Tip: PDF preview with PDF-XChange Editor v6 (portable)

[highend]

The portable version doesn't come with shell extensions so you can't preview .pdf files in XYplorer (unless you have the normal PDF-XChange Editor or e.g. SumatraPDF installed - Warning: this is NOT true for Adobe Acrobat / Reader products, their 64-bit versions do NOT install a 32-bit preview handler!)

THIS DOES ONLY WORK WITH THE V6 VERSION, THE NEW V7 WAS FUNDAMENTALLY REVAMPED AND IS NOT SUPPORTED!

I can't deliver the necessary .dll file myself so you'll need to download it later in step 04.

This is a 10 step guide to get the whole thing working. Please adapt my example paths to your system!

01. Navigate into the folder of your portable PDF-XChange-Editor version
Let's say this is: "D:\Tools\PDF-XChange-Editor"
Create a new folder named "Shell Extensions"
Afterwards you should have "D:\Tools\PDF-XChange-Editor\Shell Extensions"

02. Download the current version of the attachment of this thread and extract the content of the .zip file
into this "Shell Extensions" folder
Now "Shell Extensions" should contain two files:
32-bit preview handler on 64-bit OS [Install].bat
32-bit preview handler on 64-bit OS [Remove].bat

03. Go to: https://www.tracker-software.com/versio ... nge-editor
04. Select "32 bit MSI Installer" in the drop-down field (for the free version, not the "plus" one)
for the last available v6 version (should be 6.0.322.7) and download it
05. Open a command prompt, cd to the directory where you've downloaded the file to
E.g. if your "Downloads" folder is in your user folder:
cd "%USERPROFILE%\Downloads" {ENTER}

06. Do an admin install of the .msi file by entering this:
msiexec.exe /a EditorV6.x86.msi /qb TARGETDIR="%USERPROFILE%\Downloads\PDF-XChange_AdminInstall" {ENTER}
You should now have the folder "PDF-XChange_AdminInstall" which contains 1 file and two folders
Navigate into ".\PDF-XChange_AdminInstall\Tracker Software\Shell Extensions"
Copy the file "XCSinfo.dll" into the "Shell Extensions" folder that you've created in step "01."

07. Go to "D:\Tools\PDF-XChange-Editor\Shell Extensions" again
Execute the "32-bit preview handler on 64-bit OS [Install].bat" file by double clicking on it

08. Delete the "%USERPROFILE%\Downloads\PDF-XChange_AdminInstall" folder

09. If you had XYplorer open at this stage, you may need to restart it...

10. Done, previewing .pdf files in XYplorer should be working by now

Current version:

Shell Extensions_v1.2.zip

(1.87 KiB) Downloaded 443 times

Old version(s):

Shell Extensions_v1.1.zip

(1.73 KiB) Downloaded 282 times

Shell Extensions.zip

(1.52 KiB) Downloaded 244 times

[admin]

Thanks!

So the idea is to temporarily modify the registry of the host system?

1) 32-bit iFilter on 64-bit OS [Install].bat

... work ... then finally:

2) 32-bit iFilter on 64-bit OS [Remove].bat

[highend]

Exactly. For as long as you want to use it for pdf previewing, use the [Install] version and when you're sick of it / want to install a normal pdf application (which brings it's own extension) execute the [Remove] version to delete the former created entries.

[admin]

Cool that this works! (I assume you tested this before posting. )

[highend]

Tested? Seriously? No way! It has to work, basta!

[admin]

Whoops, forgot you're a pro.

[highend]

It works on Win7, Win 8.1 and Win 10 (32 + 64-bit) versions. XP? Unsupported...

[krakatoa]

After following these steps, I assume to preview PDF with PDF-XChange portable installed and as the default PDF viewer, in XYplorer I would click: Window/Show Preview Pane.

If so, this is not working on Windows 7 32-bit; getting message "Cannot preview" (perhaps a difference in the registry?) Is there a fix?

Thank you in advance.

[highend]

Try to remove:
Wow6432Node\

in the .bat files like this:

Code: Select all

REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\.pdf\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}" /ve /d "{CF822AB4-6DB5-4FDA-BC28-E61DF36D2583}" /f
REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{CF822AB4-6DB5-4FDA-BC28-E61DF36D2583}" /ve /d "PDF-XChange PDF Preview Provider" /f
REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{CF822AB4-6DB5-4FDA-BC28-E61DF36D2583}\InprocServer32" /ve /d "%WorkingDir%\XCShInfo.dll" /f
REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{CF822AB4-6DB5-4FDA-BC28-E61DF36D2583}\InprocServer32" /v "ThreadingModel" /t REG_SZ /d "Apartment" /f

[highend]

Released a v1.1 version (download in first post). It adds support for x86 operating systems. The script decides which registry path to use depending on the current OS bitness automatically.

[ltchest]

I cant get this to work - after i admin install the MSI, no folder is created / none that i could find. The only change i made to the intructions was updating the MSI file name to V7 (instead of V6). Would really like it if XYplorer could preview PDF files

[ltchest]

ok i finally managed to run all the instructions as per the 10 point list - but its still not working for me (windows 10 64bit).
Only difference i could see was that the file name was slightly different - it is called "XCShInfo.x86.dll"
There was no file with exact same name as specified. Anyhow, still I cannot preview any PDF's with XYplorer.....

[highend]

The v7 version changed the way how the whole thing works and their new own shell extensions setup tool
"XCShInfoSetup.exe" does not work very well at least not on the two systems I tried
it on.

So atm, this does NOT work with the v7 version. I've changed the thread title accordingly
and updated the instructions (download url and what to download there) to reflect the
new situation...

[admin]

Note that the free "PDF-XChange Viewer" works totally fine for PDF preview and is still at version 2.5: https://www.tracker-software.com/produc ... nge-viewer

[klownboy]

I'd like to get the PDF-XChange Editor. I've been using the free Viewer version for many years and as Don noted, it works fine with XYplorer. I'm wondering if I purchased and installed the new version 7 Editor with the Viewer already installed, would it mess up the viewing in XYplorer? Probably. If that didn't work, install the free Viewer again after the Editor installation to see if viewing in XYplorer worked again.