I think the answer is complex. They are not the same thing, but
eventually, the widget will replace the external. The current issue is
that the widget is lacking some features the external has, so, if, (like
us) you PDF work is based on the external, migrating to the widget is
not possible (dep
What is the relation between the widget “PDF” and the external “XPDFViewer”
(both in Pro Features)? The latter offers more direct access to a few
properties (e.g., totalCharacterCount), while the widget syntax is a little
simpler. It does not appear that a PDF widget is a PDF Viewer, at least
