Software to read PDFs with inverted colors

I sometimes want to read a long PDF file in a computer, but because white background I can read only a few pages until my eyes weep.

Is there any software to invert colors of a PDF (PDF converter, PDF viewer with "invert colors" option, a program to invert all colors in Windows...)?

I tried "magnify" for Windows XP, but I don't like to split my screen to do that or to move the mouse a lot to see only a page. I would like to see the document in full screen...

kokbira

Posted 2011-05-20T19:55:54.977

Reputation: 4 883

Have you tried using the Windows theme settings for High Contrast? It changes all the settings and can assist you in reading the PDF's as it changes the colors for those too. – paradd0x – 2011-05-20T20:12:04.713

I tried after you said, but I tested with some PDFs and I can see that they maintain its colors, including the white background... – kokbira – 2011-05-20T20:16:42.913

1@kokbira If you are using Adobe Acrobat to read your PDF's, I do recall that somewhere in the settings, there is an option to change that. I did it for a user that I worked with once. – paradd0x – 2011-05-20T20:18:06.500

I do not use Adobe Acrobat, but I have. I tested now with modifications in Edir > Preferences > Accessibility but for some parts of PDFs the colors aren't changed... Well, it is a good solution for text-only PDFs... – kokbira – 2011-05-20T20:34:04.990

While not exactly what you ask for, have you tried f.lux?

– Daniel Beck – 2011-05-28T18:41:26.520

well, evince solves that, but i'll try your f.lux. – kokbira – 2011-05-31T10:16:46.333

Answers

Evince can invert colors. Use view -> invert colors or the keyboard shortcut ctrl+I. You can then set it to presentation (shortcut F5) if you want it to be full screen.

James T

Posted 2011-05-20T19:55:54.977

Reputation: 8 515

very good! all can be inverted including images; better than Adobe solution, that cannot do that for some pdf parts... I'll find portable version too to use in my work. – kokbira – 2011-05-20T22:04:27.890

You can use SumatraPDF, launching it with appropriate command line switches:

White text on black:

sumatrapdf.exe -invert-colors

Green text on black:

sumatrapdf.exe -set-color-range 0x00dd00 0x000000

You can pass any hexadecimal colors (first being foreground color, second background color) and all the contents of the PDF (texts, images, background colors) will be "scaled" accordingly.

jakub.g

Posted 2011-05-20T19:55:54.977

Reputation: 4 332

and how to get normal mode after these manipulations? – kyb – 2017-10-25T12:49:34.083

Go to menu->settings->advancedOptions and comment in section FixedPageUI lines TextColor and BackgroundColor. – kyb – 2017-10-25T12:51:39.977

Adobe Reader allows you to use a custom color scheme for the document background and text (already suggested by paradd0x). In v9.5, this option can be found in Prefs > Accessibility.

I believe this solution is superior to simply inverting colors as in Evince, as in this case you will often get a very nasty contrast: very white on very black. With Adobe Reader you can however choose a color scheme much nicer on the eyes, such as light grey on dark grey. Such a scheme, similar to that used by Darklooks on Linux, would help reducing eyestrain when reading PDF documents on-screen.

landroni

Posted 2011-05-20T19:55:54.977

Reputation: 389

Tested this and it is nice. Notice that if the text color does not change, un-check the option "Only change the color of black text or line art" – Little Bobby Tables – 2014-11-25T08:57:51.040

I like to know. I'll test it... – kokbira – 2013-11-03T19:24:57.513

PDF Xchange Viewer can change the color scheme of a pdf. Edit -> Preferences -> Accessibility -> Document Color Options (as of version 2.5). There are high contrast presets (I use green on black) as well as the option to create your own color scheme.

Panayiotis Steele

Posted 2011-05-20T19:55:54.977

Reputation: 71

Excerpt from the Adobe Forum page Night Mode Adobe PC Version:

There is no such Night Mode feature in Adobe Reader for Windows however, as a work around you can try this

Please Open Adobe Reader, go to Edit menu & select Preferences from the drop-down.

Preferences window will pop up on the screen.

Choose Accessibility from the Categories section.

Now check the Replace Document Color box.

In front of Custom Color Please change the Page Background to Black & Text Document to White.

Click OK to confirm the changes. This will give you the similar result as that of Night mode in Mobile Adobe

H.Ghassami

Posted 2011-05-20T19:55:54.977

Reputation: 141

2Welcome to superuser. Link only answers are going to end up pretty useless, should the link you posted go down. You'd really want to paraphrase what's in that link and post an answer, rather than 'simply' linking it – Journeyman Geek – 2016-05-22T07:06:05.230