Nitro PDF Reader 2.1 improves Windows 64-bit support

San Francisco-based Nitro PDF has released version 2.1 of its freeware Portable Document Format viewing and creation tool. Nitro PDF Reader 2.1, which is also available as a separate 64-bit build, is a feature-rich PDF viewer with built-in PDF creation functionality, including the ability to directly convert over 300 document formats if the document’s parent application is installed.

Version 2.1 introduces a number of notable new features, including a new 64-bit build of Thumbnail Preview, the standalone tool that generate navigable thumbnail previews of PDFs in Windows Explorer, that works in 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Vista. Previously the tool only worked in 32-bit versions of Windows.

The Portable Document Format creation engine, Nitro PDF Creator, has also been overhauled to deliver "significant improvements" in both performance and robustness, while also delivering smaller PDF files than previously. The text recognition engine has also been tweaked to improve its formatting and paragraph recognition, while the page zoom tool now goes from a minimum of just 1 percent to a maximum of 6,400 percent.

Nitro PDF Reader 2.0 introduced a new Web browsing plug-in for Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox users, and version 2.1 adds a new feature in the form of a Select tool, allowing users to both select and copy both text and images from PDFs viewed in the browser to the clipboard.

In addition to these new features, Nitro PDF Reader 2.1 also features over 85 individual bug fixes.

Nitro PDF Reader 2.1 32-bit and Nitro PDF Reader 2.1 64-bit are both available as freeware download for Windows XP SP3, Vista SP2, Server and 7. Thumbnail Preview requires Windows 7 or Vista.