Comparing eViewer Version 5 & Version 7: Which is Right for Your Organization?
Comparing eViewer Version 5 & Version 7: Which is Right for Your Organization?
Options help us find the best fit for different scenarios. For example, we choose the size of our morning coffee, the temperature our home thermostat is set to, and what to eat for lunch to best meet our specific needs.
Your organization’s IT infrastructure also has specific needs that must be met for any software addition. Since no two organizations’ infrastructure is set up the same way, we created two versions of our popular eViewer to best meet your needs: eViewer 5 and eViewer 7.
Both versions provide access to the same set of features, but the difference comes down to your organization’s current infrastructure, use cases, and the technology driving eViewer.
eViewer 5: What you need to know
Launched in 2019, eViewer 5 was the latest iteration of the HTML5 server-based document viewer. As with all server-based document viewers, the rendering and image processes (i.e. redactions, page rotation, delete page), are managed by the server. These processes can generate a considerable amount of CPU utilization and network traffic, especially as the number of users increases.
The improvements provided in eViewer 5 alleviated many of the pain points organizations faced with CPU load caused by a server-based viewer. By incorporating the latest technology, including Node.JS, eViewer 5, can provide better load balancing for servers where eViewer is deployed. It also has improved image compression technology to reduce network traffic between the server and workstations.
eViewer 7: What you need to know
eViewer 7, released in 2021, is a complete redesign of the HTML5 document viewer. eViewer 7 is a hybrid HTML5 document viewer with rendering and image operations occurring on either the server or the workstation. The server app for eViewer 7 determines if the rendering or image operation needs to occur on the server, and if not, it will be passed to the workstation. This reduces the server load allowing for fewer dedicated servers and reduced network traffic between the server and workstation.
eViewer 7 offers the same features as eViewer 5, such as collaboration annotations, redaction, text extraction, and many more. Additionally, users will experience faster rendering and page manipulation operations of documents with eViewer 7 since they occur on their device and not the server.
How do eViewer 5 and eViewer 7 differ on their technology stack?
Comparison of eViewer 5 and eViewer 7
| eViewer 5 | eViewer 7 | |
| Frontend Technology | HTML5, JavaScript | HTML5, Angular 9 |
| Backend Frameworks | Java Servlets & ASP.NET Web Services | Spring Boot 2 & .NET Core 3 |
| Rendering and Document Operations | Server-side only | Client and Server-side |
| Deployment | Manual, Docker (.NET Only) | Manual, NPM, Yarn, NuGet, Docker |
| Deployment Server | Application Server (Java or Microsoft IIS) | Supports Self Hosting, or any Java supporting app server or Microsoft IIS |
| Integration | Standard HTML JS apps | AngularJS, Angular, ReactJS, Backbone, ElectronJS, Vue, Blazor and Standard HTML JS apps |
| APIs | JS Library & REST APIs | Angular Typescript APIs, JS Library |
| Annotation Format | XML | JSON |
| OCR Engine | Customize Tesseract v3 | Customized Tesseract v5 |
Which eViewer should you get?
The final decision depends on the infrastructure and the application you plan to integrate it with. If you are using some of the legacy ECMs or you will be integrating it with older application technologies, then eViewer 5 is your best bet. However, if you are integrating eViewer with Angular or React applications, your organization can benefit from using eViewer 7. Since MS Technology plans to continue to support eViewer 5 indefinitely, there is no wrong answer here. It is just a matter of finding the best fit.
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