19

Is there a free plug-in for Adobe Reader to measure a distance on a PDF?

Is there another free reader out there that has this?

Improve this question

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
12

Adobe reader itself has a measure feature under "tools/measure":

The measuring tools are especially useful when you need to know the distances or areas associated with objects in a form or computer-aided design (CAD) drawing... The measuring tools are available to Reader users only if the PDF creator enables measuring functionality.

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Reader/8.0/help.html?content=WS58a04a822e3e50102bd615109794195ff-7f91.html

As of this writing, the Linux version of Acrobat Reader is missing the tool. Foxit is another alternative which includes a measure tool.

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    "The measuring tools are available to Reader users only if the PDF creator enables measuring functionality." -> Does it means we need Adobe Acrobat Pro to create the PDF?
    – YudhiWidyatama
    Feb 2, 2014 at 13:31
  • @Yud: Nope. Many vector-drawing programs will export measure-ready files. Adobe Illustrator or InDesign, for example. You can measure any file as far as I can tell, but vector drawings will snap the ruler to the edges of bounding boxes/strokes.
    – user483996
    Oct 24, 2016 at 19:29
8

I am using the free PDF-XChange pdf viewer, and it comes with a measuring tool. Screenshot taken from the free version:

PDF-XChange measuring tool

Improve this answer
2
  • One shortcoming of the tool is that I cannot find where you can change the measuring unit... it will only measure in millimeters ?
    – Veverke
    May 26, 2016 at 9:13
  • For me, it only measures inches, but displays them in meters. But better than nothing
    – piegames
    Feb 15, 2021 at 19:45
3

Foxit Reader :

check it out here http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/addons.htm it's free, so fast small (no more than 4Mo) and it has a lot of addons including Measure Tools tools.

Includes a distance tool, a perimeter tool, and an area tool that will help you to measure distance, perimeter or area on a PDF page and automatically transform the results into real-world values.

Improve this answer
3
  • 4
    Looks like the measure tools are part of the Pro Pack. It's free for a year.
    – Robert Deml
    Jul 31, 2009 at 15:23
  • a year is enough I guess :p
    – user3864
    Jul 31, 2009 at 15:37
  • Looks like its baseline these days
    – nmr
    Jan 9, 2022 at 18:46

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .