Nomadys-PDFReading and navigation
Moving through a PDF#
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
j k (or ↓ ↑) | scroll down / up |
h l (or ← →) | scroll left / right (when zoomed in) |
Ctrl-d / Ctrl-u | half a screen down / up |
Ctrl-f / Ctrl-b, Space | a screen down / up |
J / K | next / previous page |
gg / G | first / last page |
42G, 42gg or :42 | page 42 |
| mouse wheel | scroll |
A number repeats a key, as in 5j or 3J.
Zoom and layout#
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
+ / - (or Ctrl + wheel) | zoom in / out |
= | fit the width of the window |
z | fit the whole page |
:zoom 150 | a zoom in percent |
d | two pages side by side (press it again for one page) |
r / R | turn the view 90° clockwise / counter-clockwise |
:rotate 90, :rotate -90, :rotate 180 | the same, by an angle |
i | dark mode on / off (also :dark, :light) |
Turning the view with r does not change the file. To turn pages in the file itself, use the page grid (Changing pages).
Each file remembers how you read it. Zoom, dark mode, two-page layout and rotation are kept per file and restored when you open it again, together with the page you were on. A file you never changed opens with the defaults of the configuration (zoom, theme). Turn this off with remember_view = false (and restore_position = false for the page).
Pages are drawn at the exact resolution of your screen (HiDPI included), never stretched. Very heavy pages (thousands of vector lines, dense plots) are drawn a little at a time, so scrolling and zooming never freeze. While such a page is being drawn, it shows how it looked at the previous zoom.
Dark mode#
i switches between the light and dark versions of the current theme. In dark mode the pages are recoloured, keeping hues (red stays red). Images are judged one by one, so photos keep their colours, while figures drawn on white (plots, diagrams) are recoloured with the page so no white blocks glare. dark_images in the configuration changes this. Dark mode is remembered per file.
All pages at once, the page grid#
\g (or :pages) shows every page as a thumbnail.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
h j k l, arrows | choose a page |
J K, Ctrl-d Ctrl-u | a screen down / up |
gg / G | first / last page |
+ / - | bigger / smaller thumbnails |
Enter | go to that page (Ctrl-o returns) |
Esc, q, \g | close |
The grid is also where pages are deleted, turned, moved, extracted and inserted, as described in Changing pages.
Marks and jumps#
For going back and forth between places, such as the text, a figure, an equation or the references.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
\ma, \mb, … \mz | remember this place as mark a, b, … |
ma, mb, … | jump to that mark |
mm | back to where you were before the last jump (press it again to return) |
Ctrl-o / Ctrl-i | older / newer place in the jump history |
Every big move is a jump and goes into the history, such as gg, G, 42G, a search, a mark, a link, a contents entry, a page chosen in the grid. So Ctrl-o always brings you back.
Marks get a name from the first line of text where they were set; you can rename them in the panel. They are stored outside the PDF (keyed by its path), so they survive LaTeX recompiling the file; if pages are deleted or moved in the page grid, marks follow their pages.
The panel#
\l (or :marks, :notes) opens a panel with five tabs, described below.
| Tab | Shows |
|---|---|
| Tabs | the open files (Enter switches to one, x closes it) |
| Summary | the PDF's table of contents, as a tree |
| Marks | your marks with their names |
| Highlights | every highlight with its colour, comment and highlighted text, and every image |
| Tasks | the highlights you put on the task list (t), to do first and then done (more) |
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Tab, h l, 1–5 | change tab |
j k, gg G | move |
Enter | go there |
r | rename the mark / edit the comment |
d | delete only the comment (in the Tasks tab, done / to do) |
x | delete the highlight (with its comment) or the mark |
t | in Highlights and Tasks, on / off the task list |
Space, D | in the Tasks tab, done / to do, and hide / show the done ones |
C V B N M | in the Highlights tab, show or hide a colour |
c / a | in the Highlights tab, only those with a comment / all again |
e | in the Highlights tab, export what is shown to Markdown |
Esc, q | close |
Links, references and previews#
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
f | letters appear on every link on screen; type one to follow it |
F | the same letters, but the target is previewed in a window, without leaving the page |
| click | a plain click on a link follows it |
The letters go on every link of the PDF on screen, including citations, references to figures, tables, equations and sections (papers made with LaTeX and hyperref, and most journal PDFs, have them), entries of a table of contents, and web links. Web addresses and DOIs written in the text as plain words get letters too. Following a link inside the PDF is a jump, so Ctrl-o comes back. Web links (http, https, www., mailto:, doi:) open in your browser; links to local files or programs are never run, and they are shown and copied to the clipboard instead.
The preview (F) shows the target of a link inside the PDF (the figure, the equation, the bibliography entry) in a floating window, with a mark in the margin at the exact spot.
| Key in the preview | Action |
|---|---|
j k, Ctrl-d Ctrl-u | scroll it |
Enter | go there for real |
Esc, q | close |
While typing letters, Backspace undoes one and Esc cancels.
Presenting#
F5 (or :present) shows one page at a time, fullscreen, on black, with nothing else on screen.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
j l Space → ↓ Enter PageDown, left click | next slide |
k h ← ↑ Backspace PageUp, right click | previous slide |
gg G 12G | first, last, slide 12 |
. or b | black screen (press it again to go back) |
Esc, q, F5 | stop; reading continues at that slide |
The next slide is prepared while you talk, so moving forward is instant, even for heavy pages. Slides are drawn at the screen's full resolution; your reading zoom and place are untouched.
About#
\a (or :about) shows the version, the author and the contact address.