Google adds in-browser PDF viewing to search results

PDF files have never been Google's strong suit. Anyone who's run across them in search results is familiar with the "view as HTML" option, which is convenient, but isn't always available, and ruins the formatting of the PDF. Google's fixing all that now, though, by adding Quick View for PDFs to its search results. Now you'll be able to view properly-formatted PDF files in your browser, without downloading and opening in Acrobat or a similar program.

Right now, the new PDF viewing option is only available for 50% of the PDFs in Google's index. More are being added all the time, but for now, you'll still the "View as HTML" link some of the time. If you've already installed a plugin for browser-based PDF viewing, this isn't that exciting to you. The average person running a Google search probably hasn't done that, though, so this is definitely a big step forward.

[via Mashable]

Tags: google, pdf, quick view, QuickView, search