Change background and text color in PDF readers

In this post, I will describe how to change the default page background and text color in some popular PDF viewers. I will be replacing the default black on white theme with colors similar to the Solarized-Light theme.

PDF sample with Solarized Theme

Adobe Reader XI

Edit ➾ Preferences ➾ Accessibility ➾ Custom Color and select the colors you want.
For Solarized-Light set page background to RGB(253,246,227) and set Document text to RGB(50,66,78). As far as I know, it is not possible to change the grey window color of Adobe Reader.

Adobe Reader accessibility options screen

Adobe Reader screen to change color

Adobe Reader Solarized sample page

Foxit PDF Reader

File ➾ Preferences ➾ Accessibility ➾ Replace document colors ➾ Custom Color

Foxit Reader file ribbon

Foxit Reader accessibility settings screen

Foxit Reader change color screen

Like Adobe Reader it is not possible to change window color in Foxit PDF reader in normal mode; however, you can do so in full-screen mode.
File ➾ Preferences ➾ Full-Screen ➾ Full-Screen Appearance

Foxit Reader full-screen settings

Set the background color to be the same as your chosen page background, this way you get the same background color for the whole screen.

Foxit Reader Solarized sample page

Sumatra PDF

    • Settings ➾ Advanced options
    • This would open up a text file. In the FixedPageUI section, you need to change TextColor and BackgroundColor to the hex value of the colors you want.
    • For Solarized-Light use:
      TextColor = #32424E
      BackgroundColor = #fdf6e3
    • In order to change window background you need to add a new property GradientColors to the FixedPageUI section. This works in both normal and fullscreen modes.
      GradientColors = #fdf6e3 #fdf6e3 #fdf6e3

Sumatra PDF settings file

Sumatra PDF Solarized sample

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