Customize external viewers

SumatraPDF makes it easy for you to open current document in a different program.

For example, if you also have Adobe Reader installed, you can use File menu to open PDF document you’re viewing in Adobe Reader. We auto-detect some popular apps (Adobe, Foxit, PDF X-Change etc.).

You can add custom viewers using advanced settings.

To configure an external viewer:

use Settings / Advanced Settings... menu to open configuration file
modify ExternalViewers section

Relevant settings:

ExternalViewers [
  [
    CommandLine =
    Name =
    Filter =

    // ver 3.6+:
    Key = 
  ]
]

Example:

ExternalViewers [
  [
    CommandLine = "C:\Program Files\FoxitReader\FoxitReader.exe" /A page=%p "%1"
    Name = Foxit &Reader
    Filter = *.pdf
    Key = Ctrl + m
  ]
]

CommandLine is a full path of executable to open a file with arguments.

Arguments can use special values:

"%1" : will be replaced with a full path of the current document
%p : will be replaced with current page number. Not all viewers support page numbers
"%d" : will be replaced with directory of the current document. Useful for launching file managers. Available in version 3.5 and later

Please make sure to use quotes around file / directory special values (i.e. "%1" and "%d") to avoid issues with file paths that have spaces in them.

Name will be displayed in File menu.

Filter restricts which files can be opened by the reader. For example:

to only activate it for PDF files, use *.pdf
to activate for PNG and JPEG files, use *.png;*.jpg;*.jpeg
to allow all files, use * (useful for file managers)

Key is optional and is a keyboard shortcut to invoke that viewer. Available in 3.6 and later.

SumatraPDF documentation

Customize external viewers