Chrome PDF Reader Supports Table of Contents, Page Thumb Previews, Rotate and Fit-to-Page Controls

Chrome

A new updated PDF reader is included in the latest edition of the Google Chrome browser, v87, launched earlier this month.

Support for page thumbnail previews, support for document descriptions (table of contents), a document zoom display controller, a ‘Fit to page’ function and support for rotation of documents are new features that come with the redesigned PDF viewer.

The latest features essentially introduce the built-in PDF viewer of Chrome, referred to as PDFium, to feature parity with the PDF viewer of Firefox (PDF.js), deemed the gold standard for web-based PDF reader applications.

While the latest updated PDF reader is expected to roll out in the future to all Chrome devices users can still allow it themselves and take advantage of all the new functionality right now.

To do so, users need to enter the Chrome Flags tab and set “Enabled.” to the following flag.

chrome://flags/#pdf-viewer-update

chrome-pdf-viewer-flag
Credit:ZDNet

Once allowed, when reading any PDF file without any other user action, the new features begin to show up.

But Google is not the only browser creator working on revamping its PDF reader component. Microsoft has already been working on a lengthy list of requested features, with some now making it into a stable version, such as table of contents, digital signatures, and seamless scrolling.

Jennifer Thomas
Jennifer Thomas is the Co-founder and Chief Business Development Officer at Cybers Guards. Prior to that, She was responsible for leading its Cyber Security Practice and Cyber Security Operations Center, which provided managed security services.