Microsoft Reader: Do You Use It?

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/reader/9wzdncrfhwg5

I was going through the Microsoft Store this morning and I came across Microsoft Reader. I want to say it came out back in the Windows 8 days and I used it some back then for downloaded ebooks and pdfs. But now I just use Adobe Reader. But I’m curious if anyone actively uses it versus Adobe? Thanks

Conversation 9 comments

  • Daninbusiness

    Premium Member
    07 October, 2020 - 9:34 am

    <p>No, oh god no. I tried for a while, but The PDF reader in Edge is better than the Microsoft Reader app in just about every way. Microsoft Reader was quite limited. It could open files, and you could skip to different pages. I do not think it supported PDF forms nor even "Ctrl+F" type searches; which is why I got super frustrated with it.</p><p><br></p><p>I think Microsoft rushed Reader out the door so they had a touch-friendly PDF reader to go with Windows 8 at launch, and they pretty much abandoned the app after that.</p><p><br></p><p>It is probably better to think of Microsoft Reader as a version 0.5 of what the Edge PDF reader is; I wouldn't be surprised if they rolled some of that code into the PDF reader into non-Chromium Edge.</p>

    • darkgrayknight

      Premium Member
      07 October, 2020 - 12:21 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#584534">In reply to Daninbusiness:</a></em></blockquote><p>There was a time when it was a decent PDF reader and in the early days of Edge PDF reader, it was actually better. But at this point with (Chr)Edge's PDF reader, Microsoft Reader is not needed.</p>

    • j5

      Premium Member
      08 October, 2020 - 12:14 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#584534">In reply to Daninbusiness:</a></em></blockquote><p>Rushing it would make sense. I mean Windows 8 just felt messy when it came out.</p>

  • waethorn

    07 October, 2020 - 10:42 am

    <p>Reader, Travel, Food &amp; Drink, and a number of other Windows 8 apps are still on the Windows 10 app store. I would guess they're there for people that upgraded from Windows 8 to 10.</p>

    • j5

      Premium Member
      08 October, 2020 - 12:14 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#584581">In reply to Waethorn:</a></em></blockquote><p>Why are all these old apps still in the Windows Store?</p>

      • Paul Thurrott

        Premium Member
        08 October, 2020 - 9:07 am

        We can only guess but there is probably some legal reason tied to support agreements. Maybe if they shipped with some version of Windows 10, they have to remain available for whatever amount of time.

  • hrlngrv

    Premium Member
    07 October, 2020 - 1:35 pm

    <p>Nope. I tried it, it sucked, I dumped it.</p>

    • navarac

      07 October, 2020 - 2:03 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#584700">In reply to hrlngrv:</a></em></blockquote><p>Very succinct – I agree.</p>

    • j5

      Premium Member
      08 October, 2020 - 12:13 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#584700">In reply to hrlngrv:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yeah that's how I remember it too!</p>

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