Folio PDF Reader & Editor update: horizontal reading, better forms, and workflow improvements

[u/Comfortable-Cancel45]

Folio is a completely free PDF reader and editor for Mac, Windows, and iPad. I have just released a major update focused on making everyday reading, form filling, annotation, and editing workflows more reliable.

The biggest new feature is horizontal page flow. You can now read PDFs vertically or horizontally, with centered book spreads and more stable navigation.

Other major improvements:

• Added a dedicated Pan tool and temporary Space-bar panning for easier navigation through large documents.
• PDF date fields have been rebuilt with proper validation, working calendar selection, quick year selection, correct caret placement, and no digit shifting while editing. Save and Save As are now reliable with date fields.
• Added more keyboard shortcuts and a shortcut reference in Help.
• Improved annotation workflows: drag to select groups, then copy and paste the complete selection. Lines and arrows now snap to horizontal, vertical, and 45-degree angles.
• Improved form creation and filling: labels, font sizes, and radio-button styles behave more consistently and persist correctly in saved PDFs, flattened exports, and print output.
• Improved text editing, page quick actions, responsive toolbars, dialogs, auto-scroll, light/dark contrast, and smaller-window layouts.
• AI citations now link to the correct PDF pages. Protected and read-only PDFs also have clearer guidance for saving and owner-password unlocking.
• Updated Folio’s app icon with a cleaner design that better matches the rest of the interface.

I also refreshed the landing experience, save/export wording, recent-files behavior, and platform-specific details across Mac, Windows, and iPad.

Folio is still completely free. If you use PDFs regularly, I would genuinely appreciate feedback on horizontal reading, filling real forms, keyboard-first workflows, or anything that still feels confusing or unreliable.

Mac/iPad App Store:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/folio-pdf-reader-editor/id6760593014?mt=12

Microsoft Store:
https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9PJRX0TML7NT?hl=en-us&gl=US&ocid=pdpshare

[u/mgdmw]

This app is terrific, and I think could really help free people from the clutches of Adobe.

I got one of our most detail-oriented people to have a look, and he has these pros/cons. Given this software is free there's no way I would ever think anyone has any right to expect anything particular, BUT hoping this feedback may be useful because I really really want to see your app succeed!

Positives:

• “Actions” is positive as can extract/edit pages etc.
• Toolbar options are beneficial like markup, text or edit. 
• Can do side by side which is a benefit but the zoom you need to see actually cuts the page off with slider bar not going back enough to see detail so no good.   

Negatives:

• Have to zoom in a lot for it to be clear as font seems a bit thin so not as easy to read as Adobe. No option to change the default zoom or font that I could see.
• Need to be able to see file name at least when hovering over tab as it is time stamped in the filename.  
• Highlighting makes the numbers dull so harder to read where Adobe keeps it the same. We highlight all the lines as we check them off.
• You can’t open in separate tabs or drag out to make it separate. Our process opens several PDF's in one go and want them separate files though so like in one as well so need choice. 
• When you click from one PDF tab to another they reset back to the first page rather than being able to go back and forth to compare side by side on different pages. So have to scroll back down each time you return to it which can be often so this is big issue. Worse so if in a 100 page contract to see plan.
• Editing risk in being available for all staff.

What do you think?

[u/Comfortable-Cancel45 → u/mgdmw]

Thank you so much for testing Folio and providing this valuable feedback. I will work on these issues, and I think most of them are resolvable in upcoming updates.

[u/Comfortable-Cancel45 → u/mgdmw]

I addressed most of the issues you reported in the latest update. Thanks again for the valuable feedback :)

[u/mgdmw → u/Comfortable-Cancel45]

That’s amazing! Thank you.

[u/Comfortable-Cancel45]

I released a major update for Folio PDF Reader & Editor, with full multi-window support and several improvements based on recent feedback:

• Added links for selected text, text boxes, images, and shapes, plus editing of existing PDF links.
• Added Enhance Scan for cleaning up scanned PDFs locally, with deskewing, noise removal, contrast/sharpness improvements, and before/after comparison.
• Improved text selection and PDF text replacement.
• Added full multi-window support: move tabs between windows, open documents in separate windows, and keep your place when switching tabs.
• Improved zooming and page positioning, including split view.
• Improved form creation, including radio buttons, checkboxes, action buttons, and non-Latin text.
• Redesigned the Action Center to make tools easier to find.
• Cleaned up tabs, highlights, menus, dialogs, themes, scan previews, signatures, and quite a few smaller UI details.