Nowadays, Google’s search results now feature an option that allows users to view formatted PDFs from within their browser more easily.

Although Google’s search engine included a “View as HTML” feature for documents created in the Portable Document Format standard, the company in a blog post said that “option loses some of the formatting from the original PDF, such as graphics, tables, fonts, and other elements.” Of course, as the new feature appears, the “View as HTML” feature, which strips out much of the formatting in a PDF, is still available too.

According to Google, the option is now available for around 50 per cent of all PDFs displayed in its search index. The company added that it plans to use the viewer for other documents and file types, though it didn’t reveal when the tech would be rolled out elsewhere.

It is said that it has been adding the Quick View feature to results since July although Google announced it until now. From where I stand, viewing PDF documents in our browser might not make paying taxes any more fun—but hopefully this feature will make it a little bit faster. Of course, Google also promised to include viewer for other file types, which is really worth looking forward to.

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