the ruler to change the orientation.
• Reset position: Reset the ruler to the center of the current Foxit PDF Editor window.
• Color: Change the color of the ruler.
• Opacity: Change the opacity of the ruler.
• Close: Exit/hide the ruler.

View PDF/A Files

By default, Foxit PDF Editor will open PDF/A-compliant documents in PDF/A mode (i.e. read-only mode) to prevent modification. When you open a PDF/A-compliant document, a notification message will be displayed. To work with PDF/A files, do the following:

• To turn off PDF/A mode and edit the document, click Enable Editing on the notification message. This operation will affect the settings in PDF/A view mode preference. To set the preference about PDF/A view mode, go to File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Documents, and select the desired option from the drop-down list in PDF/A View mode group.
• To keep reading in PDF/A mode, click Disable Editing on the notification message.
• If you do not want to see the notification message the next time you open PDF/A files, check the Don't show again option. To redisplay the notification message, please go to File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > General, and check the Show PDF/A message again option in the Notification Messages group.

View PDF Portfolios

PDF portfolios are a combination of files with different formats such as Microsoft Office files, text documents and image files.

To view a PDF portfolio, please do the following:

• You can open a PDF portfolio in the same way as you open a PDF file. Please refer to “Open a PDF File” for more information.
• By default, files in a PDF portfolio are displayed in the Layout view, with the preview of the selected file displayed in the right pane. Follow the steps below to change the view mode, if necessary.
  • Click Detail in the Portfolio tab to display the details of files in a PDF portfolio. In the Detail view mode, you can right-click on any file or blank area and select View to specify which properties you would like to display in the file details list. Click a column name to sort files by certain property in an ascending or descending order.
  • Click Cover Sheet in the Portfolio tab to display the cover sheet of the PDF portfolio.
  • Click Preview Pane in the Portfolio tab, and choose Right or Bottom to display the preview pane at the right or bottom of the document pane respectively. Choose Off from the Preview Pane drop-down list to hide the preview pane.
  • Click Default View in the Portfolio tab, and choose an option from the drop-down list to specify the default view for the currently opened PDF portfolio. The default view setting will take effect the next time you open the PDF portfolio.
• To open and read a file in the portfolio, do any of the following in the Layout or Detail view mode.
  • Double-click a file.
  • Select a file and click the Open button in the upper right corner of the document area.
  • Right-click a file and choose Open File in Native Application.

Tip: Files in a PDF portfolio will be opened in its native application if you have installed the native application on your device with macOS 10.14 or higher.

• To view the properties of a document in a PDF portfolio, do any of the following in the Layout or Detail view mode.
  • Right-click a file in the portfolio, and choose Show Information from the context menu.
  • Select a file in the portfolio, and click the Properties button in the upper right corner of the document area.

View 3D Content in PDFs

Set 3D Preferences

Foxit PDF Editor lets you view 3D content in PDF documents. To do this, you need to enable the 3D content in PDF documents by selecting the Enable the playing of 3D content option in the File tab (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > 3D.

Note: By default, Safe Reading Mode is enabled, and whether the option has been selected or not, when you open a PDF with 3D content for the first time, a dialog box pops up to ask whether you trust the document to enable/activate the 3D content in it, and you can select an option to trust the document one time only or always trust the document. Selecting Trust this document always in the dialog box also adds the document to the privileged locations, and the dialog box will not prompt next time you open the PDF. See also Privileged Locations. Note that the dialog box does not necessarily pop up when you open a 3D PDF. Sometimes it pops up only when you click on the 3D content in the PDF. When it pops up is determined by the activation settings of the 3D content. And the message displayed in the pop-up dialog box varies depending on your trust settings for Foxit PDF Editor.

Display 3D Models

When you open a 3D PDF and enable the 3D model, a 3D canvas appears to display the 3D model. The lower-left corner of the canvas shows the 3D axes (X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis) that indicate the current orientation of the 3D model in the scene. 

Navigate through a 3D Model

• Rotate

  Click the model, hold the left mouse button, and move the mouse in the direction you want it to rotate.

• Pan

  Click the model, hold down the Command key and the left mouse button, and move the mouse in the desired direction.

• Zoom

  Click the model, hold the right mouse button (or hold down the Shift key and the left mouse button), and move the mouse vertically to move toward or away from the 3D model. Or, directly scroll your mouse to zoom in or out the 3D model. 

Search & Index in PDFs

Find Text in the Current PDF

Use the Find tool to search and find text.

• Input text in the search box.
• Click to set the search criteria.
  • Whole Words Only: Limit the search to match only whole words.
  • Case-Sensitive: Make the search case sensitive.
  • Include Bookmarks: Enable you to search for a word in the whole text, including bookmarks.
  • Include Comments: Enable you to search for a word in the whole text, including comments.
  • Highlight All Text: Highlight all the text search results in the document.
  • Properties: Enable you to specify the color and opacity of the highlighting of the search results.
• Press Enter to search the text in the currently opened PDF file.
• Click or to jump to the previous or next search result.

Advanced Search

Foxit PDF Editor supports the advanced search function, which enables you to do the following: search a string in a single PDF file, multiple PDF files under a specified folder, PDFs in a PDF portfolio, or a PDF index. When the search finishes, all occurrences will be listed in a tree view. This will allow you to quickly preview the context and jump to specific locations. You can also save the search results as a CSV or PDF file for further reference.

Before doing an advanced search, you can go to File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Search to specify search preferences.

• Search
  • Ignore Asian character width: With this option selected, both half-width and full-width instances of the Asian language characters in the document will be found.
  • Ignore Diacritics and Accents: Ignore the diacritics and accents to find items with any variation of the alphabetical characters. For example, if you type “resume”, both “resume” and “résumé” will be found.
  • Always show more options in advanced search: Select this option to show the additional search criteria options available besides the basic options in the Search panel.
  • Show document title in search results: Check this option to display document titles in search results. However, if a document does not contain a title, its file path will be displayed in search results. If this option is unchecked, Foxit PDF Editor will display file paths in search results.
  • Maximum number of documents returned in Results: Specify the number of documents to be displayed in the search results. You can input any integer between 1 and 10,000.
  • Range of words for Proximity searches: Specify the number of words between which the search terms occur from each other when executing proximity searches. It is set as 900 by default, and you can input any integer between 1 and 10,000.
• Fast Find: Enable fast find to make future searches faster by storing information about your frequently used PDF files.
  • Maximum Cache Size: Specify the maximum cache of search information for the Fast Find. The default value is 100 MB. You can input any integer between 5 and 100,000.
  • Purge Cache Contents: Delete all the caches of search information.

If fast find is enabled, the cache of search information will be generated when you perform a search. When the cache reaches the limit size you specified, the earlier cache contents will be deleted automatically. And if you execute searches in PDFs that include both index and fast find cache, index will be used as the priority for searching.

Search for Text and Patterns

• Click the Advanced Search command next to Find box, and choose Advanced Search.
• From the Where would you like to search dropdown list, check one of the following to define the search field.
  • To search the text in the current PDF document, select “In the current PDF document”. This option is not available if no document is open.
  • To search the text in all PDF documents in a specific folder or disk, select All PDF Documents in > choose one of the disks or user-selected search paths. Foxit PDF Editor will show the path of the currently opened document for easier location.
  • To search the text in all the PDF documents that are currently opened in Foxit PDF Editor, select All open PDF documents.
  • To search the text in selected documents in PDF portfolio, please select Selected PDFs in portfolio. This option is only available when a PDF portfolio is opened in the current session.
  • To search text in the PDF portfolio, please select All PDFs in portfolio. This option is only available when a PDF portfolio is opened in the current session.
  • To search PDF indexes, please choose Select Index. This option helps you search the index of the entire set of documents quickly if your PDF document or document collections include a full-text index. If you have added indexes in Foxit PDF Editor before, you can also choose Currently Selected Indexes option directly to search your currently selected indexes. For more information, please refer to “Search PDF indexes”.
• Select one of the following search criteria from the dropdown list under the file location box:
  • Match exact word or phrase: Search for instances that match the entire word or phrase (including the spaces) you specified in the text search box.
  • Match any of the words: Search for any instances that match at least one of the words.
  • Looks like search pattern: Search for patterns like phone number, social security number, or email address in the PDF file. This option is not available when you search PDF indexes.
  • Match All of the words: Search for any instances that match at least one of the words, but not necessarily in the order you type the words. If the document does not contain all of the words you type, no matched results will be found. This option is available only for searching a full-text PDF index.
• For text search, input the word you would like to search in “What word or phrase would you like to search for” box. For pattern search, select the pattern you want to search from the Select your pattern dropdown list, and choose the specific county and region from the Country/Region dropdown list.
• (Optional) Check any of the following options to specify the additional search criteria, if needed.
  • To limit the search to match only whole words, check Whole Words Only. For example, if you search for the word Read, the word Reader will not be found. This criterion is only available for text search.
  • To make the search case-sensitive, check Case-Sensitive. For example, if you search for the word text, the words Text and TEXT will not be found. This criterion is only available for text search.
  • To search words in comments, please check Include Comments. 
  • To search words in bookmarks, please check Include Bookmarks. This criterion is only available for text search.
  • To search words in attachments, please check Include Attachments.
  • To search for two or more words that are separated by no more than a specified number of words specified in the Search preferences, please check Proximity. This option is available in index search when Match of All of the words is selected.
  • To find instances that contain the stem of the specified search word, please check Stemming. For example, if you search for “opening” with Stemming option checked, instances of “open”, “opened”, “opens”, and “opening” will be found. This criterion applies to text search and index search, and is not available if either Whole Words Only or Case-Sensitive is selected.   
  • To highlight all the text search results, please check Highlight All Text.
  • To limit search in order to match criteria such as document properties and metadata, check the option in Use these additional criteria group, and specify the additional criteria, including Author, Date Created, Subject, etc. These options are only available when you execute advanced text search in multiple PDF files.

Tip: The additional search criteria options are collapsed by default. You can click More to show all the options. To keep expanding and displaying the additional search criteria options all the time, please go to File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Search, and check the Always show more options in advanced search option in the Search group.

• Click Search button.
• Each item listed includes a few words of context and an icon that indicates the type of occurrence. Check the search results with the following steps:
  • If necessary, click the plus sign (+) to expand the search results.
  • (Optional) For advanced search in multiple documents or portfolios, you can select an option from the Sort By drop-down list near the bottom of the Advanced Search panel to sort the search results by date modified, filename, or location.
  • To collapse the file path and have a quick view about the file name, check Collapse File Path option at the bottom of the Advanced Search panel.
  • Click a search result directly to view it in the PDF file.
•  (Optional) Click the Save button  in the Advanced Search panel, and choose Save results to PDF or Save results to CSV to save the search results.
• (Optional) Click New Search button to start a new search task.

Note:

• For each search, layers, form fields, and digital signatures in the document will also be searched automatically. If some of the search results occurs on a hidden layer, when selecting the results in the Advanced Search panel you will be prompted whether to make that layer visible.  
• To find or edit text in a scanned or image-based PDF, you need to convert the content into searchable or editable text using the OCR feature. See also OCR PDF Files.

Search and Highlight

After searching, users may need to mark up the searched text strings in a highlight color. With Foxit PDF Editor’s Search & Highlight feature, users can perform an advanced search and highlight the searched text strings quickly.

• Do any of the following to open the Search & Highlight panel:
  • Choose Comment in the Ribbon > Search & Highlight.
  • Click the Advanced Search commandnext to Find box, and choose Search & Highlight.
• Search the text strings or search by patterns as needed.
• After the search completes, you can see a Highlight icon  next to the Save button  in the Search & Highlight panel, a check box in front of each searched instance and each file path, and the Check All option above the New Search button. 
• Select the check box of the instance you want to highlight and click the Highlight icon . (Tip: Click the check box in front of a file path to select all instances found in the file; select the Check All option to select all instances found in the search.)
• (Optional) you can also change the highlight color as needed. Change the color from the appearance properties of the markup and set the properties as default. (For details, please refer to Change the Appearance of Comments.) Then perform a new search to apply the new color to searched results.  

Search PDF Indexes

If your PDF document or document collections include a full-text index, you can improve your search efficiency by simply searching the index for target words rather than each document separately. Steps are as follows:

• Click the Advanced Search commandnext to Find box and choose Advanced Search to open the Advanced Search panel.
• From the Where would you like to search dropdown list, choose Select Index to add indexes.
• In the pop-up Index selection dialog box, click  to add an index. All the indexes you added will be displayed in the index list in Index selection dialog box. You can select an index, and click  to get its file information, or click  to remove it from the list, if necessary. Once added, the index files will be marked as checked for you to execute index search by default. Before application, review the indexes in the list, and uncheck the unnecessary one. Upon completion, click OK to close the Index selection dialog box.
• When you have successfully added the indexes, the Currently Selected Indexes option will be selected by default. If you want to search the currently selected indexes next time, you can also choose this option from the Where would you like to search dropdown list directly.
• Follow the steps in “Search for Text and Patterns” to proceed with your search.

Note: If the index file is not available or does not work, the search will fail. To create or revise an index, please refer to Create PDF Indexes.

Create PDF Indexes

When you are trying to search text in a long PDF document or multiple PDF files, it is much faster to search a PDF index, instead of searching the document(s). With Foxit PDF Editor, you can create an embedded index for a single PDF, or create a full-text index for multiple PDFs.

Create an Embedded Index in a PDF

For a PDF document that includes an embedded index, you can search the document as you always do through the Advanced Search feature, but it will be much faster than you search a regular PDF without an embedded index. (Note: Before searching a document with an embedded index, you need to select the Enable embedded index option in the File tab(or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Index.)

Add an Embedded Index to a PDF

• Open the PDF with Foxit PDF Editor.
• Choose File in the Ribbon > Index > Manage Embedded Index group > Manage Embedded Index button.
• In the pop-up dialog box, click Embed Index.
• When the embedding progress is completed, click OK.

Update or Remove the Embedded Index in a PDF

You can update or remove the embedded index if the document has been changed.

• Open the PDF with Foxit PDF Editor.
• Choose File in the Ribbon > Index > Manage Embedded Index group > Manage Embedded Index button.
• In the pop-up dialog box, click Update Index or Remove Index.
• When the progress is completed, click OK.

Create a Full-text Index for Multiple PDFs

Foxit PDF Editor enables you to define a collection of PDFs as a catalog and create a full-text index for the cataloged PDFs, allowing you to search that index through the Advanced Search feature. See also “Search PDF Indexes”.

Create a Full-text Index

• Click File in the Ribbon > Index > Full Text Index with Catalog group > Full Text Index with Catalog button.
• In the New Index Definition dialog box, input the index title and description.
• (Optional) Click the Options button next to the Index Description box to do more settings.
  • Do not include numbers: If you don’t need to search for numbers in the document, select this option to exclude all numbers in the document text content from a PDF index, which can help make the search faster. If you change the current setting, the new setting only applies to new indexes created afterwards.
  • Do not warn for changed documents when searching: With this option unselected, if you search an index after any of the indexed documents have been changed, a message pops up when you click on the search results in the Advanced Search panel. If you change the current setting, the new setting only applies to new indexes created afterwards.
  • Custom Properties: This option allows you to include existing custom document properties in the index. Click Custom Properties, and a dialog box pops up. Then type the custom property, select a type and click Add. Repeat the steps to add more custom properties. These properties will appear as search options in the additional criteria in the Advanced Search panel so that you can limit the search by specifying the properties when you search the index.
  • XMP Fields: This option allows you to include custom XMP fields in the index. The custom XMP fields will also appear in the additional criteria in the Advanced Search panel when you search the index.
  • Stop Words: Allows you to specify words that you want to be excluded from the index search results. You can only add one stop word at a time. A stop word is case sensitive and contains up to 128 characters. (Tip: In case users trying to search strings that contain the stop words, you are recommended to remind users of the stop words.)

Note: The settings above apply to the current index only. To apply these settings to all indexes, please do the settings in the File tab (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Index.

• Under Include these directories, click Add to select folders that contain PDF files to be indexed. The paths to the selected folders will be added to the box next to the Add button. To remove a folder from the box, select the folder path and click Remove. (Note: The subfolders nested the selected folders will also be indexed. If you want to add files or folders from different drives, make sure you have enabled the Allow indexing on separate drives option in File tab (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar > Preferences > Index.)
• Under Exclude these directories, click Add to select folders that contain PDF files you do not want to be indexed. The paths to the selected folders will be added to the box next to the Add button. To remove a folder from the box, select the folder path and click Remove.
• Click Build. Specify the location for the index file and click Save.
• The Catalog dialog box pops up, displaying the indexing process. Click Close when the process finishes. (Optionally, you can click Stop to cancel the indexing process, which will create a partially finished index. You can complete it by revising the index file later.)
• In the specified location, Foxit PDF Editor creates an index file (an XML file), a log file, and a folder which contains support files about the index contents. (Note: You can unselect the Enable logging option in the File tab (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Index if you don’t want to create a log file.)

Revise an Existing Index

• Click File in the Ribbon > Index > Full Text Index with Catalog group > Full Text Index with Catalog button.
• In the New Index Definition dialog box, click the Open button  to select an index you want to revise. After making changes to the index, do any of the following:
  • After modifying the index title and description, click the Save button  to save the changes to the index file itself.
  • Click the Save As button  to save the modified index file as a new index file. You can use it to build a new index.
  • Click Build to create new index contents in the support folder to update the index, which may increase searching time if you make a large number of changes or repeat this action to update the index for many times.
  • Click Rebuild to create a new index, overwriting the existing index file and the index contents in the support folder.
  • Click Purge to delete the index contents in the support folder without deleting the index file. You can build a new index after making changes to the index file.

Take a Snapshot of Selected PDF Contents

Use the Snapshot tool to take a snapshot of selected PDF contents and paste it in other applications.

• Click Home > Snapshot;
• Drag across the area that you want to copy; or right-click on the document and choose Select All to select all of the contents;
• (For copying selected area) You will be prompted that the selected area has been copied to the clipboard, click OK in the dialog box;
• Paste the selected image to other application(s) as desired.

Navigate PDF Files

Scroll Pages Automatically

• To enter the automatic scrolling mode, choose View in the Ribbon > AutoScroll, or press the shortcut key Shift + Command + H.
• Do the following to control the automatic scrolling:
  • To increase or decrease the scrolling speed, press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key, depending on the direction of scrolling. To change the scrolling speed to a preset level, press a number key (9 for the fastest, 0 for the slowest).
    Tip: When the automatic scrolling reaches the slowest speed, pressing the Up/Down Arrow key will scroll up or down pages respectively.
  • To reverse the direction of scrolling, press the minus sign (-) key.
  • To jump to the next or previous page, press the Right Arrow key or Left Arrow key respectively.
  • To pause or continue automatic scrolling, press the Space key.
  • To stop automatic scrolling, click AutoScroll in the View toolbar, or press the Esc key or shortcut key Shift + Command + H.

Tip: To scroll through pages continuously, Foxit PDF Editor will automatically change the page display mode to Continuous (if it is in Single Page view) or Continuous Facing (if it is in Facing mode) when you enter into the automatic scrolling mode. After exiting the automatic scrolling, you can change the page display mode from the View menu or toolbar. For more information, please refer to “Change the Page Display Mode”.

Jump to a Specific Page

Use the page navigation tools on the status bar at the bottom to jump to a specific page easily.

Page indicator: Shows the current page and the total number of pages of the opened PDF file. To jump to the page specified, you can input the page number and press Enter, or click the Down arrow  and select a page number from the list.

Previous Page: Jump to the previous page.

Next Page: Jump to the next page.

Tip: Alternatively, you can go to View in the menu bar > Go to, and then choose one option from the drop-down menu to jump to a specific page. From the drop-down menu, you can also choose to jump to the first page or the last page of the PDF file.

Jump to the Previous View or Next View

Do one of the following to go to the preview view or next view:

• Click the Previous View button or Next View buttonon the status bar at the bottom.
• Click View in the menu bar > Go to > Previous View or Next View.

Jump to a Specific Chapter by Bookmark

• Do any of the following to open the Bookmarks panel:
  • Click View in the menu bar > Navigation Panels > Bookmarks.
  • Click the Bookmarks button  in the Navigation panel.  
• Click the bookmark to jump to the specific chapter.

Tip: If a bookmark is too long to be displayed in the Bookmarks panel, you can right-click the bookmark (or click the Options menu at the top of the Bookmarks panel) and select Wrap Long Bookmarks to wrap it to multiple lines for a better view. To unwrap, deselect Wrap Long Bookmarks.

Jump to a Page by Thumbnail

• Do any of the following to open the Pages panel:
  • Click View in the menu bar > Navigation Panels > Pages.
  • Click the Pages button  in the Navigation panel.   
• Click the thumbnail to jump to the specific page.

Open a File Attachment

Open a file attachment embedded in a PDF file

• Do any of the following to open the Attachments panel:
  • Click View in the menu bar > Navigation Panels > Attachments.
  • Click the Attachments button  in the Navigation panel.  
• Double-click the file that you want to open with Foxit PDF Editor,or right-click the file and choose Open from the context menu.
• In the Open File Attachment dialog box, choose the option as desired, and click OK.

Open a file attachment pinned in the PDF file

The file attachment pinned in the PDF file is usually displayed with a pin icon. You can double-click the pin icon to open it with Foxit PDF Editor.

Word Count

Similar to Microsoft Word, Foxit PDF Editor counts words, characters, pages, lines and other information in all or part of your document. With no text selected, click View in the Ribbon > Word Count, and you will see a pop-up Word Count box for the statistics of the entire document. For a partial word count, just select the text you want to count, and then click View in the Ribbon > Word Count; or right click the selected text and choose Word Count from the context menu.

Compare PDF Files

The Document Compare feature lets you see the differences in two versions of a PDF.

Compare Two Versions of a PDF File

• Click View in the Ribbon > Compare.
• Click Choose to select the Old File and New File to be compared. After selecting PDF files, you can preview the pages of both files. Choose the specific page you want to preview by inputting the page number in the Preview Page field, or clicking the up/down arrow beside the Preview Page field. You can also click the Swap icon between the thumbnails to swap the position of the old and new files.
• By default, Foxit PDF Editor will compare all the pages in the selected document. You can limit the comparison to a portion of the documents by entering the page number or clicking the up/down arrow in the Compare Page Range group.
• (Optional) Check the following option to specify the content that you want to compare, if necessary.
  • Compare Text Only: Compare the text content only, and ignore differences between graphic elements.
  • Compare Table: Compare tables in your documents.
• Click OK. And Foxit PDF Editor will display the results in a new document. To check the comparison results, please refer to "Check Comparison Results".

Check Comparison Results

Once the documents are analyzed, a PDF document named “The result of Comparison.pdf” will be automatically created and opened in a new tab within the application window, and the Compare File panel appears on the right of the document pane. When checking the comparison results, you can click the Compare button  in the View tab to show or hide the Compare File panel.

The result document arranges pages side by side showing Old File and New File with the changes marked by different icons and colors. The first page shows a summary of the comparison results including the total number and the marks for different changes. The second page shows the detailed comparison results including the names and sizes of Old File and New File, time compared, and the classification of changes, with a color legend in the upper right corner.

To check the comparison results in detail, please do the following:

• Click Go to the First Change (page number) on the Compare Results page to jump to the first change. Click Previous Change or Next Change in the Compare File panel to navigate through the changes in the document pane in both files.
• Do any of the following to specify the display options in the Compare File panel:
  • In the Filter group, check the items to filter comparison results by text, image/graphic, annotation, or formatting. Select Everything to show all changes.
  • In the Show group, select items to show/hide the results and color legend. If the Show Result option is checked, the documents will be marked with annotations indicating the changes. You can double-click the annotation mark to check the details about the changes in a pop-up note. While reviewing documents, you can click Show Summary to navigate to the summary page directly.
• You can also use the Comments panel in the navigation pane to see each change. Click a change to quickly locate it in both documents. See also "View All Comments".
• (Optional) Click the Save button (or choose File > Save) to save the comparison result document, if necessary.