Getting started

Opening files#

npdf paper.pdf                 # one PDF
npdf paper.pdf notes.pdf       # each in its own tab
npdf                           # the tabs you had open last time

A file reopens where you stopped reading, with the zoom, dark mode and rotation you left it in. From inside the program, \o opens a recent file, \f finds any PDF on your computer and :e file.pdf opens one by path.

The first five minutes#

Move around. j k scroll, J K go to the next / previous page, Space goes a screen down, gg and G go to the first and last page, 42G to page 42.
Zoom. + and - change it, = fits the width and z the whole page.
Dark mode. Press i. Photos keep their colours; plots and diagrams on white are recoloured so nothing glares.
Search. Type /stiffness and Enter, then n and N go through the matches.
Follow a reference. Press F and letters appear on every link, citation, figure and equation reference on screen. Type one to see the target in a small window without leaving the page.
Highlight. v shows a text cursor, w moves it word by word, v starts selecting, move to the end, then C (yellow) or c to write a comment.
See everything you marked. \l opens the panel, and its Highlights tab lists every highlight and comment.
Stuck? Type \c and a menu with every key appears. Esc always takes you back.

The leader key#

The backslash \ is the leader key. On its own it does nothing, but it starts many different functions, depending on the key you press after it. \c opens the help, \l the panel, \g the page grid, \o the recent files, \f the finder for any PDF, \/ the search across all PDFs, \n the search across all comments, \T the themes, \a the about screen, and \ma sets mark a.

When you do not remember a key, type \c. A menu appears with every key of the mode you are in, in tabs, with a search box, and Esc closes it. It is the quickest way to learn the program.

The leader key can be changed to ,, ; or space with leader = in the configuration.

Modes#

Like vim, Nomadys-PDF has modes. A small badge in the bottom-left corner shows which one you are in.

Badge	Mode	How you get there
`NORMAL`	reading	the start; `Esc` from anywhere
`CURSOR`	text cursor, to select text	`v`
`AREA`	free cursor, for figures and regions	`Ctrl-v`
`VISUAL`	selecting (text, or a rectangle)	`v` in either cursor
`FOLLOW` / `PREVIEW`	link letters on screen / a preview window	`f` / `F`
`MOVE` / `IMAGE` / `CROP`	moving or resizing an area or image, cropping it	`e` on it in the free cursor, then `c`
`INSERT`	typing in a form field	`Ctrl-j` or a click on a field
`COMMAND` / `SEARCH`	the `:` or `/` line	`:` / `/`
`COMMENT`	the comment box	`c` on a selection or highlight
`PANEL`	the panel	`\l`
`PAGES`	the page grid	`\g`
`OPEN`	recent files or the PDF finder	`\o` / `\f`
`LIBRARY`	search across all PDFs	`\/` / `\n`
`THEME`	the theme chooser	`\T`
`HELP`	the help screen	`\c`

mode_indicator = false in the configuration hides the badge.

The help screen#

\c opens the help, with every key of every mode, grouped, drawn as keycaps, in tabs (Reading, Text cursor, Free cursor, Comments, Panel, Preview, Commands, Forms, Move/resize, Crop, Pages, Present). It opens on the tab of the mode you are in, and each tab starts with How to get here.

Tab, h l or 1–9 change tab; j k move
/ searches the keys of every tab ("split", "comment", "zoom")
Esc or \c again closes it

The help is generated from the program's own key tables, so it is never out of date.

Counts#

A number before a key repeats it. 5j scrolls five times, 3n goes to the third next match, and 3> in the page grid moves a page three places.

The command line#

: opens the command line, where :w saves, :q closes the tab, :42 goes to page 42 and :e file.pdf opens a file. Tab completes command names and file paths; : followed by Tab lists every command. See Commands.

Saving#

Highlights, comments and form entries are saved automatically about a second after each change, into the PDF itself, as standard annotations that Acrobat, Okular, Evince, Zotero and others show. See Files, memory and speed.