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How can I preview PDFs with Google Chrome in dark mode / reverse color?

By default it is white colored:

Screenshot showing question author looking at arxiv.org research archive PDF, in Google Chrome

Followed-up by my asking How can I change the grey background of the PDF preview in Google Chrome to black?.

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2
  • Chrome is not part of Windows, why did you tag it Windows?
    – Mark
    Feb 22, 2020 at 6:03
  • @Mark in case of OS-dependent solution.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Feb 22, 2020 at 6:06

2 Answers 2

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46

The following snippet adds a div overlay to any browser tab currently displaying a PDF document.

1. Open up your browser's Dev tools then browser console.
2. Paste this JavaScript code in your browser console:
const overlay = document.createElement("div");

const css = `
    position: fixed;
    pointer-events: none;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    width: 100vw;
    height: 100vh;
    background-color: white;
    mix-blend-mode: difference;
    z-index: 1;
`
overlay.setAttribute("style", css);

document.body.appendChild(overlay);
3. Hit Enter

Special thanks: https://www.reddit.com/r/chrome/comments/e3txhi/comment/fem1cto

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6
19

You can use the Dark Reader Google Chrome extension and used the Filter+ mode. It will work on the online PDF files, but not at the local PDF files.

Hint from Hirbot Behnam:
If you want to make it work with local files (e.g. PDFs) too, go to chrome://extensions/ and click on Details button below the extension "Dark Reader" and from there, enable Allow access to file URLs.

enter image description here

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6
  • 1
    it works, thank you!
    – Lonely
    Jul 26, 2020 at 18:22
  • 10
    If you want to make it work with local files too, go to chrome://extensions/ and click on Details button below the extension and from there, enable Allow access to file URLs.
    – Hirbod Behnam
    Nov 12, 2020 at 15:53
  • This did not work for me when opening local pdfs
    – MaLiN2223
    Nov 30, 2020 at 21:07
  • @MaLiN2223 Correct, this doesn't work when opening local pdfs, which is quite annoying.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Nov 30, 2020 at 22:16
  • 1
    This did work for me, including for local PDF when allowing access to file URLs in Chrome Extensions settings.
    – gaborous
    Mar 12, 2022 at 0:01

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