[Feature Request]: Improve PDF Viewer with a dedicated View mode and fullscreen reading experience

Author: Bitowen13Created Sep 15, 2026Updated Sep 15, 2026
Labelsenhancement

Feature Description

I would like to request a more complete and dedicated View/Reading mode for the PDF viewer.

The viewer should provide a clear "View" or "Reading" experience focused on reading the document rather than editing or processing it.

Useful controls could include:

  • Enter/exit fullscreen
  • Zoom in/out
  • Fit to width
  • Fit to page
  • Page navigation
  • Single-page view
  • Continuous page view
  • Rotate
  • Search within the PDF
  • Show/hide thumbnails
  • Show/hide toolbars
  • Optional distraction-free reading mode

The toolbar should ideally be able to automatically hide while reading and reappear when the mouse is moved or when the user presses a shortcut.

Why is this feature valuable?

Stirling-PDF is increasingly capable of being used as a general PDF viewer/editor, but the reading experience could be more focused.

When reading a PDF, users often want to maximize the available screen space and remove unnecessary UI elements.

A dedicated fullscreen/distraction-free reading mode would be especially useful for:

  • Books
  • Technical documents
  • Research papers
  • Educational material
  • Presentations
  • Large PDFs

Suggested Implementation

A dedicated View mode could provide a compact toolbar with the most important reading controls.

Fullscreen could use the native desktop fullscreen functionality where available.

Keyboard shortcuts could also be supported, for example:

  • F11 → fullscreen
  • Esc → exit fullscreen
  • Ctrl + F → search
    • / - → zoom

Additional Information

The goal is not necessarily to copy another PDF reader, but to provide a clean and efficient reading mode within Stirling-PDF.

Example Files

No response

No Duplicate of the Feature

  • I have verified that there are no existing features requests similar to my request.

Source: Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF