best pdf reader for ubuntu

Evince is the default PDF viewer in most GNOME-based Linux distributions, so if you don’t want to install all those KDE dependencies, Evince is probably your next choice. It’s lightweight, simple, and easy to use, though it doesn’t have too many advanced features. You can rotate PDFs, add bookmarks, and change the sidebar’s view mode, but other than that, you don’t have much. If all you’re doing is reading the occasional PDF, it’s great, but you won’t find any annotation features here.

Adobe Reader has a Linux version available, and as always, we don’t recommend it as your go-to reader. That said, it’s still the standard, which means if you ever have compatibility issues in something like Okular or Evince, Adobe Reader will probably handle it just fine. You don’t need to install it now, just know that if you ever have problems, it’s worth keeping in mind.

Lastly, it’s worth noting that lots of Windows PDF apps work great under WINE, including PDF X-ChangeFoxit, and Sumatra. So, while they won’t look fantastic under Linux, they’re great if you need some more advanced reading and editing tools, since most Linux apps are a bit lacking.

These aren’t the only PDF viewers for Linux, but they are, in our opinion, the best. If you’ve got a favorite we didn’t mention, let us know about it in the comments.