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.
• Open containing folder Opens the folder containing the file displayed in the current tab.
• Recently used Contains a list of the most recently used files (if 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.
• Jump backward/forward Jumps backward/forward in the history of displayed page.
• Search... Opens the search dock 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. (This effect is reversed if the extended search dock is enabled in the settings.)
• 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 dock.
• 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 button labeled 'Defaults' will revert all settings on all tabs to their default values. The button labeled 'Defaults on current tab' will revert only the settings on the current tab to their default values.

The current page can be changed by entering the desired page into the text field in the edit tool bar, which can be focused using Ctrl+K, 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.
• Right to left Determines how pages are arranged in layouts with multiple pages per row.
• Zoom in Increases the scale factor by 10 percent. The maximum scale factor is 5000 percent.
• Zoom out Decreases the scale factor by 10 percent. The minimum scale factor is 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.
• Invert colors Determines whether pages are rendered with inverted colors.
• Convert to grayscale Determines whether pages are converted to grayscale after rendering.
• Trim margins Enables the removal of empty page margins after rendering.
• Composition Enables the composition of the rendered page with the paper color to adjust the background of scanned documents.
• 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. Pressing control and return jumps back 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, which can be focused using Ctrl+L, 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.
• Recently closed Contains a list of the most recently closed tabs (if enabled in the settings).

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. The home/end key skips to the first/last page. The arrow, page up and page down keys scroll the viewport. Pressing control and return jumps 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.) Click and hold the middle mouse button to select a rectangle to zoom to.

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). Middle-click on a link to show the linked page in a new tab. 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 to annotate. 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.

To zoom to a selection, hold SHIFT and CTRL, click and hold the left mouse button to drag a frame around region to zoom into.

The visibility of the tool and menu bars can be toggled using configurable keyboard shortcuts whose default values are "Shift+Alt+T" and "Shift+Alt+M".

Auxiliary views ↑

The outline view 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 outline view can also be navigated using the keyboard and the mouse wheel. Holding Shift and using the Up/Down keys will scroll the view. Holding Shift and using the Left/Right keys will collapse/expand one level of items below the selected item. Holding Control and using the Left/Right keys will completely collapse/expand the selected item and its children. Holding Shift and using the mousel wheel will change the selected item. Holding Control and using the mouse wheel will expand/collapse the selected item.

The properties view displays additional information contained in the document.

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

The bookmarks view shows the bookmarks related to the document displayed in the current tab. The context menu contains entries to jump to the previous/next boookmark or to add bookmarks. The context menu of each entry also contains entries to edit and delete bookmarks.

If enabled in the settings, the extended search dock shows an overview containing the results of all searches being performed in all tabs. It also shows the text surrounding a result with the search term being emphasized. Clicking on a result opens the corresponding tab and jumps to its position.

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 as many recently used files as set in the "Recently used count" option. (Effective after restart.)
• Keep recently closed If enabled, a recently closed menu is available and lists as many recently closed tabs as set in the "Recently closed count" option. Keeping the tabs available could increase memory usage considerably. (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.
• Save database interval The interval after which tabs, bookmarks or per-file settings are saved to the database.
• 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.
• Synchronize outline view If enabled, the outline view will highlight the first entry pointing to the current page whenever the current page changes.
• Minimal scrolling If enabled, the view port will only be scrolled if the target position is not yet visible.
• Zoom factor The number by which the scale factor is multiplied resp. divided upon zooming in resp. out.
• Highlight color Determines the color of highlights.
• Highlight duration Determines the duration of temporary highlights.
• Annotation color The color of annotations added by the program using SVG color keywords or hexadecimal notation '#rrggbb'.
• 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 ↑

• Use tiling Pages will be divided into tiles before rendering and caching to reduce memory usage.
• Keep obsolete pixmaps If enabled, then upon change of the zoom factor, cached pixmaps will be used to draw approximations of final pixmaps until these are available at the cost of increased memory usage.
• Use device pixel ratio If enabled, the highest available device pixel ratio is used to render at physical and display at logical resolution.
• 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.
• 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'.
• Presentation background color Overrides the paper color in the computation of the background color of the presentation view and is defined using SVG color keywords or hexadecimal notation '#rrggbb'.
• 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
  • 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.
  • Overprint preview If enabled, a preview of printing one layer of ink on top of another is displayed.
  • Thin line mode Chooses the optimization used to draw thin lines.
  • Backend Chooses the backend used to render pages.
• PS settings
  • Graphics antialias bits Determines the amount of antialiasing for graphics.
  • Text antialias bits Determines the amount of antialiasing for text.

Interface settings ↑

• Extended search dock If enabled, the default search dock is extended by an overview showing the results of all tabs. (Effective after restart.)
• Annotation overlay If enabled, all annotations on a page will be displayed as an interactive overlay. Otherwise each annotation will be handled as a separate pop-up window.
• Form field overlay If enabled, all form fields on a page will be displayed as an interactive overlay. Otherwise each form field will be handled as a separate pop-up window.
• 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.
• Spread tabs Determines if tabs will be spread out evenly over the whole tab bar.
• New tab next to current tab If enabled, new tabs are opened to the right of the active tab.
• Exit after last tab If enabled, the application exits after the last tab is closed.
• Recently used count Sets the number of files that are listed in the recently used menu, if "Track recently used" is enabled. (Effective after restart.)
• Recently closed count Sets the number of tabs that are listed in the recently closed menu, if "Keep recently closed" is enabled. (Effective after restart.)
• File tool bar Defines which actions are visible in the file tool bar. Available actions are openInNewTab, open, refresh, saveCopy, saveAs, print and separator. (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, jumpBackward, jumpForward, search, copyToClipboardMode, addAnnotationMode and separator. (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, presentation and separator. (Effective after restart.)
• Document context menu Defines which actions are visible in the document's context menu. Available actions are openCopyInNewTab, openContainingFolder, previousPage, nextPage, firstPage, lastPage, jumpToPage, jumpBackward, jumpForward, setFirstPage, findPrevious, findNext, cancelSearch and separator.
• Tab context menu Defines which actions are visible in a tab's context menu. Available actions are openCopyInNewTab, openContainingFolder, copyFilePath, selectFilePath, closeAllTabs, closeAllTabsButThisOne, closeAllTabsToTheLeft, closeAllTabsToTheRight and separator.
• Scrollable menus Will override the default style so that pop-up menus scroll instead being laid-out in mutliple columns if they are larger than the available screen space. (Effective after restart.)
• Searchable menus Extends the default keyboard navigation of the tabs and bookmarks menus by a search-as-you-type mechanism.
• Toggle tool and menu bars with fullscreen Always toggles the visibility of the tool and menu bars when toggling fullscreen mode.
• Use page label Determines if document-supplied page label will be used instead of page numbers when available.
• Document title as tab title Determines if the tab title as derived from the meta-data instead of the file name.
• Current page in window title If enabled, the current page and number of pages of the document in the active tab are displayed in the window title.
• Instance name in window title If enabled and the current instance is named, its name is displayed in the window title.
• Highlight current thumbnail If enabled, the current page is highlighted in the thumbnails view.
• Limit thumbnails to results If this option is enabled and a search is conducted, only the pages where the search term is found are displayed in the thumbnails view.

Shortcut settings ↑

The shortcut settings allows the adjustment of keyboard shortcuts to personal preference. Shortcuts are changed by double-clicking on the shortcut to edit it and entering the new shortcut. Each action can have several shortcuts by entering a semicolon-separated list of them. 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. "Ctrl+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.
• Zoom to selection The keyboard modifiers to zoom to a slection on a page.