PDF Viewer
Open a PDF and read it right here, with smooth zoom, page thumbnails, text search, rotation and fullscreen. The file is displayed by pdf.js inside your browser and is never uploaded.
How to use the PDF Viewer
- Open a PDF with the Open PDF button or drag the file onto the page.
- Scroll or jump to a page with the thumbnails, the page number box or the arrow buttons.
- Zoom with the + and − buttons, choose Fit width or Fit page, or pick a percentage.
- Search by typing a word in the search box and press Enter to jump from match to match.
- Go fullscreen for distraction-free reading, and rotate the view if a page is sideways.
Keyboard shortcuts
Click inside the viewer (or open fullscreen) so the shortcuts apply to the document rather than the web page.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| → or J | Next page |
| ← or K | Previous page |
| Home / End | First / last page |
| + and − | Zoom in and out (Ctrl + mouse wheel also works) |
| 0 | Fit to width |
| R | Rotate the view 90° clockwise |
| F | Toggle fullscreen (Esc leaves it) |
| Ctrl+F / Cmd+F | Jump to the search box |
| Enter / Shift+Enter | Next / previous search match |
How this PDF viewer works
The viewer uses pdf.js, Mozilla's open-source PDF engine that also powers the built-in viewer in Firefox. When you open a file, it is read directly from your disk into the browser's memory; there is no upload and no server copy. Pages are rendered to canvas only when they scroll into view, at your screen's pixel density, so text stays sharp on high-DPI displays and long documents open quickly. Pages that scroll far away are released again to save memory.
Search reads the PDF's text layer and highlights every match on the page, with the current match in orange. Because it relies on real text, scanned documents without OCR show no matches.
Viewing tips
- Fit width is best for reading text documents; Fit page shows the whole page for slides and forms.
- Sideways scans? Rotate the view here, or fix the file permanently with Rotate PDF.
- Need the text? Copy it out with PDF to Text, or save pages as pictures with PDF to JPG.
- Only want a few pages? Use Split PDF to extract them into a new file.
Frequently asked questions
How do I open a PDF online without uploading it?
Press Open PDF or drag the file onto this page. The PDF is read straight from your device by pdf.js, the same open-source engine used by Firefox, and displayed in the page. It is never sent to a server, so private documents stay private.
What keyboard shortcuts does the viewer support?
Click into the viewer first. Then ← and → (or J and K) go to the previous and next page, Home and End jump to the first and last page, + and − zoom, 0 fits the width, R rotates, F toggles fullscreen and Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on a Mac) jumps to the search box. In the search box, Enter finds the next match and Shift+Enter the previous one.
Why does search find nothing in my PDF?
Search only works if the PDF contains real text. Scanned documents are pictures of pages, so there is no text to search until OCR has been applied. Also check the spelling; search ignores upper and lower case.
Can I open password-protected PDFs?
Not at the moment. If the PDF needs a password to open, open it in an app where you can enter the password and save an unlocked copy first.
Does rotating the view change my file?
No. Rotation only changes how the pages are shown here. The Download button gives you the original file unchanged. To save rotated pages permanently, use the Rotate PDF tool.
Can I view large PDFs?
Yes. Pages are rendered only when they come into view, and pages far away are released from memory, so documents with hundreds of pages scroll smoothly. Very large scanned files may take a moment to open on older phones.