accessible alternatives to adobe reader

Category: Geeks r Us

Post 1 by Meglet (I just keep on posting!) on Sunday, 20-Oct-2013 15:29:30

Hi all,

Here I am with another nigh-unsolvable computer question. I'm working on a research paper that has to be turned in in less than two weeks, and all of my journal articles for the lit review are in pdf format. Adobe reader has decided that it no longer wishes to open another pdf ever ever again. It just stops responding and hangs until I close it. That, or it gives me a weird error about the file being damaged, which it isn't. I've tried everything I can think of and nothing has worked, so I'm wondering if anyone knows of an accessible pdf reader I could use instead? I was getting sick of adobe reader anyway, and I've tried a few other pdf readers with little success. Usually, NVDA just can't read anything on the page at all. Any ideas? I really, really need to be able to access these documents, preferably in their original format so that page numbers are preserved (for citation purposes).

Post 2 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Sunday, 20-Oct-2013 18:32:16

There is an app called Q-Read which is advertised on this website, at the top. I have not gotten it, as I often use my iPhone for these and open them in iBooks. I don't know what features Q-Read has but it doesn't alter the file, I imagine.

Post 3 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Sunday, 20-Oct-2013 18:34:29

Here's the ZoneBBS ad page for this

Post 4 by vh (This site is so "educational") on Sunday, 20-Oct-2013 18:57:12

This isn't a direct answer as I'm not aware of other accessible pdf readers, but if you have another pdf reader, when I run into a pdf that is unreadable, I send it to Kurzweil via print to Kurzweil Virtual Printer-the pdf is "scanned" and then recognized.
Of course, this only helps if you have Kurzweil. Not sure if Open Book has a comparable feature.
Good luck.

Post 5 by Meglet (I just keep on posting!) on Sunday, 20-Oct-2013 23:16:05

I never thought to check open book, thank you.
And, Leo, you're the best. I will definitely check this out. I did find a workaround of sorts: I use nitro reader to convert the pdf to plain text, and for the most part formatting is preserved. Unfortunately, this does not work with my copy-protected files, but I have relatively few of those.

Post 6 by rusty81 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Sunday, 20-Oct-2013 23:37:04

check this out,
http://www.webbie.org.uk/download.htm
this is what I use when reading .pdf format books. there's a pdf reader in there.
hope it helps.

Post 7 by JH_Radio (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Monday, 21-Oct-2013 0:30:36

i like some of WebIE's po.
the PDF one is very good and works well. you can view it in text only or how ever the file was created by hitting a hot key.
QCast works well too, so i think QRead can be an option to consider too.

Post 8 by Meglet (I just keep on posting!) on Monday, 21-Oct-2013 2:16:18

Thanks so much guys. You're seriously saving my bacon here.

Post 9 by Smiling Sunshine (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Monday, 21-Oct-2013 9:36:35

Hi there. Openbook does have this feature. print the pdf file to the "freedom import printer." That will open up openbook and bingo, your doc will be accessible shortly.
Good luck.

Post 10 by rusty81 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Monday, 21-Oct-2013 10:23:24

and for the `scanned and protected pdf, I use kurzweil

Post 11 by Meglet (I just keep on posting!) on Monday, 21-Oct-2013 12:15:41

Thanks guys.