View and navigate documents

This article shows how to read PDFs comfortably in Farino PDF: moving between pages, setting the zoom, choosing a page display, and finding text. You will also learn about read mode, night mode, rulers, and the tools for comparing two documents.

Get to know the workspace

When a PDF is open, the window has these main areas:

• The ribbon at the top holds the command tabs, such as Home and View.
• The thumbnail panel on the left shows a small image of each page.
• The document area in the center shows the PDF pages.
• The status bar at the bottom holds page navigation, page display modes, and zoom.

Move between pages

Use any of these methods:

• Click a page thumbnail in the left panel.
• Scroll the document with the mouse wheel.
• Press ← or → for the previous or next page.
• Type a page number in the page box on the status bar, then press Enter.
• Click the two arrows in the title bar, next to the printer icon, for the previous and next page.

From left to right, the status bar contains:

• Options, which opens the Page options panel.
• The active page size in points (W and H), and a button that shows or hides the thumbnail panel.
• The check box and status for automatic recovery drafts.
• First page, previous page, the page number box, next page, and last page.
• Two arrows to go back to the previous view or forward to the next view.
• Four page display mode buttons.
• Fit content, fit page, fit width, and actual size buttons.
• The Zoom list, a zoom slider from 10% to 400%, and the full screen button.

Thumbnails and bookmarks

The left panel has two icons at the top. The first shows page thumbnails. The second shows the document bookmarks. Click × to close the panel, or click Page Thumbnails on the Home or View tab to open it again.

Set the zoom

Click Zoom on the Home or View tab to open the zoom menu:

You can also drag the zoom slider on the status bar or pick a value from the Zoom list.

Choose a page display

Click Page Display on the View or Home tab, then choose:

• Single Page: one page at a time.
• Continuous: pages stacked vertically for continuous scrolling.
• Facing Pages: two pages side by side.
• Continuous Facing: two pages side by side with continuous scrolling.

The same four modes are available as buttons on the status bar.

Find text

1. Click Find Text on the Home tab, or press Ctrl+F.
2. Type a word in the search box. Matches are highlighted on the page.
3. Press Enter for the next match, or Shift+Enter for the previous one. You can also use the arrow buttons in the search box.
4. The match count appears next to the arrows, for example 1 / 1.

Search uses the PDF text layer. If a message says the document has no text layer, run OCR first.

Read mode and night mode

• Read Mode on the View tab hides the ribbon commands to give the document more room. To leave it, click Exit Read Mode in the title bar or press Esc.
• Night Mode switches the app to a dark theme. PDF pages keep their original colors. Click it again to return to the light theme.

Rulers and grid

The View tab has Rulers, View Grid, and Snap to Grid. Rulers and the grid help you place text, images, or annotations neatly.

To set units and grid spacing, click Options on the status bar. The Page options panel opens on the right. Under View & Alignment, choose the Units (points, millimeters, or inches) and the Grid spacing (6, 12, 18, or 36 pt).

Other reading tools

Word Count

Click Word Count on the View tab to see the number of pages, words, and characters excluding spaces. Counts use the PDF text layer, so scanned pages need OCR first.

Read Aloud

Click Read Aloud to open the Additional Offline Tools panel with the Read PDF aloud offline operation. Click Process locally to start and Stop Read Aloud to stop. This feature uses the Windows voices installed on your computer.

Compare Documents

Requires Business edition or higher

Use Compare Documents to see the differences between two versions of a PDF, such as an original quotation and its revision.

1. Open the original PDF, then click View › Compare Documents.
2. The active PDF becomes document A. Click the Revised PDF (B) area and choose the revised PDF.
3. Click Compare Documents.
4. The panel lists which pages differ. Choose Visual differences for layout changes, or Text differences for word changes.
5. Click Export marked-up PDF to save a PDF with the changed pages marked, or Compare other files to start again with other files.

Side by Side

Requires Pro edition or higher

Side by Side shows two PDFs next to each other. Both panes scroll together when Synced scrolling is on. The arrow and zoom buttons in this panel apply to both documents at once.

In an edition that does not include a feature, Farino PDF shows a locked feature page where you can enter a license key or start a free Business trial. See pricing to compare editions.