Ultimate List: 7 Best Free PDF Readers for Windows PC in 2023

We use PDFs every day. PDFs have become a part of life for all of us. We can share documents, presentations, applications, e-books, and many more electronic documents via PDFs. PDF documents are easy to open on any computing system and smartphone and can be dealt with conveniently as email extensions.

To open and use PDF files for any Windows PC and Mac you will need a PDF reader. PDF reader allows a document to stay entirely in the same condition irrespective of the various sources that you may use for reading or storing these files. There are some tasks such as annotation, digital emblem, form filling, etc. that are only possible with advanced PDF reader software.

We are sure that you will be satisfied with the excellent way out. These are very powerful yet very easy-to-use programs. These are some of the best and leading PDF readers trusted by millions of users. Let’s have a look at the 7 best free PDF readers & software for Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.

List of 7 Best Free PDF Readers for Windows PC:

1. Adobe Acrobat Reader:

Adobe was the first company to have developed and launched this structure in the market. It is available in different languages. Adobe Acrobat Reader is a free PDF creator and document editor that allows you to edit, convert, create, and sign fillable PDF forms. This is a traditional PDF reader and continues to be the best & free till now.

You can easily add your e-signature to shared documents and send them to companions for quick, creative, and paperless association. You can make use of Adobe Acrobat Reader for reading content available in different formats including multimedia ones.

Similarly, documents can also be transformed into PowerPoint (PPT), RTF, or Excel format. It also lets you access scanned PDFs that you have captured using the free Adobe Scan application. You can upload and sign documents and open your scans in Acrobat Reader to fill, sign, review, and share.

Adobe Acrobat PDF reader for Windows PC & Mac can be downloaded from its official website for free. It is free to download but to use its incredible features, you need to subscribe to it. Subscriptions work across mobile and the web. The perks of a subscription are:

• Compose and edit PDFs
• Create files from documents or images
• Export PDFs to Microsoft Word
• Export PDFs to Microsoft Excel
• Now Export PDFs to Microsoft PowerPoint
• Compress PDFs to lessen the file size
• Combine files
• Conserve PDFs with passwords

2. Sumatra PDF:

Sumatra is another best free PDF reader available for Windows PC & Mac. It is a simple user-friendly program and supports many other forms of documents like Microsoft HTML Help, FictionBook, EPUB, MOBI, and comic book archive files. It supports various keyboard shortcuts to help you guide quickly and improve your reading experience.

Sumatra is available in multiple languages, with 69 translations of the software. It also supports running in restricted mode. The software can provide an incredible reading experience with quick understanding and essential features. But, it lags behind in developed characteristics like annotations, document signing, and form-filling.

3. Foxit Reader:

Foxit is also a very popular and free app for PDF reading and viewing. It is a multilingual software available in 12 different languages. It allows us to view, annotate, and protect PDFs. It is also available in the mobile edition for free. This is a lightweight reader and viewer that doesn’t exhaust your device resources.

Also: Download Free PDF Editor for Windows PC

You can create, view, edit, digitally sign and print files. It is safe software with powerful file protection features to safeguard sensitive data against unauthorized acknowledgment. Also, it is collaborative in nature that grants full control of your content.

It is fast and efficient in loading PDFs. You can fill out and save forms, import and export form data, and submit PDF forms. In order to use extra features you need a subscription that includes the following features:

• Export, edit, protect, and sign documents with an existing digital certificate
• Work on XFA forms
• Insert audio or videos into the document
• Add and edit text and image objects
• Edit document properties
• Optimize PDF files and reorganize pages
• You can also create blank PDFs from scratch
• Create PDFs from Microsoft Office, image, text, and HTML files
• Scan and convert paper documents to PDF
• Convert PDFs to MS Office, image, text, and combine PDFs to create a new PDF

4. Google Drive PDF Viewer:

Google Drive app can open or view a PDF file without any external tools. It is indeed one of the best online PDF readers the tech giant Google offers for their users. It supports Windows 8.1, 8, 7, 10, and 11 OS. You can also find it on your mobile devices. It has over 5B+ downloads on Google Play Store.

It gives components such as PDF printing & download and also permits you to find text in the document. You can simply choose the option to open a PDF via Google Docs and convert that PDF into an editable document structure.

Also: Download Free PDF File Converter for Windows PC

It allows you to safely store your files and access them from anywhere. You can search for files by name and content. It easily shares files and folders with others. You can instantly view your content. You can set access levels for those who can view, comment, or edit.

It also provides quick access to recent files. You can see file elements and actions. It enables viewing files in offline mode as well. You may use your device camera to scan paper records. It can access pictures and videos from Google Photos.

You can connect external Chrome applications to this PDF reader and expand its functionality. All around, it can turn out to be a great option for established PDF viewers if you mostly store documents in your Google Drive.

5. Expert PDF:

PDF Expert is among one of the best PDF viewer software that allows you to view and print files on a Mac PC. It was developed by Readdle. Moreover, this reader permits the transformation of existing documents. Convert PDF into Excel, PowerPoint, or editable text files. You can even enhance old PDFs with the AI feature.

You can rectify document summaries, and revise any annotation that has been established from Expert PDF or any other PDF composition software. This is an excellent tool for viewing PDF files and documents on Mac. It is fast, truthful, and easy to use. It will furnish your all needs for the PDF viewer of your choice.

6. PDF-XChange Editor:

PDF-XChange Editor, formerly known as PDF-XChange Viewer, now comprises all the features of the viewer and editor. It allows you to review the PDF files. You can quickly view PDF files, add content, and cooperate with easy to use interface.

PDF-XChange Editor is available to download for Microsoft Windows PC for absolutely free. Its Windows 10 version provides fast loading times and delivers a convenient experience for reading, printing, annotating, and saving images, text, etc. from PDF files.

7. Nitro PDF Reader:

Nitro PDF Reader is the last but not least in the list of best PDF readers for PC it allows you to develop, share, modify, convert, and sign PDF files. It permits you to create PDF files from any Windows app and from over 300 different formats.

You will only need to simply drag and drop files to immediately create a document. It lets you create your docs with features like tariff colors, several fonts, page size, orientation, and production excellence. You can keep Nitro simple with preset preferences.

There are two strata to the Nitro, which are; a free version, which contains the basic features that one would expect to have, and a ‘pro’ version, which has improved and upgraded characteristics for the user to get encompassed with.

Its free version available for all includes the following characteristics:

• View, print, email, and share PDF files.
• It allows you to highlight, underline, cross out, and add notes to text and pages.
• It can print to PDF from any Microsoft Office app.
• You can convert PDFs to MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats.
• It can permanently and securely cleanse sensitive data.
• You can create, edit, remove, replace, as well as reorder any page.
• It allows you to join multiple documents into one document.
• It provides e-Sign, collaborates, and shares easily with Nitro Sign integration.