ACDSee Free 2.2.0

ACDSee Free is a simple image viewer with some extra basic functionality. This free tool not only will let you browse your photograph collection in a simple and attractive way, but it will also allow you to rotate, to zoom in and out, to print, and to share your images via Facebook and Twitter. It supports all the most popular image file formats, including BMP, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, PNG, and WMF.

ACDSee’s large experience in both professional and amateur image editing tools clearly shows in this tiny free utility. Though ACDSee Free includes nearly none of the high-quality editing functionality that ACDSee is famous for, this compact image viewer is clearly influenced by the company’s gusto for excellence. The interface provided is clear, well-designed, and attractive. It supports full-screen mode, and gathers its simple functionality on an intuitive toolbar with self-explanatory icons. This viewer’s zoom in and out capabilities are at the same level of quality as those in other ACDSee products, producing clear and sharp images – subject to the quality of the photographs, of course. As a bonus, you can also rotate your images without any quality loss.

Going back to the program’s zooming functionality, there is just one aspect that I believe offers room for improvement. ACDSee Free comes with a select tool that allows you to zoom in a specific area of the current image – the problem with this tool is that it is sometimes difficult to define your selection accurately. The area selector works by right-clicking on your image, which opens a box with nodes that you can make bigger or smaller by dragging it over the area you wish to enlarge. However, as soon as you stop pressing on the right button of your mouse, the selection box vanishes and the selected area is automatically enlarged, making the nodes in the box completely useless. It is certainly a fast and efficient way of zooming in, but not the most accurate.

However it is in the viewing experience itself that ACDSee’s level of quality becomes more evident. Famous for – among other things – its fast viewing capabilities, you will notice no delay whatsoever when moving from one photograph to the next, or the previous one. Images are shown in a seamless sequence, either in full-screen mode or otherwise.

Thus, if you are looking for a free and simple image viewer with the level of quality of a professional image editor, this is a serious option to consider.