This is the first pre-release of OmniPDF 2.0.

Features of OmniPDF 2.0

· OmniPDF is a very fast, intuitive way to view PDF (Acrobat) files. Try OmniPDF, and you will find it is an "invisible" app, that does what you need it to the way you expect it to.
· OmniPDF allows you to select, copy, and save text in PDF files as ASCII or RTF. OmniPDF can save a 100-page document in seconds instead of minutes. There is also no "text mode" or "hypertext mode", you can always select text and follow hyperlinks both.
· OmniPDF allows you to search in the text of PDF files. Again, OmniPDF can search through an entire 100-page document times in the seconds instead of minutes.
· OmniPDF supports thumbnails in a separate panel. The current page is always highlighted in the thumbnail panel, and clicking on a thumbnail selects its page.
· OmniPDF supports PDF bookmarks using the standard OmniWeb bookmarks panel. Some others viewers use a browser, which is a less flexible object.
· OmniPDF features good, fast font substitution for missing fonts, but doesn't stretch individual characters in the same font different amounts, which results in stems of different thicknesses which gives a "ransom note" look to the file.
· OmniPDF follows hyperlinks within a PDF file, to other files on your local filesystem, and to URLs using OmniWeb.
· OmniPDF changes the cursor to a little finger above links, and to an I-beam above text that can be selected. One can also hit space to see all links on a page.
· OmniPDF outputs print jobs according to Adobe's Document Structuring Conventions (DSC 2.0), which Adobe's own Acrobat product doesn't. This is really nice if you are using NeXT's Preview.app, for example; OmniPDF allows you to go backwards and forwards through the printed PDF file and zoom in and out.
· OmniPDF interprets PDF in Objective-C, rather than in PostScript. This makes OmniPDF fast and a little easier to control (especially on corrupt files) than PDF viewers that send PDF to the PostScript interpreter. Sending PDF directly to the PostScript interpreter is a security hole unless the PDF viewer first carefully checks the PDF file to make sure it contains only valid PDF commands. (Otherwise hackers could just put in any old PostScript commands and take over your window server.)

Please note: OmniPDF and all future Omni products require the Foundation Kit, which is bundled with NEXTSTEP 3.3 User, Enterprise Objects Framework, and OpenStep. There are two versions of the Foundation library for 3.3, the better one is available from NeXTanswers.

OmniPDF is and always will be free to single users, but if you want to run multiple copies simultaneously at your site you should contact OmniPDF@lighthouse.com for more licenses.

If you experience any problems with OmniPDF, report them to OmniPDF@lighthouse.com.

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Release History

New in v2.0: (unreleased -- coming end of May, 1996)

· Allows selecting, finding, copying, and saving of text in PDF files.
· Bug in font substitution fixed that always made italic fonts sans serif.

New in v1.9: (unreleased)

· Opens URLs using OmniWeb
· Bookmarks supported using OmniWeb's bookmarks panel.
· Thumbnails supported.
· 3x as fast as v1.7 when displaying complex pages.

New in v1.8: (unreleased)

· Opens links to PDF files on the local disk.

New in v1.7:

· Skips Macintosh headers.
· Doesn't crash on images inside Type 3 fonts.
· More robust drawing.
· Can display fonts with encodings that include control characters.