Windows 10 / 11
Download installer
Windows
Signed setup. Install for everyone or just yourself, with quiet background updates either way. Portable ZIP also available.
PDF CENTRAL Part of the DataHaat suite
Read every PDF. On every device.
A fast, free PDF reader from DataHaat — tabbed reading, instant full-document search, highlighting and markup, form filling and a night mode that is easy on the eyes. It opens big files in a blink, and quietly keeps itself up to date.
Free, no account
Windows · Linux · Android
Auto-updates
Opens a 500-page PDF in under a second
Download PDF Central
One reader. Every platform you work on.
The same PDF Central on your Windows desktop, your Linux workstation and your Android phone — powered by the same PDFium engine that renders PDFs in Chrome.
Ubuntu · Fedora · Arch
Download for Linux
Linux
Self-contained — no runtime to install.
Android 8.0+
Download APK
Android
Sideload the signed APK, or find us on the Play Store (soon).
What's inside
Everything a reader should do. Nothing it shouldn't.
Focused, not bloated — the DataHaat way. PDF Central does the reading essentials properly and gets out of your way.
Blazing fast
PDFium rendering with virtualized pages — only what's on screen is drawn, so huge files scroll smoothly.
Tabbed reading
Open a whole folder of PDFs in tabs, drag & drop to add more, and jump between them instantly. Double-click a PDF anywhere and it joins the same window, and each one reopens where you left it.
Full-text search
Search the entire document live, with match counts, highlight-all and next/previous — even in long reports.
Bookmarks & links
Navigate the document outline from a side panel, and click internal jumps and web links right in the page.
Thumbnails
A live thumbnail rail for the whole document — see where you are and leap to any page in one click.
Select, copy, print
Precise text selection across pages, copy to clipboard, zoom, rotate and print with page ranges.
Reads digital signatures
Opens digitally signed PDFs and shows who signed, when and why. Click the signature for the full certificate chain and validity detail.
Highlight & mark up
Highlight, underline and strike out text, add sticky notes, draw freehand, and stamp shapes and arrows — then save it all into the PDF.
Fill in forms
Type into PDF forms, tick boxes and pick from drop-downs, then save a filled copy that opens correctly in any reader.
Night & reading modes
A night mode that inverts the page, a warm sepia tint, two-page spreads for books, and full-screen presentation with the arrow keys.
Printing you can see
A proper print dialog with a live preview: page ranges, odd or even, scaling, several pages to a sheet, both sides and grayscale.
Free & India-first
No cost, no account, no ads. Built by DataHaat for the way India works, on the devices you already own.
Always up to date
Updates that just happen.
When DataHaat ships a new version, PDF Central notices, downloads it in the background and installs it on the next launch — no hunting for downloads, no reinstalling.
1
Checks quietly. On start-up PDF Central asks DataHaat if there's a newer version. Once a day it also sends an anonymous count you can switch off — never anything about your documents. See exactly what
2
Downloads in the background. If there's an update, it fetches the signed installer and verifies its SHA-256 before touching anything.
3
Installs on your say-so. You get a one-line prompt; approve it and the new version is in place in seconds, tabs and all.
Changelog
What's new
v1.3.325 Sep 2026
- Fixed a crash when changing the zoom — most often Fit page — with scanned, image-heavy PDFs
- A PDF you open for the first time now starts at Fit page, with the whole first page in view; after that it reopens at the zoom you left it at
v1.3.225 Sep 2026
- Right after an update, PDF Central checks for newer versions and sends its daily usage report at once, instead of up to a day later
- The usage report now waits for a slow connection instead of giving up
v1.3.124 Sep 2026
- Reopens each PDF where you left off — the same page, the same place on it, and the same zoom
- Recent files and your other settings are now saved from the very first run
- Opening several PDFs from Explorer in quick succession is more reliable
- Usage statistics: once a day PDF Central reports a random ID, its version, the Windows build, how it was installed and how often it was started — never anything about your documents. Turn it off in File → About
v1.3.012 Sep 2026
- Highlight, underline, strike out and squiggly-underline text
- Sticky notes, freehand ink, rectangles, ellipses, lines, arrows and text boxes — saved into the PDF
- Fill in PDF forms — text fields, check boxes, radio buttons and drop-downs — and save a filled copy
- Night mode and sepia page tones, two-page spreads, and full-screen presentation
- A print dialog with a live preview: ranges, odd/even, scaling, pages per sheet, both sides and grayscale
- Signature details window with the full certificate chain, and a validity badge on the page
- Document properties with page size, PDF version and permissions (Ctrl+D)
- New installer: choose to install for everyone or just yourself, with quiet background updates either way; it also upgrades an existing 1.2.0 install in place
- Opens PDFs from Explorer: PDF Central is offered in “Open with” and Default apps, and a double-clicked file lands as a new tab in the window you already have open
- Fixes: false “modified” warnings on Indian DSC signatures, and duplicate signature entries
v1.2.019 Aug 2026
- Reads digital signatures — signer, signing time, reason and validity
- Signature status banner and a Signatures side panel, like Adobe
- Detects tampering (document modified after signing) and untrusted signers
- Signature reading on Windows, Linux and Android
v1.1.019 Aug 2026
- New bookmarks / document-outline side panel
- Clickable internal jumps and web links, with hover highlight
- Cross-platform editions for Linux and Android (early access)
- Self-update from DataHaat with SHA-256 verification
v1.0.019 Aug 2026
- First release — tabbed continuous reading, thumbnails
- Full-document search, text selection and copy
- Zoom, rotate, fit-width / fit-page and printing
- Encrypted-PDF password support
Privacy
What PDF Central sends — and what it never does.
Apart from checking for updates, PDF Central sends one thing: an anonymous count, about once a day, so we know how many machines run it and which versions are still in use. It is on unless you turn it off, and turning it off takes one click.
What is sent
A random ID this copy made up the first time it ran, the PDF Central version, the operating-system version, which kind of copy it is — installed for everyone, for just you, portable, or the Linux build — and how many times it has started since it last reported.
What is never sent
Nothing about your documents — not their names, what is in them, where they are kept, or what you search for or print. No computer name, user name or domain. The ID is random, never taken from the hardware.
Where it goes
To updatescannerapp.datahaat.com, alongside the update check to datahaat.com. We keep it against the random ID, by date only; the record holds no IP address.
Switching it off
On Windows: File → About, then untick Help us count how many people use PDF Central. On Linux, see below. The Android app never sends it.
For administrators. A REG_DWORD value named UsageReporting set to 0 under HKLM\SOFTWARE\DataHaat turns it off for every DataHaat product on the machine; under HKLM\SOFTWARE\DataHaat\PdfCentral it turns off PDF Central alone. The environment variable DATAHAAT_USAGE_REPORTING=0 does the same, on Windows and Linux. Your setting overrides the user's. Blocking updatescannerapp.datahaat.com stops it too, without affecting updates. It is only ever sent with an update check, so with automatic checks turned off (File → About) it goes only when someone chooses Check for updates.
On Linux there is no switch in the app: set the variable, or create an empty file named no-usage-reporting in ~/.local/share/PdfCentral/. The Linux build sends it only when you choose Check for updates.
What we keep. Daily records are deleted after about 13 months; what stays is a one-line summary per copy — first and last day seen, version, operating-system version, kind of copy and total starts. Like any website, our servers also keep ordinary access logs, which do record the address a request came from. Questions: info@datahaat.com.
Get PDF Central.
Free, fast and on every device you own. Download it once — it keeps itself current from there.