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It's my first time to write latex with Mac os (or in fact, using Mac os in general) and unlike with Windows I'm having some trouble viewing my output files. I'm using texmaker.

I would like to have either dvi or pdf viewer constantly open and auto-refreshing when I save changes or convert them to latex. I was told that Skim application should do the job, but I always have to close the dvi/pdf and re-open it for Skim to refresh my changes.

Any suggestions or advices how to handle this properly? This might seem like a small problem, but when I save and view my changes constantly it is really painful (and time consuming) to always close the pdf/dvi viewer, re-open it and then scroll to the correct location.

Thanks for all the help in advance.

T. Eskin
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  • The included previewer in Texmaker should refresh automatically. Also Skim does it, but at the first refresh it asks whether you want to refresh the view automatically (this can be changed in the preferences). How are you generating the PDF? – egreg Jun 22 '12 at 13:18
  • I use Skim and I am pretty happy with it. – Vivi Jun 22 '12 at 13:26
  • Note that if you're using simpdftex for producing the PDF, no viewer will be able to refresh, as that script always moves the previous PDF to a temporary location, so the PDF viewer program is not able to notice changes. – egreg Jun 22 '12 at 13:32
  • I'm just using the basic tools from Texmaker, nothing fancy added there, and Skim as pdf viewer. The answer of Tobi solved it, now it refreshes the pdf when I save my edits in texmaker. – T. Eskin Jun 22 '12 at 13:44

2 Answers2

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As an addition to Tobi's answer: After enabling Check for file changes, Skim will monitor file updates, but still ask you if you want to reload it (at least on the first change), which can still be a nuisance.

It is possible to configure Skim to automatically reload without confirmation. To apply this, open a Terminal window and enter:

defaults write -app Skim SKAutoReloadFileUpdate -boolean true

Afterwards, Skim will reload a changed file without further user interaction – unless you have edited the file in Skim itself (by adding a note or so).

Daniel
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    Thanks. I did it and it worked as you promised :-) Skim no longer repeats the same question for each separate project. – T. Eskin Jun 22 '12 at 16:48
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You must tell Skim to check for changes …

Skim Skim English

Go to the preferences [cmd] + [,] and then to “Sync” where you can activate “Check for file changes”.

Furthermore you can use pdfsyncing to jump to the place edit the last edit. Normally Skim keeps the position of the PDF while reloading.

egreg
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Tobi
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