Alternate viewer button not working

[zibudizz]

The alternate viewer button doesn't work. Do I need to uninstall/reinstall XChVwer afetr I instaled the alternate viewer (and will it work) or there is other options? Thanks?

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi zibudizz,

Thanks for the post - yes, please do re-install the Viewer and see if that helps:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/downloads

Keep us posted!

[illi]

Hi,

I am having exactly the same problem here on my machine. - Re-installing does unfortunately not resolve this.

Is there any other possibility to try?
Or can one manually add the alternate viewers somewhere?

Thanks and best regards.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi illi,

Thanks for the post - when you say that this isn't working, do you mean that alternate viewers are listed, but that clicking the button doesn't launch them, or that there are no alternate viewers listed, despite some being installed in your system?

Thanks,

[illi]

Hi Will,

sorry for not being entirely clear with my descrition:

I mean that there are no alternate viewers listed at all although there is Acrobat Reader DC installed on my system.
(And that was the default viewer before I installed PDF-XChange viewer.)

The button is shown as an orange flash and hovering over it shows a tooltip saying thet "currently there are no alternate viewers installed" and clicking on the button does nothing and neither does clicking on the little black arrow nor right-clicking.

Regards,
Frank

[Radi - PDF-XChange]

Hi guys,

Please try the following to add a new launch application:

1. Open the Editor and go to Edit -> Preferences -> Launch Applications.
2. Click on the "New..." button, then click the browse button (the little yellow folder) and navigate to the .exe file of your desired application.
3. Click OK and the application should appear on the bottom right part of the Editor.

You can add as many launch applications as you'd like.

Regards,
Radi

[illi]

Hi Radi,

I was assuming for such an option and was already (before posting here) searching for it, but did not find it anywhere.
Also now when opening the preferences, I do not see any "Launch Applications category".

I am using version 2.5 build 313.1 on Windows 8.1 x64 and I am attaching a screenshot (jpg zipped with 7z) of the categories in the preferences to show how it looks on my system.

What is wrong or how can I access this setting?

Thanks and regards,
Frank

[Radi - PDF-XChange]

Hi illi,

I do apologize. How silly of me - I have read the thread and still assumed that you are using the Editor.
The Viewer shows only the default PDF application in the launch toolbar. You cannot add additional programs.
If the Viewer is your default PDF application then it will offer you the chance to choose an .exe file with which to open your PDF file.

Regards,
Radi

[illi]

Hi Radi,

The Viewer shows only the default PDF application in the launch toolbar.

The problem is that there is not a single entry in the launch toolbar... - That is the problem...

You cannot add additional programs.

OK, I would be fine with this, if the other PDF viewer (Acrobat) would be there. (Unfortunately sometimes it is needed and then it would be really convenient to just click in the corner and get the document opened with it)

If the Viewer is your default PDF application then it will offer you the chance to choose an .exe file with which to open your PDF file.

I maybe do not understand this...
Yes, I set the "PDF-XChange Viewer" as the default application to handle PDF files (as I prefer it over Acrobat). But I assumed that Acrobat will then be listed in the lower corner as an alternate viewer...
Where does it offer to choose an exe??

Thanks and regards,
Frank

[Radi - PDF-XChange]

Hi illi,

It seems that I was misled by the 'intelligent' Windows 8.1 "Open with..." feature.
When I tried it on my end - I set Adobe Acrobat to be the default PDF app, then I set the Viewer to be my default PDF app, but Windows 8.1 did not really set the Viewer as the default app - it just reset the file associations and the default PDF app was set to the "Open with..." feature so when I open a PDF file for the first time after this file associations reset to be able to choose the correct software.

So the Viewer was showing this in the bottom right corner and it misled me to believe that it will stick there. Of course once I set a default PDF app - this option was gone.

Basically - if the Viewer is the default PDF app it will not show you alternative PDF applications. I would recommend using the Editor if you would like to use this feature.

Regards,
Radi

[illi]

Hi Radi,

thanks for investigating. - But since I use the free viewer and do not have the paid editor, it seems there will be no way for me to get this added in the corner?

Or can one maybe consider also adding the same as one has in the editor also to the free viewer?

Or is there any way, one can "fool" the viewer to still think that it should add the button for the alternate viewer?
It is just a convenience setting, but to some extend it would be really helpful.

Thanks and best regards,
Frank

[Willy Van Nuffel]

1) It seems to me that PDF-XChange Viewer has a kind of 'automatic' detection of other viewers like "Adobe Reader XI" or "PDF-XChange Editor".
I am assuming that it does NOT detect Adobe Reader DC (= the 'cloud version'), also because this version did not yet even exist when PDF-XChange Viewer has got it's last real update.

There is a 'key' for the 'alternate application', in Windows Registry, but I doubt that you can manipulate it.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDFViewer\General]
"SessionID"=dword:00000011
"AltApplicationModulePath"="C:\\Program Files\\Adobe\\Reader 11.0\\Reader\\AcroRd32.exe"
"Version"=dword:00000002

2) When PDF-XChange Viewer is set as the default application to open PDF's, it does not show anymore "PDF-XChange Editor" in it's Launch Toolbar (located at the bottom of the window in the right corner), but it still shows "Acrobat Reader XI" (if it is installed on the computer of course).

Maybe, like Radi said, installing and using PDF-XChange Editor is the most easy solution to have this feature working.

PDF-XChange Editor works similar to PDF-XChange Viewer: when you do not have a license for it, then using a PRO-feature will add 'stamps' to the pages in the PDF when you 'save' it.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the posts - the Viewer does, indeed, detect this intelligently. However, it relies on Adobe making the correct registry entries in the necessary places. If Adobe doesn't make these entries, then the Viewer isn't able to detect that it is installed.

I'm afraid that, in this instance, your only option would be the Editor:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFXVE5.zip

HTH!

[illi]

Hi Guys,

thanks for that information!

The registry Key "AltApplicationModulePath" is there in my machine and points to the correct Adobe exe file (C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader\AcroRd32.exe).

Will, can you maybe elaborate on the "intelligent mechenism" or the expected registry keys that Adobe should be creating?
Does the editor also start as fast as the viewer? (The reason I am using the viewer is because I want a small fast thing to open PDF documents. )

Regards,
Frank

[Willy Van Nuffel]

Hi Frank,

I wonder what is keeping you from downloading and installing PDF-XChange Editor ?
It takes nothing more than 90 MB of hard disk space. (compared to 30 MB for the Viewer)

You can use it for free, as long as you do not need the PRO-features.

You can install it besides PDF-XChange Viewer and Adobe Reader.
They can work independently from each other.

You can set either one of these three as your default PDF application.

In this manner, you can easily check out whether the Editor is answering your expectations.

Best regards.

Willy