Help

Table of contents

1. Main menu
1. File
2. Edit
3. View
4. Tabs
5. Bookmarks
6. Help
2. Main view
3. Auxiliary views
4. Settings
1. Behavior settings
2. Graphics settings
3. Interface settings
4. Shortcut settings
5. Modifier settings

Introduction

qpdfview is a tabbed document viewer. It uses Poppler for PDF support, libspectre for PS support, DjVuLibre for DjVu support, CUPS for printing support and the Qt toolkit for its interface.

Please refer to the manual page for information on command-line options and configuration files.

Main menu ↑

File ↑

• Open... Opens a dialog to choose a file to open in the current tab. If there is no tab, the file is opened in a new tab.
• Open in new tab... Opens a dialog to choose files to open in new tabs.
• Recently used Contains a list of the ten most recently used files. (Available only if 'track recently used' is enabled in the settings.)
• Refresh Reloads the file displayed in the current tab.
• Save copy... Opens a dialog to save a copy of the file displayed in the current tab.
• Save as... Opens a dialog to save the file displayed in the current tab including changes to annotations and form fields.
• Print... Opens a dialog to print the file displayed in the current tab.
• Exit Closes all tabs and ends the program.

Edit ↑

• Next/Previous/First/Last page Skips to the next/previous/first/last page of the document.
• Jump to page... Opens a dialog to enter a page to display in the current tab.
• Search... Opens the search tool bar below the main view. The search automatically starts two seconds after the last change of the search term or is manually started by pressing the return key. If the Shift modifier is held when the return key is pressed, the search starts in all tabs instead of just the current tab.
• Find previous/next Jumps to the previous/next occurrence of the search term in the document.
• Cancel search Cancels the currently running search and closes the search tool bar.
• Copy to clipboard If checked, the program will wait for a frame to be dragged to copy texts or images.
• Add annotation If checked, the program will wait for a frame to be dragged to add annotations.
• Settings... Opens the settings dialog.

The current page can be changed by entering the desired page into the text field in the edit tool bar and pressing the return key.

View ↑

• Continuous Determines whether all rows of the page layout are visible at once.
• Two pages Determines whether the page layout uses two columns.
• Two pages with cover page Determines whether the page layout uses two columns with a break after the cover page.
• Multiple pages Determines whether the page layout uses multiple columns. The number of columns can be changed in the settings dialog.
• Zoom in Increases the scale factor by 10 percent.
• Zoom out Decreases the scale factor by 10 percent.
• Original size Resets the scale factor to 100 percent.
• Fit to page width Determines the scale factor such that all pages fully fit into the main view horizontally.
• Fit to page size Determines the scale factor such that all pages fully fit into the main view horizontally and vertically.
• Rotate left Rotates the pages left/counterclockwise by 90 degrees.
• Rotate right Rotates the pages right/clockwise by 90 degrees.
• Tool bars This menu contains a list of available tool bars for accessing frequently used actions.
• Docks This menu contains a list of available docks for displaying supplementary information.
• Fonts... Opens a dialog listing the fonts used in the document.
• Fullscreen Toggles the fullscreen mode, i.e. the window is shown maximized and without decoration.
• Presentation... Enters presentation mode which can be left by pressing F12 or escape. The home/end key is used to display the first/last page. Arrow keys right and down, space and the page down key jump to the next page. Arrow keys left and up, backspace and the page up key jump to the previous page. The return key returns to the page before the last jump.

The scale factor can be changed by entering the desired percentage into the text field in the view tool bar and pressing the return key.

Tabs ↑

• Previous/Next tab Makes the previous/next tab the current tab. Cycles to the last/first tab if the first/last tab is the current tab.
• Close tab Closes the current tab.
• Close all tabs Closes all tabs.
• Close all tabs but current tab Closes all tabs except for the current tab.

This menu contains a list of all tabs which can be made the current tab by clicking on the corresponding menu item. Tabs can also be closed by middle-clicking. The first nine tabs can also be activated by holding the Alt modifier and pressing keys one to nine.

Bookmarks ↑

• Previous bookmark Jumps to the closest bookmark before the current page.
• Next bookmark Jumps to the closest bookmark after the current page.
• Add bookmark Adds a bookmark for the current file and page.
• Remove bookmark Removes the bookmark for the current file and page.
• Remove all bookmarks Removes all bookmarks.
• Open Opens the corresponding file in the current tab. If there is no tab, the file is opened in a new tab.
• Open in new tab Opens the corresponding file in a new tab.
• Jump to page Jumps to the corresponding page if the corresponding file is already open. Otherwise the corresponding file is opened in a new tab.

Help ↑

• Contents Displays this document.
• About Displays the program version.

Main view ↑

The backspace/space key skips to the previous/next page. (Holding the Shift modifier reverses this.) The home/end key skips to the first/last page. The arrow, page up and page down keys scroll the viewport. The return key returns to the page before the last jump.

Using the mouse wheel scrolls up and down. Holding ALT while using the mouse wheel scrolls left and right. Holding CTRL while using the mouse wheel scales the document. Holding SHIFT while using the mouse wheel rotates the document. (Keyboard modifiers can be changed in the settings dialog.)

Links are highlighted by red frames (if enabled in the settings). Left-click on a link to show the linked page or open the linked URL in the default browser (if enabled in the settings). Hovering over a link displays its destination as a tool tip.

Form fields are highlighted by blue frames (if enabled in the settings). Left-click on a form field to edit its contents. Hovering over a form field displays its name as a tool tip.

The source of a position in the document is requested by double-clicking which opens the first matching SyncTeX node using the source editor.

To copy texts or images, hold SHIFT, click and hold the left mouse button to drag a frame around the area to copy. Once the mouse button is released, a pop-up menu is displayed to select whether to copy texts or images into the clipboard.

To add annotations, hold CTRL, click and hold the left mouse button to drag a frame around the region of interest. Once the mouse button is released, a pop-up menu is displayed to select whether to add text or highlight annotations. Left-click to edit annotations. Right-click to remove annotations. (Adding and removing annotations requires version 0.20.1 or higher of the Poppler library.) Hovering over an annotation displays its contents as a tool tip.

Auxiliary views ↑

The outline dock displays an overview of the contents of the document. A left click on an entry jumps to the respective page in the main view. The context menu can be used to expand/collapse all items below the selected item.

The properties dock displays additional information contained in the document.

The thumbnails dock displays smaller versions of the pages of the document. A left click on an entry jumps to the respective page in the main view.

Settings ↑

Behavior settings ↑

• Open URL Determines whether links to URL are opened in the default browser.
• Auto-refresh Determines whether files are automatically reloaded if changed on disk.
• Track recently used If enabled, a recently used menu is available and lists the ten most recently used files. (Effective after restart.)
• Restore tabs If enabled, tabs and their properties are saved on ending the program and restored on restart.
• Restore bookmarks If enabled, bookmarks are saved on ending the program and restored on restart.
• Restore per-file settings If enabled, per-file settings are saved/restored on opening/closing tabs.
• Synchronize presentation If enabled, the main view can be used to control the presentation view.
• Presentation screen The index of the screen to display the presentation view on.
• Source editor The program which is started to edit sources. '%1' is replaced by the absolute file path. '%2' resp. '%3' is replaced by line resp. column number.

Graphics settings ↑

• Decorate pages Determines whether pages are set apart from the background.
• Decorate links Determines whether links are highlighted by red frames.
• Decorate form fields Determines whether form fields are highlighted by blue frames.
• Highlight duration Determines the duration of temporary highlights.
• Background color Determines the color of the background using SVG color keywords or hexadecimal notation '#rrggbb'.
• Paper color Determines the color of pages using SVG color keywords or hexadecimal notation '#rrggbb'.
• Invert colors Determines whether pages are rendered with inverted colors.
• Pages per row Number of pages per row in the 'multiple pages' layout mode.
• Page spacing Determines both vertical and horizontal space displayed between pages.
• Thumbnail spacing Determines both vertical and horizontal space displayed between thumbnails.
• Thumbnail size Determines the size of the thumbnails.
• Cache size The program will try to cache rendered pages within this limit increasing rendering speed at the cost of increased memory usage.
• Prefetch The program will try to render pages that are not yet visible increasing rendering speed at the cost of increased cache usage.
• Prefetch distance The number of rows beyond the current row and twice the number of rows before the current row that are prefetched.
• PDF settings
  • Overprint preview If enabled, a preview of printing one layer of ink on top of another is displayed.
  • Antialiasing Improves display quality at the cost of performance
  • Text antialiasing Improves text display quality at the cost of performance
  • Text hinting May improve text display quality for certain fonts.
• PS settings
  • Graphics antialias bits Determines the amount of antialiasing of graphics.
  • Text antialias bits Determines the amount of antialiasing of text.

Interface settings ↑

• Tab position Defines at which edge of the main view tabs will be displayed.
• Tab visibility Determines whether tabs will be displayed if less than two documents are opened.
• File tool bar Defines which actions are visible in the file tool bar. Available actions are openInNewTab, open, refresh, saveCopy, saveAs and print. (Effective after restart.)
• Edit tool bar Defines which actions are visible in the edit tool bar. Available actions are currentPage, previousPage, nextPage, firstPage, lastPage, jumpToPage, search, copyToClipboardMode and addAnnotationMode. (Effective after restart.)
• View tool bar Defines which actions are visible in the view tool bar. Available actions are scaleFactor, zoomIn, zoomOut, continuousMode, twoPagesMode, twoPagesWithCoverPageMode, multiplePagesMode, originalSize, fitToPageWidthMode, fitToPageSizeMode, rotateLeft, rotateRight, fullscreen and presentation. (Effective after restart.)

Shortcut settings ↑

The shortcut settings dialog allows the adjustment of keyboard shortcuts to personal preference. Shortcuts are changed by double-clicking on the shortcut to edit it and typing in the new shortcut. Names of keys that are not single letters are written out explicitly (e.g. "Alt", "Ctrl", "PgDown"), where the matching is not case sensitive. If the shortcut contains modifier keys, the names of the keys are joined by a plus sign and modifier keys must be listed first, e.g. "Crtl+A" or "Ctrl++".

Modifier settings ↑

• Zoom The keyboard modifiers to zoom using the mouse wheel in the main view.
• Rotate The keyboard modifiers to rotate using the mouse wheel in the main view.
• Scroll The keyboard modifiers to scroll horizontally using the mouse wheel in the main view.
• Copy to clipboard The keyboard modifiers to copy texts or images from a page to the clipboard.
• Add annotation The keyboard modifiers to add annotations to a page.