My PDF reader REALLY HAD to add a permanent "AI assistant" button that floats on every single file i open

Moonrise2473@feddit.it to Mildly Infuriating@lemmy.world – 498 points –

If someone knows how to disable this fuckery, please tell me or i have to install adobe acrobat, it makes me crazy as it floats on all the open PDFs, covering text/content

108

Is this FoxIt? What the hell, FoxIt used to be cool.

Anyway, if all you need is a .pdf reader and don't need any editing or form fill BS, just uninstall all your .pdf readers because they're totally redundant these days. Firefox and all other browsers can natively read .pdf's. If you need to mess with the content of a .pdf, Inkscape (open source) does a competent job of taking them apart and letting you edit them nowadays.

I'm of the opinion that bloated memory hog .pdf applications full of subscriptions and ads and other bullshit can just die in a fire. I haven't actually needed one for years.

There's also okular. Basically anything that the kde foundation puts out will invariably be cross platform and pretty good.

I'll give them both a try.

The main issue that I've run into is that foxit has a pretty decent signing system for signing PDFs which comes in handy from time to time and foxit and adobe both have batch editing for PDFs which is really handy for taking a bunch of random documents and sizing them to be all the same view size and rotating pages and the like to make everything nice and uniform for sharing with others.

FoxIt is Chinese. If you don't care about your data potentially being transmitted across the globe, it's a well working software.

Firefox added a decent signing feature. idk bout batch editing tho

I used to use Foxit for the longest time, but Firefox's pdf reader has improved so much lately that I actually prefer it.

I like to have things not in firefox. It makes it easier to manage the 50 windows and tabs that I have open

But be warned; pdfjs has a bunch of XSS vulnerabilities every month, which aren't possible outside the browser environment.

My main issue with browser PDF reading is that I can't compile and apply my signature on PDF with them, which are the main reasons I'm still using Foxit.

You can just sign using your mouse/trackpad, and then copy and paste the signature to fill in the entire form.

This doesn't cover digital signatures (cryptographic signatures with RSA/ECDSA)

I've had assignments that involve editing a PDF template. So far, LibreOffice Draw has worked for me.

Why not just use acrobat?

Because Fuck Adobe.

Fair enough, but the free version of acrobat is still a good product for basic PDF functions, and doesn't benefit them at all by using it.

For the record, I use FF 99% of the time, and GIMP or LibreDraw if I need to edit them.

Yeah, I used to use it to fix my RPG PDFs. (Seriously, it's astounding how many publishers either omit or completely fuck up bookmarks.) I found out it went to shit when trying to help someone else do the same, and the newer free version was significantly cut down.

I swear by SumatraPDF. The most lightweight reader I ever used. Opens in seconds, is tiny in size, comes with zero bloat.

1 more...

Hey this name is familiar.... these guys sent me all their app telemetry for a couple weeks because they hardcoded AWS LB IPs into their software, and I got lucky enough to get one of those recycled IPs.

Wouldn't be surprised if their apps are still screwed up and sending large amounts of junk traffic at me, but at least now it's going into a void.

Sounds like a data leak that should be reported…

One of the biggest problems with this AI-spam in every app is that there is no workable business model. You can't run the AI locally on most end user computers. And running it in the cloud or via OpenAI API is expensive and won't work in the long term. So you're looking at another one of those stupid subscriptions, but who really wants to pay monthly for his PDF reader so he can ask it questions?

Maybe use Sumatra PDF instead?

i need n-up, booklet, zoom control, a preview and batch printing. Sumatra PDF just invokes the standard barebones print dialog with no extra frills. It's ok for viewing but not for printing

Doesn't the standard print dialogue have the option to just make X copies or is that not the same as batch printing?

no i mean open 50 PDF files and print them with a single click

Oooh, yeah. That's not quite the same.

I moved to Sumatra from Foxit years ago. No idea what Foxit did anymore to make me change, but this just confirms that decision.

Okular.

No ADS, FOSS, and Free (As in beer and speech!)

This. Also, If you need to manipulate PDFs, then try:

  • LibreOffice
  • Inkscape
  • StirlingPDF

Nice that Stirling PDF!

Tomorrow I'll try to configure it in a docker container

Free (As in beer and speech!)

Do you live in a utopia where you get as much beer as you want without having to pay for it, or do you live in a dystopia where you have to pay to be able to speak your mind and only in limited quantities?

I live in mixed world where companies are making proprietary software and paywalling everything. Yet, there's independent open source programs where I can get a copy, share, and expand as I want without worring about legal issues.

Free as in beer means I got a beer for free (gratis, "No Price"), whereas speech is I can say what I want (without being silenced).*

In this context, Okular is a free (As in price) and free (As in libre software). I can copy, share, modify, and share modification as I please. There is no subscription, paywall, or proprietary licsense that prohibits this.

  • = This may be inaccurate, wrong, misleading, and varying amoung countries and states.

Thanks for reminding me to uninstall Foxit reader. Last week at work I read an article about yet another security flaw in Foxit Reader, and I thought: "I have to uninstall that when I get home" but then I forgot about it.

Foxit Reader used to be a useful tool waaaay back in time. Now it is time for it to go.

I hate everytime anybody even mentions AI as it, to me, translates directly to "massive waste of time for gimmicks and hype." They added some kind of AI prompt button to my main browser a while back and I spent the next several hours searching how to disable it completely.

Just use Firefox.

I just want to comment to push this comment higher. On a PC, the answer is usually Firefox.

I kinda just use Firefox's pdf editing tools. I don't need anything complicated, signatures, text editing, and highlighting is all I need.

2 more...

I know it's kind of a meme to call some software bloated, but foxit reader is bloated AF

The sad thing is that foxit used to be the great alternative, back in the day.

It seems like you are using Windows. I think SumatraPDF is still good on Windows.

[This comment has been deleted by an automated system]

We have great lightweight alternatives on Linux, I liked it but no need to miss it.

Foxit have been a bloated mess for years now, no reason for them to change.

I never had that floating over the document I was viewing, just in the home tab of the menu, but I did find a way to switch it off. 'File > Preferences > General' has an option to 'disable all features which require an internet connection'. There are also options in there to disable that opening splash screen if you don't want that.

Acrobat also added an unclosable floating menu. It's a massive pain in my ass.

That's why I use edge (I know ugh) when I don't need to comment sign or edit PDFs. I don't want to use Firefox so it doesn't get mixed up with all my other open tabs.

At least in a browser I can delete elements when it gets bad enough

Firefox Nightly to the rescue!

The reader in Edge is good tho, because it uses Microsoft Azure's TTS.

You can turn it off under Preferences > General (it's right at the bottom "Disable AI Assistant")

I'd be more interested if you can disable the forced-on tablet mode... the menu bar is huge

I’m kinda done with everyone adding an AI assistant. Like it’s cool but I don’t always need an assistant. It’s not cool or new, every has one. Just develop it if you want but don’t shove it down our throats.

Microsoft just added AI to their terminal/command console thingy. 🤦‍♂️

Wait what? I thought, they'd integrate it in the OS like they did with cortana - or Bing search in the start menu...

I'm from the EU, so I'm lucky and won't see this anytime soon, but what does it do and how does it work in the Terminal? Is it a new tab complete, but with AI hallucinations instead of real commands/filenames?

https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/23/23732464/microsoft-windows-ai-terminal-github-copilot-integration-build

Ok, so they're not targeting "day to day command-line use", but development in general and want to offer a way to explain error messages, generate code, etc. If done right, and the model is trained in a good way, that might work. All the problems surrounding code gen models and copyright/license issues from the generated code still apply, though.

Especially the mention of WinDBG support and probably a way to guide you through might be a really nice feature.

Skimming through the MS blog post, that your link mentiones, I don't really believe in the hype of "now everyone can be a developer" it offers - I've seen that too often with low-code, no-code, RPA,... tools to know that it won't really scale. There's more to development than just to generate code...

Only seen it (FoxIt) installed in a corporate environment, because for some reason businesses cannot stop using "Interactive editable PDFs".
I wonder if there are FOSS alternatives adressing that niche.

Interactive editable PDFs? As in forms?

Mozilla Firefox can edit forms, as can Sumatra PDF. Maybe Chrome and Edge are capable enough too.

Just use Firefox for reading PDFs

Wait, what, seriously?! Firefox keeps on giving and I only switched back recently.

It gets buried in my pile of Firefox tabs, so I usually use edge. I could probably set up a different user or something to keep them separate, but I've been to lazy so far.

Linux PDF readers don't have this bullshit in the first place

I love Linux and I use it quite a bit but I've not really found a Linux software that is good at editing PDFs.

If you have recommendations I would love to hear them though

I've gotten so used to being able to just use the zapper in ublock origin that I forget that in apps outside of the web browser you can't just get rid of unwanted bits of the UI. That sucks man.

I still use Foxit 9.72 on my pc (which I don't have open ATM, so I can't check to be certain I gave the right version). I have tried newer versions, but there always was some kind of enshittyfication change that annoyed me and I always reverted back to that last good version.

There is no good PDF reader. All of them suck in different ways.

I just use Firefox to open pdfs. If I have to sign it I'll just use an online signer.

I do the same, except jump to adobe reader if I have to sign. But come on, this doesn’t satisfies either of us.

You're fine uploading those documents online to some random website?

As a Linux user, I was rather surprised to learn that Windows doesn't have a good pdf viewer. (Sumatra was the closest I could get.) Scientific software I can understand, but pdf viewer? Wtf?

I'm on Windows 11 and it opens PDF files in Edge by default. While I find it kind of silly to use a web browser for that purpose, the built-in PDF reader is actually fairly good, it can even read your documents out loud using text-to-speech.

Edge’s reader is decent I agree. But in what kind of bizarro world do one use a browser to read PDFs.

It pains me to say, but this is one area where Apple beats everyone. Their default PDF reader can do a LOT, it’s free, it’s already there and crucially it’s lightweight and not bogged down with shitty functionality no one needs, nor bristling with upsell towards premium features.

Indeed, Preview really is excellent. Does almost everything you'll ever need and nothing you don't.

Another good option on Windows is PDF XChange Editor, though I'm using an old version so I can't vouch for how much or little enshitification has happened in newer versions

This has been my favourite for pdfs so far, really easy to use. Wish there was an app version.

Adobe PDF is also good if you know where to get it for free. I esp. rely on the editing feature of Adobe PDF. Has saved me so much hassle to edit PDF files cleanly.

Where do you get it for free?

yarhaha

monkrus repacks are generally seen as safe, but some sites carry fake versions of the repacks which are loaded with viruses.

Yup. Monkrus is the best place

I would also recommend to use CCStopper and use the Add to Hosts option to further block out any attempts to check for genuine.

Hey Moonrise2473, Do you still have this issue? I opened foxit today and was reminded of your post. I figured out how to get rid of the "AI assistent" and "support centre".

go to file>preferences

image (sorry, I don't have time right now to figure out how to insert images properly)

(below the arrow in this image is the "disable support centre" button for the other floaty thing)

Then restart foxit and it's gone!!

eventually i got rid of it by checking "disable all features that need an internet connection"

i would't have imagine that the ai assistant was placed in "application startup"

An adblocker that allows you to select and remove elements can be critical in helping to declutter websites, including those annoying floating windows.

This is software, not a website. And it's a "feature" not an ad

Oh, god. I'd switch to something else without a second thought.