Top 15 PDF Previewer for Windows 8 Alternative and Similar Softwares | May 2024

An attorney who deals with a lot of PDFs set himself with the task of finding a way to preview the PDFs in Windows Explorer (much like Cover Flow view already does in Mac OS X) without actually opening them. He has searched high and low and have yet to find anything even remotely similar to Cover Flow on a Mac. He says doesn't need to be able to page through the files, just a quick look at the cover page.

A secretary gets sent a lot of files in PDF format, and it is tiring to having to keep opening them in Adobe Reader, whereas it would be great to see a preview of the file in Windows Explorer or in Microsoft Outlook (in much the same way as photo attachments are shown in full in the Preview Pane).

1. Better Explorer

Better Explorer This is a replacement for the standard Windows Explorer with more features for more convenience.Features:Archive Support: 7zip, xz, bzi2, zip, gzip, tarFolder/ Drive Size Chart:Easily FInd big filesRibbon: As known from windows 8 and microsoft office - now also for the Windows 7 Explorer!......

2. WhoLockMe

WhoLockMe Have you ever bored by this Windows message : "Error Deleting File or Folder, ... There has been a sharing violation. The source or destination file may be in use.", when you try to delete, move or rename a file?WhoLockMe is a little extension for your Microsoft Explorer. It permits......

3. DeskPins

DeskPins DeskPins can be used to make any application topmost, that is, to keep it above all other windows. Just grab a pin from the DeskPins icon in the system notification area (a.k.a. taskbar tray) and click on any window. This functionality is identical to the "Always on Top" setting found......

4. FlashFolder

FlashFolder FlashFolder is an open source tool that extends the file-related common dialogs (e.g. open/save dialog) seen in most Windows applications. A small toolbar docks onto these dialogs that provides menus for quick access to recently-used folders, favorite folders and more.......

5. Folders Popup

Folders Popup Folders Popup lets you move like a breeze between your frequently used folders, documents and links! Have all your favorites at your finger tip - press the middle mouse button to popup your personalized menu. You can add, reorder, remove or rename favorites in the Settings window. Group favorites by......

6. ThumbView

ThumbView ThumbView enables image thumbnails and tooltips in Microsoft Windows XP Explorer (does not work on Windows 7) for filetypes that are not natively supported. It started with PCX, TGA, DDS and PNG images, but now ThumbView supports an amazing 19 image types - directly inside any Explorer window: Image types......

7. Filename Extension Column

Filename Extension Column Adds a column to Windows Explorer details view that shows the extension part of a filename. The column can be sorted and repositioned like any other column. This add-on is ultra small (50KB DLL file) so won't waste precious resources.......

8. Context Viewer

Context Viewer Context Viewer is an explorer extension in the form of a Control Panel applet that lets you preview image files and text in the right click menu. It can also display customized information about images and set hotkeys to enable or disable the preview along with a few more options.......

9. FastPreview

FastPreview FastPreview was created in need of a usable PicaView replacement which was discontinued at the time.It is now a pretty handy tool to display images in a fast manner and is an alternative to the functionality Windows has built-in.Features:Fast Viewer - Showing the image incl. different scaling types......

10. FileTargets

FileTargets FileTargets menu is similar to the standard "SendTo" function in the context menu but is much more advanced since it allows you to create subgroups, automatically add new folders, copy file path names and much more. There's not much to it once installed and is immediately appears in your context......

11. Ninotech Path Copy

Ninotech Path Copy Ninotech Path Copy is an english shell extension that enables you to copy the path of a file or directory to the Clipboard from inside the Windows Explorer. All you have to do is to open the Windows Explorer, right-click the item(s) of interest and choose "Copy Path" in the......

12. Places Bar Editor

Places Bar Editor PlacesBarEditor is a free utility for Windows 2000 and Windows ME that allows you to customize the "PlacesBar" that appears on the left side of the Open and Save dialogs in most applications.The PlacesBar is a set of shortcuts to commonly-used folders, but wouldnt it be more useful if you......

13. ICEOWS

ICEOWS ICEOWS (formally ArjFolder) is written to make compressing and extracting archived files easy. With ICEOWS you can extract, test, read properties and comments or view files stored in ICE, ARJ, ZIP, GunZip, TAR, Microsoft CAB, RAR, ACE, MIME, Mac HQX, UUEncode, XXEncode, Base64, JAR, EAR, WAR, LHA, IMP, BZ2 files......

14. Open++

Open++ Open++ is a context menu shell extension that allows you to quickly open the target file or folder with the customized commands. It adds a submenu with customized menu items to the shell context menu when right clicking a file or folder. Open++ also provides some predefined commands, such as......

15. TouchPro

TouchPro TouchPro allows you to change any combination of file time attributes through a file's property pages. It fully integrates into File Explorer giving you the ability to affect the timestamps of: Individual files The results of any file searches possible with Explorer. For example: particular file types, or......