README.org

tools/pdf

Table of Contents

• Description
  • Maintainers
  • Module Flags
  • Plugins
  • Hacks
• Prerequisites
  • Building epdfinfo on Windows
• Features
• Configuration
• Troubleshooting

Description

This module improves support for reading and interacting with PDF files in Emacs.

It uses pdf-tools, which is a replacement for the built-in doc-view-mode for PDF files. The key difference being pages are not pre-rendered, but instead rendered on-demand and stored in memory; a much faster approach, especially for larger PDFs.

Displaying PDF files is just one function of pdf-tools. See its project website for details and videos.

Maintainers

This module has no dedicated maintainers.

Module Flags

This module provides no flags.

Plugins

• pdf-tools

Hacks

• Added out-of-the-box support for HiDPI or Retina displays.

Prerequisites

This module requires epdfinfo, a program the the pdf-tools plugin will build automatically when you open your first pdf file, unless you’re on Windows. Windows users must build it themselves.

Building epdfinfo on Windows

1. Install MSYS2 and update the package database and core packages using the instructions provided.
2. Update and install dependencies, skipping any you already have

   pacman -Syu
   pacman -S base-devel
   pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-toolchain
   pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-zlib
   pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-libpng
   pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-poppler
   pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-imagemagick
       

3. Install PDF tools in Emacs, but do not try to compile the server. Instead, get a separate copy of the source somewhere else.

   git clone https://github.com/politza/pdf-tools
       

4. Open mingw64 shell (Note: You must use mingw64.exe and not msys2.exe)
5. Compile pdf-tools:

   # Cask requires python2 (important: not 3!)
   pacman -S python2
   
   # Make the mingw-shell aware of your python installation. Adjust the path if
   # Emacs is installed elsewhere!
   export PATH="/c/Program Files (x86)/Emacs/bin/:$PATH"
   
   # Cask needs to know where git.exe is; change this path if git is installed
   # elsewhere!
   export PATH="/c/Program Files/Git/bin:$PATH"
   
   # Install cask. Certificate errors can be ignored with (unsafe) -k option.
   curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cask/cask/master/go | python
   
   # Make sure the build process can see cask
   export PATH="$HOME/.cask/bin:$PATH"
   
   cd /path/to/pdf-tools
   make -s
       

6. This should produce a file server/epdfinfo.exe. Copy this file into the ~/.emacs.d/.local/straight/build/pdf-tools/.
7. Start Emacs.
8. Open a pdf file (or run M-x pdf-tools-install)
9. Test it out: M-x pdf-info-check-epdfinfo

Features

Configuration

Troubleshooting