Advanced PDF Reader

A modern, professional PDF reader and annotator for Windows, built with Tkinter and PyMuPDF. Inspired by Adobe Photoshop, with a dark theme, responsive UI, annotation tools, and form fill support.

Features

• Dark, modern UI (Photoshop-inspired)
• Sidebar with page thumbnails (active page highlighted with page number badges)
• Main PDF display with zoom, fit, and rotation
• Keyboard scrolling: Up/Down arrows for vertical scrolling, Ctrl+Left/Right for horizontal scrolling
• Session restore: Automatically remembers last opened PDF and page position
• Default PDF association: Can be set as default PDF reader for Windows
• Toolbar with annotation tools:
• Highlight, Draw, Text Note, Image, Form Fill, Eraser
• Undo/Redo for all annotation actions (Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Y)
• Keyboard shortcuts for all major actions
• Form fill: text, checkbox, radio, dropdown, list
• Windows auto-startup option
• Build to standalone .exe (no Python required)
• Professional Windows installer with Inno Setup

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• PyMuPDF
• Pillow
• pywin32
• pystray
• requests
• (Tkinter is included with standard Python on Windows)

Installation & Build

1. Clone this repo
2. Install Python 3.8+ (Windows recommended)
3. Install PyInstaller (for building .exe):
   sh pip install pyinstaller
4. Build the app:
   sh python build.py
   The standalone .exe will be in the /public/ folder.
   The /public folder will contain the built .exe, an Inno Setup script, and (optionally) the installer. All build and dist folders are inside /public.

Creating a Windows Installer (Inno Setup)

1. Install Inno Setup (Download here)
2. After running python build.py, the installer will be created automatically if Inno Setup is installed.
3. If Inno Setup is not found, open /public/installer.iss in Inno Setup and click "Compile".
4. The installer (e.g., AdvancedPDFReader-Setup-v1.0.0.exe) will be created in /public.

Usage

• Run pdfReader.py (or PDFReader.exe after build)
• Open a PDF, use the toolbar and sidebar to navigate and annotate
• Keyboard scrolling: Use Up/Down arrows to scroll vertically, Ctrl+Left/Right for horizontal scrolling
• Session restore: App automatically opens your last PDF and page when launched
• Default PDF reader: Set as default to open PDFs directly by double-clicking
• Use keyboard shortcuts for fast workflow (see Help > Shortcuts)

Screenshot

License

MIT License

Professional Splash and Windowing Best Practices

• Only one Tk() root window is ever created.
• The splash screen is a Toplevel child of the main (hidden) root, or the root itself if you want no flicker.
• The main window is hidden (withdraw()) until the splash is destroyed, then shown (deiconify()).
• Only one mainloop() is called (on the main app).
• This ensures no small/empty window flicker and a professional user experience.

Sidebar Scrolling Best Practice

• Use bindtags to ensure mouse wheel events on thumbnails propagate to the sidebar canvas.
• Dynamically set bindtags for each thumbnail and the sidebar frame.

/public Folder Structure

• After building, the /public folder contains:
• PDFReader-vX.Y.Z.exe — The standalone portable executable
• /public/dist/ — PyInstaller distribution files
• /public/build/ — PyInstaller build files (can be deleted after distribution)
• /public/assets/ — Copied assets for the installer
• installer.iss — Inno Setup script
• AdvancedPDFReader-Setup-vX.Y.Z.exe — Windows installer (if Inno Setup is installed)
• Use the /public folder to distribute your app or upload to GitHub Releases.

Setting as Default PDF Reader

Method 1: Windows Settings

1. Right-click any PDF file
2. Select "Open with" → "Choose another app"
3. Select "Advanced PDF Reader"
4. Check "Always use this app to open .pdf files"

Method 2: Windows Settings App

1. Open Windows Settings (Windows + I)
2. Go to "Apps" → "Default apps"
3. Scroll down and click "Choose default apps by file type"
4. Find ".pdf" and select "Advanced PDF Reader"

Support

For questions or contributions, contact needyamin@gmail.com or visit github.com/needyamin.