Google Chrome 6 has built-in PDF support

Posted on Monday, June 21 2010 @ 20:43 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Google recently revealed the latest Chrome developer build for Windows and Linux features an integrated PDF viewer, which can be enabled by visiting chrome://plugins.
Today, we are making available an integrated PDF viewing experience in the Chrome developer channel for Windows and Mac, which can be enabled by visiting chrome://plugins. Linux support is on the way, and we will be enabling the integration by default in the developer channel in the coming weeks.

With this effort, we will accomplish the following:

* PDF files will render as seamlessly as HTML web pages, and basic interactions will be no different than the same interactions with web pages (for example, zooming and searching will work as users expect). PDF rendering quality is still a work in progress, and we will improve it substantially before releasing it to the beta and stable channels.

* To further protect users, PDF functionality will be contained within the security “sandbox” Chrome uses for web page rendering.

* Users will automatically receive the latest version of Chrome’s PDF support; they won’t have to worry about manually updating any plug-ins or programs.

Currently, we do not support 100% of the advanced PDF features found in Adobe Reader, such as certain types of embedded media. However, for those users who rely on advanced features, we plan to give them the ability to launch Adobe Reader separately.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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