LaTeX-Workshop: Synctex inverse search doesn't work half the time (and How I got forward search to work for SumatraPDF)

Description

In SumatraPDF, double clicking should initiate a inverse search, but it doesn’t work, IF the SumatraPDF instance is fired up by VS Code. If the SumatraPDF is opened independently, backward search will work.

LaTeX Workshop Output

Nothing here.

Developer Tools Console

Nothing here.

How to reproduce

Get any .tex compiled to pdf with synctex enabled.

Put this in user settings. Use “external” as pdf viewer.

 "latex-workshop.view.pdf.external.synctex": {
 "command": "SumatraPDF",
 "args": [
   "-forward-search",
   "%TEX%",
   "%LINE%",
   "-reuse-instance",
   "-inverse-search",
   "\"code.exe\" -g \"%f:%l\"",
   "%PDF%",
 ]
 },

In VS Code, use ‘Synctex from cursor’, the forward search works. Inverse search doesn’t. In the fired up SumatraPDF, with double clicking, nothing happens.

If you check the fired up SumatraPDF, in settings - Options - Set inverse search command-line you will see "code.exe" -g "%f:%l".
However, if you fire up SumatraPDF independently, and put this into settings - Options - Set inverse search command-line
```
 "code.exe" -g "%f:%l"
```
The inverse search actually works. This just let SumatraPDF to execute the commandline with 'goto` command to code.
I don’t understand why the SumatraPDF instance initiated by VS Code can’t perform inverse search, but the independent ones can. I also notice that, the SumatraPDF instance fired up by VS Code will also exit, if you close VS Code. Are they connected somehow? How to get around this problem?

Thank you.

Expected behavior

Described above.

Actual behavior

Described above.

Additional Information

I have read previous external pdf viewer issues, and I do understand the frustration of dealing with them. Here I would like to contribute a little bit by getting SumatraPDF to work.

I am using win7, VS Code 1.23.1 zip. Updated LW.

Synctex forward search with SumatraPDF

The default setting in LW doesn’t work for SumatraPDF. To enable SumatraPDF with forward synctex search, put this in the user-settings:

"latex-workshop.view.pdf.external.synctex": {
"command": "SumatraPDF",
"args": [
  "-forward-search",
  "%TEX%",
  "%LINE%",
  "-reuse-instance",
  "-inverse-search",
  "\"code.exe\" -g \"%f:%l\"",
  "%PDF%",
]
},

This is assuming SumatraPDF and VS Code are in the system PATH.

About this issue

Original URL
State: closed
Created 6 years ago
Reactions: 3
Comments: 44 (10 by maintainers)

Most upvoted comments

I can not start SumatraPDF by using cmd and list the viewer as an arg. However, I found another workaround for this problem that I can call C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\bin\code.cmd instead of C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\Code.exe from SumatraPDF. Everything works now, except a black window flash around when doing the inverse search.

qcts33 on Jun 17, 2018

@qcts33 Black window occurs if you use C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\bin\code.cmd for invoking reverse sync. It can be very slow and is annoying as the black window blocks the screen.

The code.cmd just makes a call to code.exe which can be directly used in SumatraPDF to circumvent the black box. Based on where your vscode is installed, your inverse search setting in SumatraPDF should look something like
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\Code.exe" "C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\resources\app\out\cli.js" -g "%f":"%l"

kman0 on Mar 15, 2019

Yes browser works indeed. My apologies. However, still this is a maybe good work-around, and not a solution. People perfer dedicated viewer to browser for a range of different reasons. Right now it really hurts that, with SumatraPDF for example, one simply can’t have inverse-search.

clsmt on May 18, 2018

@qcts33 soft VS Code\Code.exe" “C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\resources\app\out\cli.js” -g “%f”:“%l”`

This works for me too!

However, every time it’ll open a new window for VSCode. Do you have any clues to solve this problem?

Well, I’ve fixed this by myself for the following settings:

"latex-workshop.view.pdf.external.synctex": {
  "command": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\SumatraPDF\\SumatraPDF.exe",
  "args": [
    "-forward-search",
    "%TEX%",
    "%LINE%",
    "-reuse-instance",
    "-inverse-search",
    "\"C:\\Users\\Liam\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Microsoft VS Code\\Code.exe\" \"C:\\Users\\Liam\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Microsoft VS Code\\resources\\app\\out\\cli.js\" -r -g \"%f:%l\"",
    "%PDF%"
  ]
},

-r flag here means “reusing last active window”. See here.

Liam0205 on Jan 14, 2021

I understand this is a messy task. I understand your philosophy as well. I am not complaining or anything, just really my honest opinion, that not having the option will become a problem in the long run. “ready-to-eat”, yes, it works right after installation. But does it still work great a few mins into actually using it for productive work? That’s when I ran into this issue.

ALso, “cmd.exe SumatraPDF.exe” doesn’t seem to work for me.

clsmt on May 18, 2018

@clsmt @kman0 Thank you. I may solve the problem in some way as the following configuration in latex-workshop 8.1.0. “latex-workshop.view.pdf.viewer”: “external”,

“latex-workshop.view.pdf.ref.viewer”:“external”,

“latex-workshop.view.pdf.external.viewer.command”: “D:/Program Files/SumatraPDF/SumatraPDF.exe”,

“latex-workshop.view.pdf.external.viewer.args”: [ “%PDF%” ],

“latex-workshop.view.pdf.external.synctex.command”:“D:/Program Files/SumatraPDF/SumatraPDF.exe”,

“latex-workshop.view.pdf.external.synctex.args”:[ “-forward-search”, “%LINE%”, “%PDF%”, “%TEX%” ], @FrankSFLYS the configuration above may help.

Oh Thanks. It worked strangely after I used Ctrl+Alt+J to open SumatraPDF instead of using the latex-workshop opening button.

FrankSFLYS on Oct 26, 2019

@kman0 That works!!! I should have thought of this earlier. Thank you!!!

qcts33 on Mar 15, 2019

@James-Yu Am I correct to assume that inverse search without setting up a different PDF viewer like Sumatra will never be part of the roadmap here? It would be very nice but I don’t want to open a new issue if that’s infeasible. P.S. Thanks for this awesome extension!

benlindsay on Jun 15, 2018

Dear James,

Thanks for the reply. I respect your work and I like the extension, from the atom times till now. But, the internal pdf viewer does not work in the end. This is simply because VS Code doesn’t allow the pdf viewer tab to be placed in a separate window (ctrl+k, o doesn’t work). In general, the font size of the pdf will NOT be suitable for reading in a tab size. There is no priori that the font size of your writing tab and the font size of the rendered pdf will happen to be the same for viewing. For example, if you write scientific paper, usually it’s two column, and the internal viewer is just too small.

For this reason, I, and several of my colleges end up switching back to atom or st. Hope you can take this issue into consideration, and maybe come up with something ingenious. Thanks.

clsmt on May 18, 2018