Install Foxit Reader In Linux

In this tutorial I am going to show you how to install Foxit PDF reader in Linux and how to make it your default PDF viewer.

From the developer about Foxit Reader
Foxit Reader is a free PDF document viewer for the Linux platform, user-customized toolbar, incredibly small size, breezing-fast launch speed and rich features. This empowers PDF document users with Zoom function, Navigation function, Bookmarks, Thumbnails, Text Selection Tool, Snapshot, and Full Screen capabilities. Foxit Reader for Desktop Linux is provided by Foxit Corporation free for non-commercial use.



Until now I was using Evince Document Viewer to view my PDF files. But I found Foxit to be more visually attractive and it is also faster that Evince.

Foxit reader for Desktop Linux is completely free. And the following is a list of compelling advantages of Foxit Reader for Desktop Linux:

• Incredibly small: The download size of Foxit Reader for Linux is extremely small.
• Minimal memory consumption: The memory consumption is less than 15MB.
• Amazing fast: When you run Foxit Reader, it launches instantly without any delay and loads a PDF file less than 3 seconds .
• High security and privacy: Foxit Reader highly respects the security and privacy of users and will never connect to the Internet without the user's permission.

First of all download the PDF reader from the developers website. Scroll down to Foxit Reader for Desktop Linux and then click download. The software is very small compared to other PDF viewers.
2. Go to the download location and apply the following command to decompress it. I downloaded it in my desktop.
$ sudo tar xjvf FoxitReader-1.1.0.tar.bz2

You can also decompress it using 'Archive Manager'. To do so right click on it and click 'Extract Here'.

In both case you should see a new folder named '1.1-release'. Rename it to 'FoxitReader-1.1.0'. Use the following command to rename it
$ mv 1.1-release/ FoxitReader-1.1.0/

To rename in graphical mode select the folder, press F2 or select and right click on the folder and click Rename.

Then move this folder to /opt and execute the following command.
$ mv FoxitReader-1.1.0/ /opt/

Now open your file browser and go to /opt/FoxitReader-1.1.0. I use Gnome, so my file browser is Nautilus. Then double click on the file 'FoxitReader'. You will see the software to be opened. It is lightning fast, isn't it?

Create Desktop Shortcut

1. To create a desktop shortcut of Foxit right click on your desktop and select 'Create Launcher...'

2. Enter the information here.

In the name type 'Foxit Reader'.

In the command browse for the Foxit binary file in the /opt/FoxitReader-1.1-release directory or type the location.

In the comment type PDF Reader.

To change the icon click the square box on the upper left corner and browse for the icon that you want.

3. Now click ok.

An icon will be created with the name that you specified. Double click on it and the program will start.

Make Foxit Your Default PDF Reader

1. To make Foxit your default PDF reader right click on any PDF document and select properties.

2. Now select 'Open With' tab.

3. Click Add.

4. A new window will open. Click 'Use a custom command' at the bottom.

5. Click 'Browse' and open the Foxit file (in /opt).

6. Now click 'Add'.

7. You will see a new entry 'FoxitReader' under 'Open With' tab.

8. Select the radio button beside Foxit Reader and click 'Close'.

Now every time you open a PDF document, it will open by Foxit Reader.