Something changed in page sizing?

[highstream]

Build 214.2. A delayed reaction, but there's something unpleasantly different about the way this build is sizing pages. Prior to this, with the size adjuster on the toolbar, single page views typically sized close to the top and bottom so that going page to page held, while with dual page view the file filled to, or close to, the sides horizontally. Since this new build, getting those is rare. Either there's a lot of space on top and bottom, or the page runs off the side, or both. I didn't change any settings, but maybe something got unchecked in the update or corrupted along the way. Is there a setting that helps with this? Thanks,

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello highstream,

Please try setting View-> Fit Width, or View -> Fit Page and you should get the desired output.
Each PDF file's zoom is stored separately by the Viewer/Editor - so you can have the desired behaviour in an older file you've already opened and the "strange" one in a new document you just downloaded. For new files when you open them the first time a default "initial zoom" will be used based on some information in the file itself (if present) and your Edit -> Preferences -> Initial view settings as well.

Regards,
Stefan

[highstream]

Thanks. I seem to be experiencing something else, as I never had to use those settings before. That is, the sizer on the toolbar doesn't work the same - and this is even for pdf files that have been on my desktop for some time that worked fine before the current build. I tried to attach a couple of screenshots comparing 33.33% with 37% so that you can see the problem, but this site doesn't accept jpg or png, and this page doesn't show which formats are acceptable. So I've posted them at http://tinypic.com/a/35s7q/1.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi highstream,

Thanks for the screen-shots - hopefully I'm not misunderstanding here, but could you please try setting the option to "Fit Page" and see if that helps?

Cheers,

[highstream]

With the screenshot file, Fit Page gives the 33.33% view. Looking again at pre- and post-214.2 build pdfs, the earlier ones all format close to the edges and the later ones look like the screenshot, with wide margins (both are in two-page continuous). That's with Fit Page set to default. For a comparison with the earlier type, see http://tinypic.com/a/35s7q/1. Unless I had set FP by default - possible, I don't recall - I never had to use it with these pdfs, just click on the toolbar resizer until I got to the right layout. Thanks,

[Will - Tracker Supp]

[highstream]

??

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi highstream,

Did I misread the post there? I thought that you were saying that the issue was solved with the Fit Page setting. If not, I apologize sincerely!

Perhaps I'm not 100% clear on what is happening - are you looking to get rid of all of the 'grey space' and have the document display in the middle of the window? If so, I'd suggest going to View --> Page Layout and making sure that the "Show Cover Page..." option is un-checked, as this will push the cover page over to the right of the window.

If I'm still off-base, could you provide a clearer explanation of what's happening, as even from the screen-shots, I'm still not 100% on what you're expecting to see. Perhaps a side-by-side comparison of how the document should display and how it actually is? Screen-shots can be posted directly to the forums by wrapping them in a ZIP folder or RAR/7Zip archive.

Cheers,

[highstream]

No, I don't think you're getting my point.

Look at the difference between the 33% and "earlier" screenshots (leave aside the 37% one). Both are set to fit to page and yet they show entirely differently relative to margins. Before you chalk that up to different file construction, note that the 33% one would have shown like the "earlier" one with the last build of PDF XChange Viewer. I can say that because that magazine and many others did. So unless they've changed their ways around the time of your build's release, I'm guessing there's something else going on. That is, the algorithm for vertical and horizontal sizing seems to have changed between builds, at least the way it's working here. For now, those 33% ones in dual page view are next-to-unreadable (text articles).

[Willy Van Nuffel]

Hi highstream,

I must agree with Will... After reading and re-reading your explanation it is neither clear to me what you really want to say.

I think that you mean that instead of using the "Fit Width" or the "Fit Page" icons (at the left of the Zoom-factor), you like to use the Zoom slider with the "-" and the "+" bullets. Whatever the format of the page is (via your sample screen shots, you show us a view of a 18,51 x 24,36 inch page), and when using these min or plus bullets/buttons on the zoom slider, you sooner or later will arrive at a view where the page just fits into the window. I think you are willing to say that this works no more in the actual build 214.2.

I must say, I am not able to reproduce your problem at my computer. At a certain click I still arrive at a view where the page just fits into the Window. This can be at 63% zoom for an A4 format, it can be 45% for an A3 page.

What I learn from your screenshots, is that you probably have a 4:3 display, where I have a 16:9 display. Can this be a hint for tracker support to check the behaviour on that kind of display?

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi guys,

From what I can see, all 3 screen-shots are using different zoom levels and only one actually has fit page selected. I need to see a comparison of the different behaviours using the same soom level and page layout settings, because I'm not able to reproduce this. Also, could you please upload a sample of the exact file that you are using so that we have the same frame of reference? If you find that your attachments are being stripped, please wrap them in a ZIP folder or RAR/7Zip archive.

Cheers,

[highstream]

On the contrary, they are all Fit Page. Long story short, I think the problem is that I must have narrowed the window size sometime after the current build come on, enough to cause the problem I've been encoutering. That would accentuate the differences between page sizes, leaving some ok and others having to be shortened a lot in the vertical.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello highstream,

I just reviewed your images - and only the first one of them is with "Fit Page" active - the other two just have some arbitrary zoom levels specified - you might have typed those, or just used Ctrl+MouseWheel to get to those zooms - but in either case - you've not pressed the "Fit Page" or "Fit Width" icon on the toolbar.

When one of those is active (even if you land at the needed zoom level by using Ctrl+MouseWheel) - the respective icon in the toolbar will iluminate as on the attached image.

So I currently suspect that this is a new file you've never opened before that just opened initially at a different zoom level. Once you display it the way you want - the next time you open the same file - it will display the way you closed it.

Or is it that you say that after you click the Fit Width / Fit Page on the toolbar - they do not work?

Regards,
Stefan

[highstream]

I'll get back to this later, but quickly I can say that the Fit Page zoom in Prefs is not holding session to session (or maybe within sessions), just as the Last Used Folder is not holding for Save As, per my other thread. I posted an update to that effect on the latter yesterday. Something's wrong and causing these, but I don't have a clue what.

[Willy Van Nuffel]

Maybe I begin to understand what can be going on ...

In a PDF you can set via Document Properties > Initial View, the "Magnification" to "Fit Page".
This is specific for this particular PDF.

In PDF-XChange Editor and Viewer, you can set via Edit > Preferences > Page Display, the "Default Page Zoom".
This is a general setting for whatever PDF that you will open and thus can be different from the Magnification setting in the PDF itself.
In the Editor as well as in the Viewer the "Default Page Zoom" parameter seems to get priority over the "Magnification" setting of the PDF itself. So, if you set this parameter to 50%, then all PDF's will open in a zoom of 50%,

except if the setting "Restore last used Layout and Zoom settings for pages from the Recent List when opening" (in Edit > Preferences > Page Display) has been checked. This last parameter seems to get the absolute priority.

Is it possible that the problem is related to one of these settings ?

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the input Willy, that's my thought exactly. Rather than have us keep guessing though, please do upload a copy of the file(s) for us to look at. I'm afraid that we cannot be specific in the advice that we give until we see a file.

Cheers,

[highstream]

I did have other things to do today, Will... And I did write that the problem may have been window sizing. Expanding it solved the two-way sizing problem. That said, the files are presumably too large to upload here, even zipped, so see if you can get them at https://www.transferbigfiles.com/757754 ... E3n-d7rjA2 (good until the 14th - doesn't work with Opera 12).

What hasn't been holding is default page zoom = fit page (vs. automatic previously). Perhaps you're correct it's being overridden - and set back to default? - by "Restore last used Layout and Zoom settings for pages from the Recent List when opening." I haven't tested with that unchecked yet. The latter actually made me stop, because why should the two be counterposed necessarily in Prefs? That is, wouldn't it be helpful to have an option that allows the two to co-exist, so that if I change a doc from Fit Page on the fly via the toolbar, my changes are recognized the next time that doc is opened, but without it affecting the overall Prefs?

Update: With "Restore last..." unchecked, I opened a new pdf file of a magazine and Default Page Zoom in Prefs had reset (or never really changed?) to Automatic, which meant the whole thing was over the sides.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello highstream,

The default settings in your files do not try to force a "fit page" view - so the default used the first time I tried to open your file is what is the default preference in my Editor - e.g. 100% zoom.

When I changed that to "fit page" - I had no issues with rezising the main Editor window - and this resulting in the page magnification changing accordingly as well. I believe the issue is that the default for this document is to show two pages in facing mode - and this might look as the first and last that are on their own behave a bit weird. If you switch to single page view mode - all will be well.

Please check the attached images.

Regards,
Stefan

[highstream]

Not sure I understand, since if you go back to my earlier screenshots, the New Scientist example is clearly in single page mode. What you got in the later post is, I assume, the result of my having expanded the window horizontally and played with different page layout settings. It appears that Viewer sizes Fit Page like the typical print module does, averaging margins for the best fit, rather than pushing out both directions to the margin and thus introducing distortion. Without zooming, the way around it with Viewer is a larger window, just as the way around it with a printer is larger paper.

The thing I definitely don't understand is what good it does to set Prefs > default page zoom to Fit Page, if it's always switching back to Automatic.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi highstream,

If any initial view preferences are specified within the Document's Properties (File --> Document Properties --> Initial View), then these will override the initial view settings for the application itself. This is by design, so you will need to change this from the Document Properties menu if you'd like the default view mode to change.

Cheers,

[highstream]

So you're suggesting I check these magazine document-formatting properties first (I haven't ever changed a thing)? Thanks,

[Willy Van Nuffel]

@highstream
When I set in PDF-XChange Viewer (version 214.2) > Edit > Preferences > Page Display > Default page zoom to "Fit Page", this setting does NOT change back to "Automatic", whatever I try to reproduce that behaviour on my computer.

@Will
I do not agree with your statement that the particular PDF's "Magnification" setting overrides that one of the applications "Default page zoom" setting (except if this is set to 'Automatic'). Just try by setting this last one to '50%'. Whatever magnification is set into a particular PDF, it will always be shown at a zoom of 50% (by taking care that the parameter "Restore last Layout and Zoom ..." is NOT checked).
Please try this out.

[highstream]

I've just compared Editor with Viewer and found that Editor holds "fit page" on subsequent openings while Viewer doesn't. This is when each is set as default and occurs without exception.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi highstream,

If the Editor fixes this for you, then I would recommend using the Editor, as the Viewer has been replaced by the Editor and only critical security fixes are currently supported.

Cheers,

[highstream]

Thanks for the info. Too bad, because I like the Viewer (and its icon).

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Not a problem