{"id":45751,"date":"2026-11-01T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.withdata.com\/blog\/?p=45751"},"modified":"2026-11-01T09:15:50","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T09:15:50","slug":"bigtextfileviewer-3-2-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.withdata.com\/blog\/pr\/bigtextfileviewer-3-2-released.html","title":{"rendered":"BigTextFileViewer 3.2 Released: GTK3 Linux Build, a File Position Scroll Bar and Whole CJK Glyphs"},"content":{"rendered":"

November 1, 2026 \u2014 Withdata Software announces BigTextFileViewer 3.2<\/a><\/strong>, the viewer for files too big to open in an editor. This release is about the Linux build (it runs on GTK3 desktops and installs from apt<\/code> and dnf<\/code>) and about four things you notice the moment you open a real log file: you can drag a scroll bar through the whole file, a file that is not text is refused instead of shown as garbage, Chinese and Japanese characters are no longer cut off at the bottom, and the Pause button stays where you expect it while a file is still loading.<\/p>\n

\"BigTextFileViewer<\/p>\n

What\u2019s New in BigTextFileViewer 3.2<\/h2>\n

1. It Runs on Current Linux Desktops (GTK3)<\/h3>\n

Current Linux desktops ship GTK3 only, while 3.1 was built against GTK2 \u2014 on those systems the viewer either refused to start or opened with a window whose panels were the wrong size. 3.2 is built with the GTK3 widget set, uses the same fonts and spacing as the Windows build, and is installed from the Withdata apt<\/code> and dnf<\/code> repositories, so an update is sudo apt upgrade<\/code> rather than a download and a copy.<\/p>\n

2. A Scroll Bar for the Whole File<\/h3>\n

\u201cGo To Position\u201d lets you jump into the middle of a 20 GB file, but until now there was no way to drag<\/em> through it \u2014 the scroll bar moved within the block that was loaded, not through the file. 3.2 adds a file position bar sized by the visible rows, plus a horizontal bar for long lines: dragging it loads the block you land on. Reading a huge file is now closer to scrolling through a small one.<\/p>\n

\"Jumping<\/p>\n

3. Files That Are Not Text Are Refused<\/h3>\n

Dropping an xlsx, docx or PDF onto the viewer used to open a window full of binary garbage \u2014 and on some files the word-wrap code failed outright with a range check error. 3.2 checks the file first and says what it is: BigTextFileViewer opens text files, and it now tells you so instead of showing you nonsense.<\/p>\n

4. CJK Text Is No Longer Clipped<\/h3>\n

In Chinese, Japanese and Korean text the bottom of the glyphs was cut off \u2014 readable, but not what you want from a reader. The line height is now computed from the font metrics, so the characters are drawn whole.<\/p>\n

5. The Pause Button Behaves<\/h3>\n

Pause and resume now work while a file is still being scanned, the button is disabled once loading is finished instead of pretending it can do something, it keeps its place in the toolbar, and its icon and tooltip follow the state. The recent-file menu and the toolbar refresh themselves when they change, rather than after reopening the window.<\/p>\n

About BigTextFileViewer<\/h2>\n

BigTextFileViewer<\/a> opens text files that editors give up on \u2014 a 10 GB log, a whole-table SQL export \u2014 without loading them into memory.<\/p>\n