Windows Picture and Fax Viewer replacement for Windows 7

I believe it's already there on Win7 you just need to enable it.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/66458-63-windows-picture-viewer-free-download

No need to download..... Control panel > software, select "windows options" in the menu on the left and select it for install.

Ignore my previous post ... it's plain wrong.

There is a solution (Jan 22 post) which involves copying some files from an XP machine here ...
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/can-i-download-windows-picture-and-fax-viewer-to/2a496df6-4f2b-4fff-b5aa-bcd3739681ae


IRFANVIEW seem to be a good free replacement http://www.irfanview.com/
as mentioned here...
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-pictures/windows-picture-fax-viewer-is-ther-a-way-to-put-it/2e963b61-6b19-4d05-8f8c-3d4417ec996b?page=2

I went in to Control Panel.  I presume you meant "Programs and Features" and then there was the option on the left to turn Windows features on or off.  However, I did not find the option to turn Picture and Fax viewer on.
Can you please advise?

Sorry I have just seen that you have beaten me to post.

Ignore my first post ... it's plain wrong ... sorry

Irfanview is a fairly good solution.
If you have photoshop it's a good solution.
The best solution I can find involves copying files from XP.

I could give the first solution a try - copying the xp files, if I can get my hands on an old xp machine.
I have tried Irfanview but I don't know how to use it to do that. If I double click on my multipage tif then it opens up an image and I think I can step through the pages of the tif BUT I don't see how I would select certain pages to print.  I think there was an option to view the multipage tif thumbnails.  It throws up a little window with them in.  However, as a select the pages this is not echoed by the full size image being viewed. Also I don't know how I would select the pages to print while I was going through the images.
Have you actually used Irfanview to do What I want?

Have you actually used Irfanview to do What I want?

No .. I only use irfanview for certain batch operations and photoshop for everything else.

I found a pirate bay torrent that has a solution .... has no copyrighted material and is safe.
Read the instructions inside the zip file.

Change shimgvw.dll.txt to
shimgvw.dll

As EE won't allow DLL files to be uploaded

Search the pirate bay site for "Windows-Picture-and-Fax-Viewer" for comments.
I can't provide a direct link
Windows-Picture-and-Fax-Viewer-f.zip

I just tried Infranview, and you can definitely view and print individual pages of a TIFF file.

Virgin won't allow me on the pirate bay.  Do you think that this registry file is to be trusted?
Also, I don't understand how the registry change and the dll file will give me P&F Viewer. Where is the exe file?

I'm afraid that I don't have a suitable XP machine.

I followed the instructions and put the dll and the reg file in the windows folder. I ran the reg file and then restarted the PC.  I now have the option to open images in p and f viewer but when i try, it opens  it in the new Windows Photo Viewer instead.  What am i missing?

Yes, IrfanView can display thumbnails and can let you print whatever pages you want, but there are two things about it that you may not like:

(1) You cannot control the thumbnail size. The window that contains the thumbnails may be resized to whatever size you want, but each thumbnail is a fixed size.

(2) You do not select the pages to print via the thumbnail window – it is strictly for viewing the thumbnails. You select the pages in the print dialog via page numbers and page ranges, as pointed to by the red arrow in this screenshot:
The thumbnail window on the left automatically arranges the thumbnails as you resize it and is an independent window, so it may be dragged anywhere on the screen (even outside of the main IrfanView window). Here I resized it to a long vertical window and moved it away from the IrfanView window:
If you think this will work for you, you may download it (free!) here:
http://www.irfanview.com/

Click the Download link on the left to download IrfanView and click the PlugIns link on the left to download the PlugIns, which are needed to give you PDF capability (it's optional...only if you want PDF support...and the other features that come with the PlugIns). Install IrfanView first, then install the PlugIns. Although I recommend adding the PlugIns to get PDF support, that's for general, future usage. For this situation, you don't need it, as IrfanView will handle your TIFF files without the PlugIns. Regards, Joe

Joe
Thanks for doing all that.  I don't think Irfanview does what people here are looking for.
Thank you

You're welcome. My bad...I hadn't read your initial post to the end, where I just saw this:

It is very awkward to have to enter page numbers or ranges of page numbers when printing. We really want to be able to view all the pages from a list and select pages as we see the ones we want; not write down a list and then enter that in a print dialogue box.

You made it quite clear that the IrfanView approach is not what you want. I'll give it some more thought, but no free product immediately comes to mind. Regards, Joe

In your initial post, you said "preferably free", which implies that you're at least willing to consider non-free products. How much are you willing to spend? Total? Per user? Per location? How many users? How many locations? Regards, Joe

Hi Bill,
First, let me say – awesome post! Re your XnView comment, it is one of my standard go-to imaging programs and I tried it before making my posts, but I couldn't find a way to select the thumbnails of a multi-page TIFF for printing. Is there a way to do this? Thanks, Joe

Now that Windows Picture and Fax Viewer is not available for Windows 7 (Correct me if I'm wrong!)<<wrong
This was always come with Office not windows.
Which version of Office do you have? 2013
This software is contained in office 2003 package, you can try to setup office 2003, click customized button and choose Picture Manager to install it runs in windows 7 as I have it and love to use it
Then  just right click your image tiff and open with> either choose from or select choose default program
windows 7 it's called Microsoft Office Picture Manager

How to Install and Get “Microsoft Office Picture Manager” Back in Office 2013?
http://www.askvg.com/how-to-install-and-get-microsoft-office-picture-manager-back-in-office-2013/
good luck ;)

Hi Merete,

Microsoft Office Picture Manager is different from Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. In particular, in terms of the author's requirements, the print dialogs are very different. WPFV's looks like this:
It shows the thumbnail of each page of a multi-page TIFF and lets you select the pages to print via a check-mark in the upper right corner of each page – very nice!

Sadly, MOPM's print dialog looks like this:
No thumbnails for each page and no way to select pages for printing. Regards, Joe

First of all, may I say thank you? There have been some great answers. This is a brilliant thread.

Joe
That is a great find.  I suspect that the multi-page tiff editor may be a bit too pricey for the boss to stomach.  If it were the only option, he would pay but there are free options that come quite close.  However, it is t very useful to me to be able to offer him a complete solution and be able to say that I have offered him a solution but that he doesn't want to pay for it.  (I don't know if I have expressed properly what I mean.)

The free competition is Microsoft Office Document Imaging. It turns out that is pretty close to what we want.  It displays all the pages of a multi-page tiff as thumbnails down the left hand side. When you click on them you can view them full size on the right. Then you can select the thumbnails you want BUT then the print dialogue does not offer to print the "selected" pages.  So the workaround is to select the pages you want and copy them, create a new file and paste those images into it, then print all of them.  It's a little bit of a faff but it's free. The other facility it lacks (I think) is the ability to increase the size of the thumbnails.They are a bit small to distinguish the content of the pages of scanned document.

Bill
Thank you! I tried your command.  It did enable me to view using Windows P&F Viewer but you were right, I got the same print dialogue as has been screenshot by Joe - MOPM. It is the print dialogue that had all the power.
I use XN View myself.  It is very good software and you can choose from a list of jpg images and print just those, but I couldn't see how to show the contents of a multi-page tiff in a list, from which I could then choose.

Anyway, thank you everyone. I'll leave this open for a bit to see of the conversation continues any further but for now I will proceed with the Microsoft Office Document Imaging (catchy name) and offer the Multi-page Tiff Editor as a pay-for solution.

Hi nowthenee (sorry for the appellation, but I don't recollect seeing your name here),

I tried MODI early on but ran into the same problem as you – no way to select thumbnails for printing. I didn't think of creating a new file with just the pages for printing...and if I had, I likely would have rejected it as too cumbersome. :)

If you decide to go with MODI, keep in mind that it was bundled with Office 2003 and 2007, but was removed from Office 2010 (and 2013). However, here's an article on how to install it in 2010:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982760

The same technique may work with Office 2013, but I haven't tried that yet.

One other thing – MODI is based on technology from Nuance (previously called ScanSoft). So another non-free idea is Nuance's PaperPort. But this seems like vast overkill for what you're trying to do – PaperPort is a robust imaging solution with a boatload of features. Even so, it still doesn't have page selection via thumbnails in the print dialog. Here's a screenshot of a multi-page TIFF with some thumbnails selected, and the red arrow pointing to the context menu:
You would still need to use the Copy Selection technique (as you're contemplating with MODI) to create the subset of pages for printing. Btw, note that Enlarge/Reduce thumbnail size is an option in PaperPort, but I think you are correct that this is not available in MODI. Here's a screenshot in PaperPort showing much larger thumbnails:
Regards, Joe

I was wrong; you can resize the icons (to a certain extent) in MODI....and by the way, it will install alongside Office 2013.  I used the option from Joe's link for Sharepoint Designer.

Merete, thanks for the suggestions. I will have to take a look at them.

Just responding to comments made in my absence.

@Joe:
"Hi Bill, First, let me say - awesome post".
Thank you kind Sir.  Just one of my favourite pastimes, tinkering under the hood, and I like sharing with those who are interested.

"XnView ... I couldn't find a way to select the thumbnails of a multi-page TIFF for printing".
@nowthenee: "I couldn't see how to show the contents of a multi-page tiff in a list, from which I could then choose."

No there isn't a way to separately select thumbnails as you can with the XP Photo Print Wizard.  My memory was that it came somewhere between the "File > Print > Current Page" option in a print dialog (whereupon it prints that page then annoyingly closes) and the multi-thumb tick box dialog.  My memory was a little off in this respect though, and I have tried it again using the portable XnView (v1.98) I've had on a USB Flash Drive for a while.

Although you can't select or deselect thumbnails showing all at one time in a single pane and print only those in one go, the two tick boxes shown here do as follows:

1. Makes all the pages of a multi-page TIF available and shows them as scrollable thumbnails
2. Keeps the dialog open until the print job is finished.

Unfortunately what I remembered of this print dialog was of it launching a separate "spooled jobs" window where you could cancel specific ones.  I haven't had a physical printer for a while now, and my default is PDFCreator.  The spooled print jobs I recall were actually the PDFCreator dialog showing, and not that of XnView.  I kept those two boxes ticked and changed the printer to XPS Document Writer which just prompts to save and converts.  This creates separate Save As boxes for each of the pages in the TIF file, and cancelling one just moves onto the next.  The actual print dialog disappears and you only see the Save As windows until all pages of the TIF are sent.  Clearly it isn't as useful as I remembered, because you would first have to scroll through each of the thumbnails, remember the page number of the ones to print, then ignore and cancel the ones in between when prompted.  Additionally, I haven't tested this with an actual printer.

@Joe

"MODI is based on technology from Nuance (previously called ScanSoft). So another non-free idea is Nuance's PaperPort. But this seems like vast overkill for what you're trying to do"

Years ago while having to grab agency jobs here and there, between manual work I had to sit in a transport office for two weeks scanning in hundreds of hardcopy PODs, checking and saving them to TIFF, and then retrieving and printing some old ones from a lengthy list of tasks on the desk. PaperPort (probably ScanSoft before that) was very capable, but it was two weeks of drudgery with a little runty orangutan of an office manager on my back every minute ;-)

@All

Merete mentioned the software that commonly comes with printers.  I have had some pretty good "free" software on CD with some of my printers, scanners, and digital cameras in the past.  One name that I was very impressed by was the IRIS software suite (OCR and doc management).  If considering a paid-for solution you might want to bear the IRIS software in mind.  Merete's suggestion of Canon Easy Photo Print jogged my memory of the Epson Multi Photo Print and NikonView software that came with my old printer and Coolpix camera respectively.  As well as handling the aquisition from USB camera in a similar way to the Windows XP Scanner and Camera Import Wizard, the old NikonView and Epson software allowed me to later browse folders, tick thumbnails, and apply various actions to them such as copy to, delete, and print. Whether or not they showed the separate pages of a Multi-page TIF is something I can't remember, but it's a valid suggestion and something that you may just have available.  Installing the same software on multiple workstations in a corporate environment would be an issue though.

I finally got around to testing "shimgvw.dll" and "photowiz.dll" on my Win7 laptop. It's a real pity that the Win7 versions of these files have exactly the same names, or else I MAY have been able to drop them into the System32 or SysWOW64 folders and get them to run independently of the Windows Picture Viewer as a standalone program by adding a few new registry keys and values.  As it is, using them would probably mean de-registering them to cripple the Win7 functionality, then disabling file protection and renaming them as backups, dropping the WinXP ones into the same folder and registering them.  For all I like tinkering, I wasn't prepared to mess with the computer to that extent.

I did try to run them from their own folder using commands with absolute paths to the "shimgvw.dll" and a test image, but the "Print" button is hard-coded into the DLL and will look for "printwiz.dll" in the system folder rather than locally.  I discovered a function within the XP version of "photowiz.dll" named "UsePPWForPrintTo" (use Photo Print Wizard For PrintTo), and tinkered around with various commands and tests to see if I could use drag and drop functionality (which is usually what "PrintTo" actions are used for when set in the Registry), but I kept getting errors like this:
So for now I'm in the position that I can't really offer anything constructive, sorry.

I've requested that this question be deleted for the following reason:

Not enough information to confirm an answer.

The OP's question was:

Has anyone used an image viewer (preferably free) that has funtionality?

Since "preferably" free leaves open the possibility of a non-free solution, I believe that there is enough information to confirm that this post is an answer:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28267221/Windows-Picture-and-Fax-Viewer-replacement-for-Windows-7.html?anchorAnswerId=39574420#a39574420

Even the OP said, "That is a great find" and "...it is very useful to me to be able to offer him a complete solution and be able to say that I have offered him a solution..."

Those words by the OP clearly confirm that it is an answer. Furthermore, in the same comment, the OP said, "There have been some great answers. This is a brilliant thread."

So it seems at odds to say, "Not enough information to confirm an answer" when the member posting the question says, "There have been some great answers."

Furthermore, if the question is deleted, then this "brilliant thread" (in the OP's own words) will no longer be available to other EE members who are searching for a solution to the same problem.

I think several of the posts deserve points (not just the one mentioned above) but I'll wait to hear back from the Moderator review of this objection before spending further time...or perhaps this ping will cause the OP to jump back in. Regards, Joe

Hi Bill,
That is awesome post #2!

Thanks for sharing your experiences of "tinkering under the hood" – I, for one, am very interested! Also, I really enjoyed the story of the "little runty orangutan of an office manager" – I now have this vision. :)

You're right...PaperPort was from the ScanSoft folks before it was Nuance (and from Visioneer before ScanSoft, and Xerox before that, and Kurzweil at the beginning).

Your ideas for getting <shimgvw.dll> and <photowiz.dll> to work on W7 sound good, but (although a fellow tinkerer) I agree with you about not messing around to that extent. I've heard of too many failed Restore points to risk it on that. I'd feel comfortable with a Casper clone, but there are only so many hours in a day. :)   Regards, Joe

LeeTutor

I agree with Joe Winograd.  The question was answered.  Comment 39574420 provides a tested alternative software that fulfills the criteria.  Thanks Joe.

Assisted solutions:

BillDL 39574513
Explains why simply replacing shimgvw.dll on a Win7 system with one from XP and making some registry changes only allows viewing of images in the older style Picture & Fax Viewer.  The print function is hard-coded and will still use the new and worse Win7 photowiz.dll which would also have to be overwritten with the one from XP.  Involves deep tinkering.

marsilies 39573843
Explains that using files from other versions of Windows is unofficial, not supported, and a violation of the Windows license.

Merete 39578629
Suggests checking out Microsoft Fax & Scan and 3rd-party scanning related software that may already be installed and might well serve the purpose.

Thanks Bill,
Your links open to a new page
Hope you agree it's better staying on the same page especially when so much great information is provided.
If I may >
quick lesson in posting a URL so it links to comments on the same page
first type in exactly  http:#a
then add the id number number say my comment @> 39578629
http:#a  39578629 << put these two together so there is no gap
My comment
http:#a39578629
your comment id 39574513
http:#a 39574513
no gap
http:#a39574513
marsilies  39573843
http:#a  39573843
with no gap
http:#a39573843
click preview, if they work then back and Submit
but you may prefer to open a new page saves scrolling back down ( grins)
cheers my friend and thank you.

Thank you Netminder

The rescue and preservation of all the useful information contained within this question, brings one my old community questions to mind ......

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/27733788/Useful-Posts-Being-Deleted-Routinely-Under-EE-Rules.html

Hi Eirman,

That is a great community question! Thanks for posting the link to it. I've had numerous exchanges with Moderators during abandoned questions where many of the same issues were discussed. It's really a shame when a thread with terrific comments by certified experts gets deleted, especially since one EE admin told me that EE members find solutions to their problems by searching (not by asking a new question) 80% of the time!

Since you are clearly interested in improving the operation of EE, please take a look at this community question that I posted at around the same time as yours:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/27875154/On-the-Assignment-of-Correct-Topics-to-Questions.html

Netminder provided thoughtful comments to both of our questions. I found it deliciously ironic that he deemed it important enough to move both of our questions to the Expert Input topic, stating in your question that it is "a more appropriate topic area for this discussion."

Later on in your question, he says, "...let us solve the problems of getting most questions to the point where they're halfway decent and asked in the right TAs and getting responses from the best Experts..."

Music to my ears: "asked in the right TAs" ... "best Experts" (which I take to mean Experts certified/credentialed in the relevant TAs).

Thanks again to Netminder for participating in these valuable discussions to improve EE. Regards, Joe

Yours was a useful question too joewinograd. Regurgitating old questions in a new context might sometimes cause a re-think.

EE has undergone a major revamp since our questions. My dismissed suggestion of modifying the A question you participated in will be deleted notification, so you could check out questions that you really did participate in, would help solve this type of situation.

(I wonder if Netminder is monitoring this question now that it is effectively closed).

Netminder is everpresent, like an eerie presence floating through the corridors of an old mansion, popping up here and there stealthily and without warning.  He knows what is going on at the opposite end of the EE mansion without physically being there, and I have heard that he can even see through walls.