split window

[gklein]

Is it possible to split the view window horizontally? That is, view one part of the document in the top part of the window while viewing another part of the same document in the bottom part of the window. If this is not currently possible, consider this a feature request.

I love the documents-on-separate-tabs feature. As an alternative to split view, is it possible to open the same document to two different tabs? Then I could display different portions of the document on each tab. This is not quite as nice as split view because I have to go back and forth betwen the two tabs -- I can't view them side by side. However, I find that if I try to open a document that is already open, it ignores my attempt rather than to start a new tab.

Thanks!

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Yes. This is possible by using the Loupe Tool.

Typically, one will want to refer to a Table of Contents at the start of a document, while scrolling down and reading the rest of the document.

Use the Loupe tool to view the TOC in the loupe window, and resize and reposition the loupe window until you can view what you wish to retain on screen at a comfortable size. Position the loupe window right up at the top over the advertisement, but not covering the scroll bar as you will need that to scroll the document.

Now select the hand tool. You can scroll and zoom the whole document while retaining the original view inside the loupe window.

[gklein]

Bhikkhu,

Thanks for the tip about the Loupe Tool. That is nice and I'll use it, but I still would very much request a split window feature. With split windows I could independently scroll within the two windows. The Loupe window content is fixed.

[quant]

split window would be a very useful feature, indeed!

[kaidovh]

I join the request!

[Ivan - Tracker Software]

We will add split window feature into an upcoming build as requested.

Thanks

[aerozoche]

I will give my hearty vote for a split window also! Thanks for the loupe tip. It works, but it would be great to be able to scroll through separate parts of a document concurrently.

Thanks!

[Chris - PDF-XChange]

Great, thanks for your suggestion.

[iRob]

I vote for split view too! You will be the first PDF reader with this feature, which is surprisingly lacking in all other readers out there.

[gklein]

iRob-- yes, that is surprising. This seems to me a very useful feature. Certainly other programs do have it. For example, MS Word has it and the GUI text editors that I use have it (such as vim, emacs). I use these programs daily and I would hate to be without this feature.

I first suggested this feature for PDF-XChange about two years ago now. There was a reply in this thread from Ivan April 7 08 suggesting that this feature would be added soon. But not so. So I'll just keep on hoping and nagging.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hi all,

As Ivan said this feature will be added in a future build.
I just requested some more precise information and understood that this will find it's place into the third version of our Viewer that is still in development and is expected later this year.

Best,
Stefan

[aerst2]

I signed up for the forum just to see how to get this feature. I'm glad to see that it is on it's way, because right now I can't really use the Viewer the way I'd like to.

The capability of having separate windows (as opposed to a split) would be even better. That way, you can have as many open windows as you want, and you can position them however you like. In Adobe, I often read patents, and I like to have a window open to the text, and another window open behind it to the figure that the text is describing, so that I can alt-tab back and forth.

Also, it would be nice if the Viewer took advantage of the Windows 7 taskbar features like Adobe 9 does.

Edit - Additionally, it would be really great if you could implement a feature where you could drag or scroll the Loupe window from within the Loupe window itself (rather than having to scroll all the way back up just to reposition the Loupe to another page). This would be a wonderful interim fix (even just a simple pageup/pagedown in the Loupe tool would be very useful).

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

The capability of having separate windows (as opposed to a split) would be even better.

You can — allow multiple instances. Preferences, General (at the bottom).

[gklein]

Bhikku, thanks for the tip to allow multiple instances.

Still, I would really like a split window feature. And per my original post in this thread I would also like to open a given file in multiple tabs.

[aerst2]

The capability of having separate windows (as opposed to a split) would be even better.

You can — allow multiple instances. Preferences, General (at the bottom).

Unfortunately, that does not duplicate the feature. If you do "allow multiple instances" and then open the same document twice, there are two problems: (1) you can't save; (2) you can only make changes on one of the documents.

This does not work for me, because I often try to look at the figures in a patent and annotate them based on the text, while also annotating the text based on the figures. To do that, you really have to have the ability to edit two places at once, in the same document.

[rgo]

My vote too for window splitting! I see that there are comments regarding this feature since 2005, any estimates on when it would be ready?

Being able to see and annotate two locations of a document at the same time when reading academic material is an invaluable feature (text and references or text and a figure or text and formulas).

Cheers,
rgo

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Thanks rgo,

Your vote is counted!
As I mentioned above it will be in ver3 of the Viewer - expected later this year.

Best,
Stefan

[sonicwaves]

I would love this feature as well (and the ability to edit the document in both the windows).

Thanks for listening!

[John - Tracker Supp]

pleasure

[nico04]

Hi all,

Please, add my vote for these features. Split window and multi-tab of the same document.

Regards,
Nicolas

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Thanks nic04,

we have noted your comment. The feature request is on the Dev Team's Radar.

cheers

[aerst2]

Better document management generally would be much appreciated. A pane on the side with all of the open documents (with a selectable thumbnail or list view of the open page of each open document, and resizable thumbnails) would be very nice. I'd also love to see integration with the Windows 7 taskbar, so that page thumbnails pop up like Adobe.

One of the best features of PDF-XChange is the ability to have a bunch of open documents and still fly through them - but one of the WORST features is the fact that every open document has to be in a tab, and the tabs have to scroll horizontally once you have more than a couple of open documents. This is really a pain in the butt. I know that you can drop down a list of tabs/thumbnails, but this really isn't a replacement for a good tab and open document management system. The dropdowns are finicky and tricky to use compared to something static like a side pane. Plus, the document order always seems incorrect for some reason.

Also, it would be great to have a consistent Ctrl-Tab feature for tabbing through open documents. As it stands right now, Ctrl-Tab jumps all over the place.

[rgo]

Hi,

I would like to make a feature request on top of a feature request!

When you get split window working, it would be pretty good if you could do the following. While viewing a document in split window, say you are reading the top half of the screen and click on a PDF link with the middle button, have the other half of the window move to the location.

This way you could be reading a PDF document on half of the screen and click on a reference citation which would localize the lower half of the screen on the corresponding bibliographic entry (or formula, or Figure, etc). This would allow the reader to maintain the reading flow on the document by quickly glancing to see the referenced item without having to scroll up and down.

Anyway, keep up the good work!

Cheers,
rgo

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Rgo,

As the dev guys explained it to me, the plans are that splitting would be possible more than once, so while it might not be 100% as you described it you would be able to view e.g. two documents one next to the other, and split one of those documents in half exactly to view diagrams, graphs and the text that this relates to - but we will have to wait and see the actual implementation.

Best,
Stefan