Recommended decent freeware PDF viewer / reader for Android devices?

[Arlen Holder]

I hadn't thought much about PDF viewers being "different" until I just
tested printing from Android 10 using an arbitrary PDF file as my testcase.
o How do you print from Android to your home networked printer on your LAN?
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/nTAYljkvVl4>

When I click on the PDF file in Android 10, I get a choice of opening in
these free, ad free, GSF independent, & Google free PDF viewers/readers
(most are from F-droid but some are from Google Play, but not many)
o PDF Reader <io.github.droidapps.pdfreader>
o Librera Pro <com.foobnix.pro.pdf.reader>
o APV PDF Viewer <cx.hell.android.pdfview>
o MuPDF Viewer <com.artifex.mupdf.viewer.app>
o PDF Viewer Plus <com.gsnathan.pdfviewer>
o PDF Viewer <org.grapheneos.pdfviewer>
o Pen&PDF <com.cgogolin.penandpdf>
o PDF viewer lite <com.avrapps.pdfviewer>

I also get the choice of these free, ad free, GSF-dependent PDF apps:
o Adobe Acrobat Reader <com.adobe.reader>
o PDF Viewer Pro <com.pspdfkit.viewer>

With respect to menus, particularly a print menu, I found:
o PDF Reader (crashed on my test document)
o Librera Pro (has more menus than I can describe, but no print menu)
o APV PDF Viewer (almost no menus, also no print menu that I can find)
o MuPDF Viewer (no menus that I can find, particularly a print menu)
o PDF Viewer Plus (nice menus, including an easily found print menu)
o PDF Viewer (only a pulldown menu, not much on it, no printer menu)
o Pen&PDF (basic menus on top, pulldown menu has a print option)
o PDF viewer lite (bare menus on top, pulldown menu has a print option)

I also get the choice of these free, ad free, GSF-dependent PDF apps:
o Adobe Acrobat Reader (has some menus on top, pulldown menu has print)
o PDF Viewer Pro (lots of menus, including a share to printer menu)

Having never before even bothered to open a PDF file on Android,
the question arises to ask which PDF viewer freeware you recommend?

Note: I don't generally open PDFs on Android, but in this case, I simply
wanted to print a test file (which didn't even need to be a PDF).

Hence, I'm asking a general-purpose question, assuming I will run into, in
the future, whatever PDFs we would consider basic to open on Android.

Given that information, do you recommend any particular Android PDF reader?
--
Finding the best freeware often entails finding someone who has used it.

[Peter Flynn]

On 24/11/2020 07:12, Arlen Holder wrote:
> I hadn't thought much about PDF viewers being "different" until I just
> tested printing from Android 10 using an arbitrary PDF file as my testcase.
> o How do you print from Android to your home networked printer on your LAN?

I use the PrinterShare app, which cost some small sum but works
perfectly...except for printing web pages, which it always prints at 10×
normal size, and the authors claim that this is "correct".

But for images and PDFs it has worked perfectly.

P

[The Real Bev]

On 11/23/2020 11:12 PM, Arlen Holder wrote:

> Hence, I'm asking a general-purpose question, assuming I will run into, in
> the future, whatever PDFs we would consider basic to open on Android.
>
> Given that information, do you recommend any particular Android PDF reader?

EBookDroid. Essential if you want to read technical material involving
equations. So good we asked the guy if we could pay him something extra
besides paying for the paid version. He said no, he couldn't take
PayPal, was glad we enjoyed it. If a problem is found he fixes it
immediately. You know, the way software developers USED to do it!

Never tried printing with it. Never wanted to print anything from an
Android device. Why would I? We have computers!

--
Cheers, Bev
"Once you've provoked a few people into publicly swearing they are
going to hunt you down and kill you, the thrill wears off."
-Elric of Imrryr

[Arlen Holder]

On Tue, 24 Nov 2020 16:00:02 +0000, Peter Flynn wrote:

> On 24/11/2020 07:12, Arlen Holder wrote:
>> I hadn't thought much about PDF viewers being "different" until I just
>> tested printing from Android 10 using an arbitrary PDF file as my testcase.
>> o How do you print from Android to your home networked printer on your LAN?
>
> I use the PrinterShare app, which cost some small sum but works

> perfectly...except for printing web pages, which it always prints at 10в

> normal size, and the authors claim that this is "correct".
>
> But for images and PDFs it has worked perfectly.

Hi Peter Flynn,

I had never tested Android PDF viewers/readers/converters before;
so I apologize if my questions and results below are well known already.

Thanks for that suggestion of using the payware PrinterShare app to print
a test PDF to your Ethernet'd printer on your private LAN (sans Internet)
where in all my solutions, I strive for free, ad free, gsf-free, and,
as much as possible, google free solutions.

All my solutions are cloud free also, where the "only" things that "need"
the net are things that "really" need it (e.g., email, youtube, etc.).

I also don't ever log into anything that doesn't "really" need it either,
where, for example, I can easily search, watch, subscribe, rip, etc.,
YouTube without logging into anything (or ever see a single ad ever!),
just as I can easily download Google Play apps without ever logging
into any Google servers (my phone doesn't even have a Google Account,
for example, as it's not needed even as many people think it is).

I agree it takes more intelligence and effort not to use the
tantalizingly accessible MARKETING solutions that are put out
there for us, but like a dog drinking antifreeze on the driveway,
it's easy and tastes good... at first.... but there is a
(usually privacy) penalty in the end.

The good news is I found a _lot_ of really nice PDF viewer freeware
in this process, which is the point of this thread, where I'm still
testing them out, but I'm kind of surprised that there are basically
three kinds:
a. Fully functional PDF viewers (with lots of bells/whistles)
b. Partially functional PDF viewers (with a minimum of controls)
c. Bare bones PDF viewers (with almost nothing but a view - and no print)

Interestingly, it seems, with respect to printing only...
a. Some of the tested PDF viewers have a dedicated print button
b. Other tested PDF viewers can print only via the share button
c. The bare-bones PDF viewers don't seem to have any print/share options

After having briefly tested free no-ads PDF viewers for printing...
o Aurora Adobe Acrobat Reader <com.adobe.reader>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.reader>
o Aurora Foxit PDF Reader Mobile <com.foxit.mobile.pdf.lite>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.foxit.mobile.pdf.lite>
o Aurora PDF Converter <com.cometdocs.pdfconverterultimate>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cometdocs.pdfconverterultimate>
o Aurora PDF Converter <swati4star.createpdf>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=swati4star.createpdf>
o Aurora PDF Converter Pro <com.kmo.pdf.converter>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kmo.pdf.converter>
o Aurora PDF Viewer (blue icon, aka "pro") <com.pspdfkit.viewer>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pspdfkit.viewer>
o Aurora PDF viewer lite <com.avrapps.pdfviewer>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.avrapps.pdfviewer>
o Aurora Xodo PDF Reader & Editor <com.xodo.pdf.reader>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xodo.pdf.reader>
o F-Droid APV PDF Viewer <cx.hell.android.pdfview>
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/cx.hell.android.pdfview/>
o F-Droid CuprumPDF <org.ninthfloor.copperpdf>
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.ninthfloor.copperpdf/>
o F-Droid Librera Pro <com.foobnix.pro.pdf.reader>
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.foobnix.pro.pdf.reader/>
o F-Droid MuPDF Viewer <com.artifex.mupdf.viewer.app>
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.artifex.mupdf.viewer.app/>
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.artifex.mupdf.mini.app/>
o F-Droid PDF Reader <io.github.droidapps.pdfreader>
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/io.github.droidapps.pdfreader/>
o F-Droid PDF Viewer Plus <com.gsnathan.pdfviewer>
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.gsnathan.pdfviewer/>
o Izzysoft PDF Viewer (black icon) <org.grapheneos.pdfviewer>
<https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/repo/org.grapheneos.pdfviewer>
o Izzysoft Pen&PDF <com.cgogolin.penandpdf>
<https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/repo/com.cgogolin.penandpdf>

My quick single-test results for a "print menu" are tentatively:
o Aurora Adobe Acrobat Reader <com.adobe.reader> = print menu
o Aurora Foxit PDF Reader Mobile <com.foxit.mobile.pdf.lite> = print menu
o Aurora PDF Viewer (blue star icon, aka "pro") <com.pspdfkit.viewer> = share menu
o Aurora PDF viewer lite <com.avrapps.pdfviewer> = print menu
o Aurora Xodo PDF Reader & Editor <com.xodo.pdf.reader> = print menu
o F-Droid APV PDF Viewer <cx.hell.android.pdfview> = no print menu
o F-Droid CuprumPDF <org.ninthfloor.copperpdf> = no print menu
o F-Droid Librera Pro <com.foobnix.pro.pdf.reader> = send menu
o F-Droid MuPDF Viewer <com.artifex.mupdf.viewer.app> = no print menu
o F-Droid PDF Reader <io.github.droidapps.pdfreader> = crashes every time
o F-Droid PDF Viewer Plus (round green icon) <com.gsnathan.pdfviewer> = print menu
o Izzysoft PDF Viewer (round black icon) <org.grapheneos.pdfviewer> = no print menu
o Izzysoft Pen&PDF <com.cgogolin.penandpdf> = print menu
Note: I might have missed a "print" menu given it was a quick test.

Plus I tried these three converters to/from PDF (all failed to print):
o Aurora PDF Converter (round red icon) <com.cometdocs.pdfconverterultimate> = crippleware
o Aurora PDF Converter (square orange icon) <swati4star.createpdf> = no print menu
o Aurora PDF Converter Pro (square blue icon) <com.kmo.pdf.converter> = no menu

As always, please add value so all benefit from every action;
and, as always, please correct where I err so all benefit also.
--
See also:
Have you printed directly from Android to Ethernet'd printers on your LAN?
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.microsoft.windows/c/6ScU1H5Q43U>
o <https://i.postimg.cc/zD0CDJZz/printing01.jpg> Android10 ConnectionPrefs
o <https://i.postimg.cc/xdvmwQ3S/printing02.jpg> ConnectionPrefs > Printing
o <https://i.postimg.cc/PxdDh7Sv/printing03.jpg> Search > Print > Services
o <https://i.postimg.cc/pTkFdBSG/printing04.jpg> ? > Print > Documentation
o <https://i.postimg.cc/5N8c5d9T/printing05.jpg> Added free IPP print apps
o <https://i.postimg.cc/Y9TVg85t/printing06.jpg> 11 print services on
o <https://i.postimg.cc/FzmF5wYr/printing07.jpg> Shortcut to print settings
o <https://i.postimg.cc/DZJprj3b/printing08.jpg> PrintBot static printer
o <https://i.postimg.cc/wjqWfTdz/printing09.jpg> PDF > Open with PrintBot
o <https://i.postimg.cc/2530Yc6X/printing10.jpg> Drat! It uses the net :(

[Libor Striz]

Arlen Holder <arlen_...@newmachines.com> Wrote in message:

> I hadn't thought much about PDF viewers being "different" until I justtested printing from Android 10 using an arbitrary PDF file as my testcase.

There are many, the choice depends on required features and GUI
personal preferences.

I use them just for viewing.

The show stopper is for me the absence of text reflow
in case of text ( not scanned ) documents.
It leads often to either too small letters or continuous
horizontal scrolling.

Aside of Adobe viewer, very few offer that.

--
Poutnik ( the Wanderer )

[Arlen Holder]

On Thu, 26 Nov 2020 09:15:16 +0100 (GMT+01:00), Libor Striz wrote:

> There are many, the choice depends on required features and GUI
> personal preferences.

Hi Poutnik,

Thanks for that advice; I always love learning from you (and others).

I only found 16 in total on the 3 repositories that were free & ad free:
o Google Play
o F-Droid
o Izzysoft

One crashes every time; and some are clearly src copies of the freeware
o So maybe that leaves about a dozen in total that are free & ad free.

> I use them just for viewing.

I only tested them briefly and even then, only on two different PDFs.
o The problem of course is when you have a long PDF with many pages.

Some search. Some go to page width. Some scroll. Some even edit.
o Some have text-to-speech engines, some have bookmarks, etc.

Some even save a smaller copy, cut and paste, annotate, crop, etc.
o Some removed pages; some rotated pages, etc.

However, almost all seem to work just fine for PDF viewing.

> The show stopper is for me the absence of text reflow
> in case of text ( not scanned ) documents.

What the heck is "reflow"?

o Searching, I still am not sure I know what good text reflow is:
<https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/reading-pdfs-reflow-accessibility-features.html>
<https://kb.foxitsoftware.com/hc/en-us/articles/360040242392-What-is-reflow-mode-and-its-advantages-How-to-edit-files-in-reflow-editing-mode->
<https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83094>

I just noticed that Librera Pro freeware has a button for "Reflow PDF":
o <https://i.postimg.cc/FHq36MS4/printing13.jpg>

I couldn't find a reflow in the free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
o <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.reader>

Nor could I find a reflow option in the free version of Foxit PDF
o <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.foxit.mobile.pdf.lite>

Whatever "reflow" does, I agree with you that it's elusive.

> It leads often to either too small letters or continuous
> horizontal scrolling.
>
> Aside of Adobe viewer, very few offer that.

o Check out Librera Pro freeware:
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.foobnix.pro.pdf.reader/>

[Libor Striz]

Arlen Holder <arlen_...@newmachines.com> Wrote in message:

> What the heck is "reflow"?

I admit I may have made the term,
not checking the used term in the PDF viewer.

I mean optional automatic wrapping the text lines to fit the
screen width.
It does not obviously work for scanned, image only documents,
but it is great for text based documents.

[Carlos E.R.]

On 24/11/2020 18.11, The Real Bev wrote:
> On 11/23/2020 11:12 PM, Arlen Holder wrote:
>
>> Hence, I'm asking a general-purpose question, assuming I will run
>> into, in
>> the future, whatever PDFs we would consider basic to open on Android.
>>
>> Given that information, do you recommend any particular Android PDF
>> reader?
>
> EBookDroid. Essential if you want to read technical material involving
> equations.  So good we asked the guy if we could pay him something extra
> besides paying for the paid version.  He said no, he couldn't take
> PayPal, was glad we enjoyed it.  If a problem is found he fixes it
> immediately.  You know, the way software developers USED to do it!
>
> Never tried printing with it.  Never wanted to print anything from an
> Android device.  Why would I?  We have computers!
>

Same here :-)

Although I use the free version.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

[Arlen Holder]

On Fri, 27 Nov 2020 20:24:01 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:

>> EBookDroid. Essential if you want to read technical material involving
>> equations. 

> Same here :-)
> Although I use the free version.

Thanks The Real Bev & Carlos,

I trust the people on this ng to provide good apps, as would I when asked.

So the first thing I did was look on "Aurora Droid" (which is an F-Droid
front end scraper); but it wasn't there. I then looked on "Aurora Store"
(which is a Google Play front end scraper) and found it there:

EBookDroid - PDF & DJVU, by AK2, version 2.7.2.3.272032
o Free, GSF independent, no ads, Google free, last updated 10/20/2020
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ebookdroid>

Egads, it supports a lot of formats!
o PDF, DjVU, XPS, CBZ, CBR, FB2, EPUB, RTF, MOBI, etc.

When I opened my test PDF, it was the first in the list of apps to choose:
o EBook Droid - PDF viewer

Instantly it gave a nicely detailed message:
"Decoder plugin installation: Opening this document requires installation
of the separate decoder plugin. Our application can provide the following
one. Please confirm installation and usage:
The standalone PDF and XPS decoder with command line interface is based
on the MuPDF library released under GPL license."

And, when I pressed "OK", the PDF file opened, so it must have done some
magic under the covers (I didn't quite see where the download happened).

I like that the EBook Droid app seems highly confurable, in both the
switches and in the ability to hide or show various menus.

While I didn't see a "Print" menu, I did see a "Send to" menu, which
perhaps can be used to send the document to printer servers.

[Arlen Holder]

On Fri, 27 Nov 2020 19:57:22 +0100 (GMT+01:00), Libor Striz wrote:

> I admit I may have made the term,
> not checking the used term in the PDF viewer.
>
> I mean optional automatic wrapping the text lines to fit the
> screen width.
> It does not obviously work for scanned, image only documents,
> but it is great for text based documents.

Hi Poutnik,

Thanks for that reflow suggestion, where I recommend you check out the
reflow tool inside the Librera Pro freeware PDF viewer/editor:
o <https://i.postimg.cc/FHq36MS4/printing13.jpg> Text Reflow option

As you noted, text reflow is only going to work on documents which aren't
scanned but those that have text and formatting preserved (& not bitmaps).

I tried the "Reflow" option on a double-column document, and it did a nice
job of keeping the two columns separate in that it "understood" them:

BEFORE:
This is column one text | This is column two text
such as I like to fish. | such as I like to hunt.

AFTER WITHOUT REFLOW:
This is column one text This is column two text
such as I like to fish. such as I like to hunt.

AFTER WITH REFLOW:
This is column one text such as I like to fish.
This is column two text such as I like to hunt.

No big deal, but if you get a chance, you might look where in the Adobe
Acrobat Reader or Foxit Reader is that ReFlow button, 'cuz I couldn't find
it anywhere.

In fact, the _only_ PDF Reader I found with the "REFLOW" button was:

o Check out Librera Pro freeware:
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.foobnix.pro.pdf.reader/>

Which seems like a keeper (upon initial inspection anyway).

[Arlen Holder]

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 04:00:39 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder wrote:

> In fact, the _only_ PDF Reader I found with the "REFLOW" button was:
> o Check out Librera Pro freeware:
> <https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.foobnix.pro.pdf.reader/>

Hi Poutnik,

I found another on-the-fly PDF text reflower...

I noticed while solving the problem of printing PDFs from Android
to an Ethernet'd printer (i.e., it's not Wi-Fi enabled) using a
totally free, completely unrestricted solution, without ever using the
cloud... that this free app _also_ does on-the-fly text reflowing:

o Let's Print PDF, by BlackSpruce [free, ad free, gsf independent]
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blackspruce.mupdf>

More details are in the canonical thread on printing PDFs from Android
(which is information I have seen nowhere on the net, and, trust me, I can
scour the Internet - and even so - nobody else seems to know this
information as they would have posted it already and they didn't).

I only figured it out by trial and error, where I tested (and rejected)
about a score of supposed solutions, none of which came close to working
except one - which works beautifully!

Gory details in...

How to freely print unlimited unwatermarked PDFs from Android to an
Ethernet'd printer on your private LAN without ever using the Internet
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/nTAYljkvVl4>

[Arlen Holder]

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 14:08:15 +0100, Michael Logies wrote:

> the help of my phone (Xiaomi Mi 8) tells me, that for printing it has
> to be a Wifi printer. My printer are Wifi-capable, so I have no
> problem printing to them from Android.

Hi Michael Logies,

I very much appreciate your kind volunteer advice, as Usenet is how we,
together, solve problems, given none of us are trained in this stuff.

And none of us are paid to help each other.
o Worse, even if we were... we're all amateurs at printing technology

At least I am... (when things just work, we don't learn anything)

Hence Usenet is how we solve things, and, better yet, how we disseminate
the solutions, since we can then help everyone else with the same issues.

Yes. You are correct that if the HP LaserJet 2100tn were a "Wi-Fi capable"
printer (either Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi Direct), then it would most likely be simple
to print from Android to that printer.

Yet, the printer is on the LAN (via Ethernet on CAT5 cable), and, to the
point of this newsgroup, it prints just fine from Windows.

Interestingly, Windows needs something called a "printer driver".
o I don't know why Android doesn't seem to use printer drivers

What's confusing to me is that I never even once had thought about how
Android printing must be completely different (in some way) than Windows
printing.
a. In Windows, you install a printer driver for each printer
b. On Android, it doesn't seem to work that way (at least AFAICT)

> As I understand, the printer
> and the device have to support Cups, the linux standard way of
> printing. Because Android is a Linux flavor, Cups is integrated. And
> modern printer also support Cups.

I must openly admit that I only recently looked up what CUPS means, as, on
Android, they do have a CUPS "print service" that I installed.
o <https://i.postimg.cc/6qRSK6WY/printing11.jpg>

But that requires, apparently, a "CUPS Print Server" which I don't have:
o <https://i.postimg.cc/9fMnMYX4/printing12.jpg>

I'm very confused why Windows doesn't seem to need a "print server"
o Yet, Android seems to need a "print server"

Windows just needs a "printer driver".
o Yet Android doesn't even use printer drivers.

It's confusing to me _how_ printing actually works when it doesn't work.

> If your printer does not support Cups, I would print to a pdf on
> Android, transfer it to the windows machine and print it from there to
> the Windows printer.

Actually, early this morning, I found a solution that works perfectly.
o It's still "magic" _how_ it works (I need help on that); but it works!

1. On Android, I installed a "print server" which outputs PDF level 1.3
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blackspruce.lpd>
2. But my printer doesn't accept PDF - my printer wants PCL-5 instead
<https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-laserjet-2100-printer-series/25469/model/14918>
3. So I added a muPDF "faux printer driver" to "render" the PDF to a bitmap
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blackspruce.mupdf>

Somehow, the _combination_ (with judicious settings applied) converts the
PDF to a bitmap and by some magic, then to PCL-5, which is then sent to the
printer via the Android "print server".
o <https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/nTAYljkvVl4/m/qnuazdahCAAJ>

I do not profess nor pretend to know _how_ it works; but it works.
o I must say this is documented NOWHERE on the entire Internet (AFAICT).

So I may be the first person on the planet who has documented it here.
o Where it took hours of trial & error (particularly on the many settings)

Now that it works, I need someone to help EXPLAIN _how_ it is working
o Because at this point, it's just "print magic" to me that it's working

Especially since all the other solutions I tried turned out to be scams
o Or cloud services, or watermarked crippleware, or bogus in some way

In summary, I solved the problem set of printing from Android
o For free, ad free, gsf-free, google free, Windows-free, Linux-free
o Over the Wi-Fi LAN
o To a non-Wi-Fi Ethernet'd HP LJ 2100tn printer (built in 1999)
o Keeping everything on the LAN (i.e., no cloud involved)
o For unlimited printing (sans prevalent watermarking crippleware)
o From any Android device that I want at any time I want
o As long as both the Android device & the printer are on the same subnet

How it works is what I want to know, where I think the file conversions are
o PDF on Android to bitmap on Android to PCL-5 on Android to the printer

What I need help with is understanding why printing from Windows is easy
o And yet, printing from Android to the same printer is not

Why, for example, does Windows use a "printer driver" but Android does not?
o Why, for example, does Android use a "print server" but Windows does not?
--
On Usenet we can solve problems that nobody else seems to have resolved.

[Peter Flynn]

On 25/11/2020 19:51, Arlen Holder wrote:
> On Tue, 24 Nov 2020 16:00:02 +0000, Peter Flynn wrote:

[...]

>> I use the PrinterShare app, which cost some small sum but works

>> perfectly...except for printing web pages, which it always prints at 10×

>> normal size, and the authors claim that this is "correct".

Sorry for the delay. There seems to have been some kind of annual
celebration of something in the meantime :-)

> Thanks for that suggestion of using the payware PrinterShare app to print
> a test PDF to your Ethernet'd printer on your private LAN (sans Internet)
> where in all my solutions, I strive for free, ad free, gsf-free, and,
> as much as possible, google free solutions.

Me too, but I couldn't find one that worked anywhere near sensibly. In
this and one or two other apps, I felt the quality was good enough to be
worth paying for.

> The good news is I found a _lot_ of really nice PDF viewer freeware
> in this process, which is the point of this thread,

Yes, I'm afraid we wandered off-topic about printing.

> a. Fully functional PDF viewers (with lots of bells/whistles)
> b. Partially functional PDF viewers (with a minimum of controls)
> c. Bare bones PDF viewers (with almost nothing but a view - and no print)
>

> a. Some of the tested PDF viewers have a dedicated print button
> b. Other tested PDF viewers can print only via the share button
> c. The bare-bones PDF viewers don't seem to have any print/share options

That sounds like a fair summary.

A less fair one IMHO would be that most of them are rubbish.

The only one I found anywhere near usable was PDF Viewer Pro from
@pdfviewerapp which was one of the other apps good enough to be worth
paying for.

Peter