Reading PDFs posted on the Web can be an annoying experience. Click a link to one, and then wait...and wait...and wait...until Adobe Reader (or another PDF reader, such as Foxit Reader or Bullzip PDF Printer) launches, and hope it doesn't crash. Then, when you want to continue Web surfing, you'll have to switch back and forth between your PDF reader and the Web.

Google's free Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer extension for Chrome solves the problem easily. Click a link to a PDF, and the PDF loads right in its own Chrome tab. The PDF is easily navigable via thumbnails and you have plenty of options for viewing, including fitting the page to the screen, displaying two pages at a time, zooming in and zooming out, and more. You can also search through the document, share it with others, and e-mail it as an attachment.

There's more as well--you'll be able to save a copy of the PDF to your PC. And you can also save it to Google Docs, too. And you can print the PDF as well. Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer also lets you view, save, and share PowerPoint presentations. And it gives you all the tools you'll need for navigating them, in much the same way it does for PDFs.. Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer is free, and does a great job of viewing PDFs and PowerPoint files from within Chrome--what's not to like?

Note: This link takes you to this extension's page at Google, where you can automatically install the file into your Chrome browser.

--Preston Gralla