PDF Viewer

How to Use PDF Viewer with WoowPDF: A Step-by-Step Guide

PDF Viewer is a feature-rich document viewer that provides professional-grade tools for reading, annotating, and analyzing PDF files directly in your browser. This comprehensive viewer allows you to open and view any PDF instantly, zoom in and out for detailed inspection, rotate pages to correct orientation, search through entire documents quickly, add bookmarks for easy navigation, highlight important text and content, extract text from PDFs, and switch between multiple viewing themes. Perfect for reading research papers and documents, reviewing and annotating contracts, studying textbooks and manuals, analyzing reports and presentations, marking up design documents, researching legal or medical files, or any situation requiring thorough PDF examination. The tool features an intuitive interface with thumbnail navigation, powerful full-text search with result highlighting, flexible zoom (25%-400%) and rotation controls, multiple view modes (single page, two-page, grid), customizable reading themes (light, dark, sepia), annotation tools for markup and notes, and bookmark management for quick access. Whether you're a student reviewing study materials, a professional analyzing documents, a researcher examining papers, or anyone who needs powerful PDF viewing capabilities, our viewer delivers desktop-quality features entirely in your browser.

Using the PDF Viewer is intuitive with WoowPDF. Our advanced tool provides complete document control. Here's how to use it:

Step 1: Upload Your PDF File

• Navigate to the PDF Viewer tool on WoowPDF.
• Click "Select PDF File" to open the file browser.
• Choose a PDF file from your computer (up to 100MB supported).
• The upload begins automatically with a progress bar showing percentage complete.
• During upload, you'll see "Uploading... X%" with a visual progress indicator.
• After upload completes, the PDF loads into the viewer automatically.
• The viewer generates thumbnail previews for all pages in the background.
• Document metadata (title, author, page count, file size) is extracted and displayed.
• Your PDF opens to page 1 at 100% zoom, ready for viewing.
• All processing happens securely - PDFs are processed in your browser and not stored on external servers.

Step 2: Navigate Through Your Document

• Multiple navigation methods provide flexible document exploration:
• Page Navigation Controls: Located in the center top toolbar:
• Left Arrow - Goes to previous page (disabled on page 1)
• Page Input - Shows current page / total pages (e.g., "5 / 45"). Click to type a specific page number and press Enter to jump directly to that page.
• Right Arrow - Goes to next page (disabled on last page)
• Keyboard Shortcuts: Use arrow keys, Page Up/Down, or scroll wheel to navigate pages quickly.
• Thumbnail Navigation: The left sidebar displays thumbnail previews of all pages:
• Click any thumbnail to jump directly to that page instantly
• The current page thumbnail has a red border and background highlight
• Thumbnails show actual page content for visual identification
• Scroll through thumbnails to get document overview
• Bookmark Navigation: Jump to saved bookmarks (covered in Step 6) for quick access to important pages.

Step 3: Adjust View Settings for Optimal Reading

• Zoom Controls: Adjust magnification for comfortable reading or detailed inspection:
• Zoom Out (-) button - Decreases zoom by 25% increments down to minimum 25%
• Current Zoom Display - Shows percentage (e.g., "100%", "150%")
• Zoom In (+) button - Increases zoom by 25% increments up to maximum 400%
• "Fit" button - Resets to 100% zoom for default page-fit view
• Use 50-75% for overview, 100% for normal reading, 150-200% for detailed inspection, 300-400% for examining fine details like small text or complex diagrams
• Rotation: Click the rotate button (circular arrow icon) to rotate the page 90 degrees clockwise. Click multiple times to reach desired rotation: 90°, 180° (upside down), 270°, 360° (back to normal). Rotation persists as you navigate between pages. Useful for documents with landscape pages or pages scanned sideways.
• View Modes: Choose how pages display using view mode buttons (top-right toolbar):
• Single Page - Shows one page at a time in full view. Best for focused reading, annotations, or detailed analysis. Default mode.
• Two Page (Book View) - Displays two pages side-by-side like an open book. Perfect for magazines, brochures, or documents designed as spreads. Left page is even-numbered, right page is odd-numbered.
• Grid View - Shows multiple pages in a grid layout for document overview. Useful for scanning through many pages quickly or getting a visual sense of document structure.
• Reading Themes: Switch between visual themes for comfortable reading in different lighting conditions:
• Light Theme (☀️) - White background with black text. Standard mode for normal lighting, printing, or daytime use.
• Dark Theme (🌙) - Dark gray/black background with white text. Reduces eye strain in low light, saves battery on OLED screens, comfortable for extended night reading.
• Sepia Theme (📖) - Warm beige background reduces blue light. Easy on eyes for long reading sessions, mimics paper texture, reduces glare and eye fatigue.

Step 4: Search Through Your Document

• Powerful full-text search helps you find specific content quickly:
• Initiating Search: Locate the search bar in the secondary toolbar (below main toolbar). Type your search query in the input field with search icon. The search is case-insensitive - finds matches regardless of capitalization. Press Enter or click the "Find" button to start searching.
• Search Process: During search, "Find" button shows loading spinner. The tool scans through every page extracting and comparing text. Search results appear with count showing "X / Y" where X is current result and Y is total matches found.
• Navigating Results: Search results display with navigation arrows:
• Up arrow - Goes to previous search result
• Down arrow - Goes to next search result
• Counter shows which result you're viewing (e.g., "3 / 12" means result 3 of 12 total)
• Clicking arrows automatically jumps to the page containing that result
• Search Results Display: Each result shows the page number where text was found, plus a text snippet showing context around the matched term (50 characters before and after). Results navigate in sequence through the document from beginning to end.
• Use Cases: Finding specific terms, concepts, or phrases. Locating all mentions of a person, company, or topic. Jumping to sections by searching for chapter titles or headings. Verifying presence of specific clauses in contracts. Research and fact-checking in long documents.

Step 5: Use Annotation Tools

• Mark up PDFs with various annotation tools (located in secondary toolbar):
• Select Tool (□): Default tool for reading and navigation. Click to activate. Use for selecting text, scrolling, and normal interaction without marking up the document.
• Highlight Tool (🖍️): Mark important text with colored highlights. Click the highlight icon to activate. Choose from 8 colors using the color palette (yellow, red, teal, mint, coral, purple, pink, light green). Click and drag over text to highlight. Highlights save with the viewing session. Perfect for marking key passages, important quotes, or sections needing attention.
• Draw Tool (✏️): Freehand drawing for annotations and markup. Activate to draw directly on the PDF. Select color from the palette. Click and drag to draw lines, arrows, circles, underlines, or any freehand shapes. Useful for marking errors, circling content, drawing attention to specific areas, or adding custom annotations.
• Text Tool (T): Add custom text annotations anywhere. Click to activate, then click where you want to add text. Type your annotation or comment. Choose text color from palette. Use for adding notes, corrections, questions, or commentary directly on the document.
• Shape Tool (○): Add geometric shapes for visual annotations. Choose from rectangles, circles, arrows, or lines. Select color before drawing. Click and drag to create the shape. Perfect for boxing sections, connecting related content, or creating visual references.
• Measure Tool (📏): Measure distances and dimensions on technical documents. Draw to measure length. Useful for architectural drawings, technical diagrams, or any document where measurements matter.
• Color Palette: When using highlight, draw, or text tools, 8 preset colors appear: Yellow (default highlight), Red, Teal, Mint, Coral, Purple, Pink, Light Green. Click any color to select it before annotating. Selected color shows with darker border and scale animation.

Step 6: Create and Manage Bookmarks

• Save important pages for quick access:
• Creating Bookmarks: Navigate to the page you want to bookmark. Click the "Bookmark" button in the secondary toolbar (📑 icon). A new bookmark is created instantly with default title "Page X" where X is the current page number. Bookmarks save with timestamp for reference. You can bookmark any page - create as many bookmarks as needed.
• Viewing Bookmarks: Click the "Bookmarks" tab in the left sidebar. All saved bookmarks appear in chronological order. Each bookmark entry shows the bookmark title (e.g., "Page 5") and the page number.
• Using Bookmarks: Click any bookmark entry to instantly jump to that page. The viewer navigates immediately without delay. Perfect for repeatedly accessing important sections like table of contents, specific chapters, reference pages, or key findings.
• Deleting Bookmarks: Hover over any bookmark in the list. Click the X button that appears on the right. The bookmark is removed immediately. Remove bookmarks you no longer need to keep your list organized.
• Empty State: If you haven't created any bookmarks yet, the bookmark tab shows a helpful message: "No bookmarks yet - Click 'Bookmark' to save" with a bookmark icon.

Step 7: Extract and Work with Text

• Extract text content from your PDF for various uses:
• Extract All Text: Click the "Extract" button in the secondary toolbar (🔍 icon). The viewer processes all pages sequentially. A loading indicator appears during extraction. Text from every page is extracted and compiled into one document. Each page's text is prefixed with "--- Page X ---" header for easy identification.
• Viewing Extracted Text: After extraction completes, the text panel opens automatically on the right side. Click the text display icon (☰) in the toolbar to toggle the text panel on/off. The panel shows all extracted text in a scrollable area. Text appears in monospace font for better readability. Maintains original spacing and line breaks where possible.
• Copying Text: Click the copy icon (📋) at the top of the text panel. All extracted text copies to your clipboard instantly. Paste into any text editor, word processor, note-taking app, email, or other application. Perfect for creating quotes, copying data, extracting information, or archiving text content.
• Use Cases: Creating text versions of scanned documents. Copying specific passages or quotes for citations. Extracting data from PDF forms or reports. Converting PDF content for editing in word processors. Creating searchable text archives of scanned PDFs. Analyzing text with external tools. Translating PDF content by pasting into translation services.
• Limitations: Text extraction quality depends on PDF type. Native digital PDFs (created from Word, etc.) extract perfectly with all formatting. Scanned PDFs without OCR may not extract text (appears as images). PDFs with unusual fonts may have extraction errors. Complex layouts (columns, tables) may not preserve exact formatting.

Step 8: View Document Information

• Access comprehensive document metadata:
• Click the "Info" tab in the left sidebar.
• Detailed metadata displays including:
• Title: Document title as specified in PDF metadata (shows "N/A" if not set)
• Author: Document creator/author name from metadata
• Pages: Total page count in the document
• File Size: Exact file size in megabytes (MB) to 2 decimal places
• Version: PDF format version (e.g., "1.4", "1.7", "2.0")
• Creator: Software used to create the PDF (e.g., "Microsoft Word", "Adobe Acrobat")
• Additional fields may include Subject, Keywords, Producer, Creation Date, and Modification Date when available in the PDF metadata.
• This information is useful for verifying document authenticity, checking version compatibility, understanding document origin, or cataloging files.

Step 9: Advanced Features and Tools

• Download PDF: Click "Download" button in the top toolbar to save the PDF to your device. Downloads with original filename. Useful for offline viewing or sharing.
• Print PDF: Click "Print" button to open browser print dialog. Select printer and print settings. Prints current view with all pages. Use for creating physical copies or saving as PDF through system print-to-PDF.
• Fullscreen Mode: Click the fullscreen icon (expand arrows) in top-right toolbar. PDF viewer fills entire screen for immersive reading. Hides browser UI and toolbars. Press Esc key or click minimize icon to exit. Perfect for presentations or distraction-free reading.
• Sidebar Toggle: Click the menu icon (☰) at top-left to show/hide the left sidebar. Hiding sidebar provides more space for document viewing. Useful on smaller screens or when you need maximum reading area.
• Settings Panel: Click the settings icon (⚙️) in top-right toolbar. Opens settings modal with additional options: Show Text Layer - Enables/disables text extraction during viewing (affects performance on large PDFs). Continuous Scroll - When enabled, allows smooth scrolling through all pages instead of discrete page-by-page navigation. Show Annotations - Toggle visibility of all annotations without deleting them.
• Status Bar: Bottom bar displays real-time information: Current filename, File size in MB, Current zoom percentage, Current rotation angle, Active view mode. Quick reference for document status without navigating menus.
• Opening New Files: Click "Open" button in toolbar to select a different PDF. Previous file is replaced with the new selection. All annotations and bookmarks reset when loading a new file.

Common Use Cases:

• Academic Reading: Students can read textbooks and papers with highlighting for key concepts, bookmarks for chapters, search for specific terms or citations, and extract text for note-taking.
• Document Review: Professionals reviewing contracts or reports can highlight changes, add text annotations with comments, search for specific clauses, and bookmark sections for discussion.
• Research: Researchers examining papers can search across documents, highlight findings, extract quotes and data, bookmark important pages, and organize reading with annotations.
• Technical Documentation: Engineers viewing manuals can search for part numbers, zoom into diagrams, measure dimensions, bookmark reference pages, and extract specifications.
• Legal Review: Lawyers examining case files can search for precedents, highlight key evidence, annotate with questions, bookmark exhibits, and organize large document sets.
• Presentations: Use fullscreen mode to present PDFs. Navigate with keyboard shortcuts. Zoom to show details. Perfect for client presentations or classroom teaching.

Tips for Best Experience:

• Use Dark Theme at Night: Reduce eye strain during evening reading with dark or sepia themes.
• Bookmark Frequently: Save pages as you read so you can quickly return to important sections.
• Search Before Scrolling: Use search to quickly locate specific content instead of manually scrolling through pages.
• Adjust Zoom Appropriately: Use higher zoom (150-200%) for detailed inspection, lower zoom (75%) for document overview.
• Use Thumbnails for Navigation: Thumbnail sidebar provides fastest way to jump to specific pages visually.
• Extract Text Early: If you need to work with document content, extract text at the beginning for quick reference throughout your session.
• Keyboard Shortcuts: Learn arrow keys and Page Up/Down for faster navigation.

Additional Information:

• Browser-Based Viewing: All viewing and processing happens in your browser using PDF.js library. No server-side processing or storage of your documents.
• Privacy and Security: PDFs are processed locally in your browser. Files are not uploaded to external servers after initial transfer. Annotations and bookmarks exist only in your session.
• File Size Support: Viewer handles PDFs up to 100MB. Larger files may load slowly depending on device performance.
• Thumbnail Generation: Thumbnails generate for first 50 pages automatically. Larger documents show remaining page numbers without thumbnails.
• Annotation Persistence: Annotations and bookmarks persist during your viewing session but are not saved permanently to the PDF file.
• Text Extraction Quality: Best results with digital PDFs. Scanned documents require OCR preprocessing for accurate text extraction.
• Performance: Rendering speed depends on PDF complexity and device capabilities. Simple text PDFs load faster than complex graphics-heavy documents.
• Browser Compatibility: Works in all modern browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.

By following these steps, you can view and interact with PDF documents using professional-grade tools. WoowPDF's PDF Viewer provides advanced navigation with thumbnails and bookmarks, powerful search across entire documents, flexible zoom and rotation controls, multiple viewing themes for comfort, annotation tools for markup, text extraction capabilities, and comprehensive document information. Perfect for reading research, reviewing documents, studying materials, analyzing reports, or any situation requiring thorough PDF examination with desktop-quality features in your browser.