Seeking PDF viewer/utility with specific capabilities

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wwninja

Seeking PDF viewer/utility with specific capabilities

Post by wwninja »

I have a large number of PDF files that need to be manually renamed. On Windows I use Sumatra PDF for this, which works really well because I can open a whole batch of PDFs in tabs, and hit F2 to rename one on the spot. I haven't been able to find a Linux program with those specific features (quickly navigating through multiple PDFs and renaming the one I'm looking at) -- I always have to switch back over to Nemo to rename.

Any suggestions? Thanks!
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majpooper
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Re: Seeking PDF viewer/utility with specific capabilities

Post by majpooper »

PDF Readers were discussed just yesterday I believe - take a look at Okular it is available through the software manager.
aes2011
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Re: Seeking PDF viewer/utility with specific capabilities

Post by aes2011 »

OP seems to want to open several pdf files each in its own tab in the application and somehow rename them based on their content without using a file browser. I don't use okular much and so I don't know if it supports tabs.

qpdfview does.
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Re: Seeking PDF viewer/utility with specific capabilities

Post by Hoser Rob »

I don't know if okular does that but I'll second the recommendation. Actually it's the only Linux pdf reader I've ever used that's any damn good.
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wwninja

Re: Seeking PDF viewer/utility with specific capabilities

Post by wwninja »

Thanks for the suggestions. Tabs per se aren't a requirement, as long as there's some quick way to move through a group of files (such as a way to switch to the next file in a directory).

Okular (and Evince and others) will open multiple files in multiple windows, which I can live with, but I'm still coming up short on the ability to rename a file in place while looking at its content. Any additional suggestions welcomed!
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Re: Seeking PDF viewer/utility with specific capabilities

Post by phd21 »

Hi "wwninja",

With "Master PDF Editor" you can open PDF files in tabs, right-click one and choose save as to rename it.

In my Linux Mint KDE, I can use the file manager (Dolphin) with its file previews to view and rename PDF files or anything else one at a time or more. Most file managers can easily rename a file or many files at once.

There are also some great file renamers in the "Synaptic Package Manager (SPM)", like Krename, pyrenamer, gwenrename, etc..

Hope this helps ...
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politano

Re: Seeking PDF viewer/utility with specific capabilities

Post by politano »

I also suggest Master PDF Editor if you need more than "just reading" (for just reading and very simple commenting I use Okular).
Regarding renaming of one or several files, I find it very easy with my favourite file manager: DoubleCommander.
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Re: Seeking PDF viewer/utility with specific capabilities

Post by BenTrabetere »

wwninja wrote:Okular (and Evince and others) will open multiple files in multiple windows, which I can live with, but I'm still coming up short on the ability to rename a file in place while looking at its content. Any additional suggestions welcomed!
If I understand correctly, you are looking for a document viewer that also includes features associated with a file manager. I am not aware of anything like that in the Linuxverse, and I would be very if someone set out to develop one.

Others have mentioned tabbed PDF viewers - the three I recommend, in order of personal preference, are Okular, Qpdfview and MasterPDF Editor. But they do not support renaming. You can rename them with Save as... but that leaves an original that will need to be dealt with.
I'm still coming up short on the ability to rename a file in place while looking at its content.
You should be able to a PDF from Nemo while it is open in a PDF viewer. You have to switch between the two programs, but it allows you to keep the PDF open (with its original filename visible on the tab) while you rename it in Nemo.

I recently decided to do some housecleaning on my PDF collection of User Guides and Owners Manuals by replacing the cryptic filename with one that actually represents what it is. I was able to rename them in both Double Commander and Caja, and I did not experience any problems** reopening the files.

**If this is not a safe practice I hope someone will step forward with a Clue-by-Four.
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wwninja

Re: Seeking PDF viewer/utility with specific capabilities

Post by wwninja »

Thanks again all. I think I'm probably out of luck. Using a "Save as..." function or renaming in a real file manager are of course workable options, but will take extra steps. Since it's a very large bunch of PDFs and they really do need to be examined and renamed individually by a human, I was hoping to get it down to as few keystrokes as possible. The PDF reader I happened to be using on Windows serendipitously worked really well, so I hoped I might find the same features in a Linux program. Can't win them all I guess.

Thanks to all your suggestions, I did discover some Linux PDF software that will be useful for other phases of my project.
politano

Re: Seeking PDF viewer/utility with specific capabilities

Post by politano »

wwninja, would it be enough for you to see only the 1st page of the PDF? I mean, could you rename the file by seeing only the first page? Or you need to browse the PDF before renaming?

If the 1st page is enough for you, there might be a rather easy way of doing what you want.
wwninja

Re: Seeking PDF viewer/utility with specific capabilities

Post by wwninja »

First page should be enough in most cases, and I'd be interested in your solution.

If anyone is keeping track, in the meantime I've been using Sumatra PDF under Wine, which works well.
politano

Re: Seeking PDF viewer/utility with specific capabilities

Post by politano »

There is something you can try. The strategy is to have a file manager show you the PDFs thumbnails (1st page) so you can rename them easily. I will use Dolphin File Manager as example because it is quite standard, but you can probably do it with other file managers as well.

So:
1) In case you don't have it already, install dolphin (sudo apt-get install dolphin)
2) Install a package called "kdegraphics-thumbnailers" from your software manager
3) open dolphin and go to Settings->Configure Dolphin->View Modes
4)Choose the largest possible in "Icon Size". Click "Apply" but don't close the preferences dialog.
5) to go "General"->Previews
6) Enable the option "PostScript, PDF and DVI Files" (you'll only see this option if "kdegraphics-thumbnailers" was correctly installed).

Now go to your PDFs folder and you see the thumbnail (1st page) of each file. Navigate through them and press F2 to rename any. Also you can move them around. The only thing I hope the maximum preview size is enough for your requirement. In my screen I can see and read the text from the thumbnail, but I guess it will depend on your screen, resolution, etc.

I hope this helps. If it doesn't you didn't waste much time really. It is quicker done than said.

Good luck!
lmuserx4849

Re: Seeking PDF viewer/utility with specific capabilities

Post by lmuserx4849 »

politano wrote:There is something you can try. The strategy is to have a file manager show you the PDFs thumbnails (1st page) so you can rename them easily. I will use Dolphin File Manager as example because it is quite standard, but you can probably do it with other file managers as well.
...
This solution seems like it will work as needed.

I would just add, wwninja, what desktop are you using? Dolphin is KDE's file manager/browser. Although I am partial to Dolphin, each desktop has their own default file browser. For example, Cinnamon has Nemo, Mate has Caja. Most support f2 to edit the file name, have various views (Icon, Detail, List) and support magnification.

A command line alternative could be, open 2 consoles. In one execute, for f in *.pdf; do echo "$f"; okular "$f"; done, and in the other console use mv f1.pdf f2.pdf, where f1 and f2 are the old and new pdf names. okular (kde document viewer) would be changed to either evince, atril, xreader.
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