SyncTeX
SyncTeX is a program that puts a lot of anchors in the output file that link to the corresponding position in the source file. This allows you to quickly jump from PDF to source.
Contents
Usage
You can use the --synctex
switch to enable SyncTeX.
So in MkIV you can run
context --synctex jobname
and in MkII you can use
texexec --synctex jobname
Alternatively you can add one of the following commands to your MkIV document:
\setupsynctex[state=start,method=min] % clickable words \setupsynctex[state=start,method=max] % more efficient clickable ranges
This will create a file jobname.synctex
. The command
context --purge
or next run without --synctex
will remove the file again.
To see what became clickable, use one of
\enabletrackers[system.synctex.visualize] \enabletrackers[system.synctex.visualize=real]
This file can be used by your editor and PDF viewer to jump back and forth between the source and the PDF.
Editors & Viewers
TeXshop
Works quite well, but needs “magic lines” like:
% !TEX TS-program = ConTeXt2021 % !TEX useAlternatePath % !TEX useConTeXtSyncParser
Setup see extra page on TeXshop.
TeXWorks
You may need to modify the command for executing ConTeXt first (you need to add --synctex
switch in preferences).
Evince, Okular & Kile
Okular (the KDE PDF viewer) and Evince (the GNOME one) support SyncTeX. (The latter since version 2.32.0)
To forward something from a text editor to Okular, do
okular --unique '${pdffile}#src:${linenumber} ${texfile}'
Kile’s (the KDE TeX IDE) ForwardPDF function should support SyncTeX, but it doesn’t seem to work with ConTeXt at the time of writing
Skim.app & TextMate (Mac OS X)
In Skim/Preferences/Sync choose TextMate. The key combination
Shift + Apple + MouseClick
will bring you to the corresponding line in text editor.
In TextMate I have created my own command inside the ConTeXt bundle:
- Save: Nothing
- Command(s)
#!/bin/bash pdf=${TM_FILEPATH%tex}pdf /Applications/Skim.app/Contents/SharedSupport/displayline -r "$TM_LINE_NUMBER" "${pdf}"
- Input: None
- Output: Discard
- Activation: Key Equivalent (choose one; I used Ctrl+Alt+Apple+O)
- Scope Selector: text.tex.context
If you use Apple+R
for typesetting that needs to be modified as well (to account for --synctex switch).
Hopefully this functionality will become part of the official ConTeXt bundle one day. (The recipe given above is too specific. The code needs to be written to handle more different viewers and different locations, not only a single viewer at a specified location.)
Bugs
(In 2021-10 I didn’t manage to get ConTeXt-SyncTeX working with Skim and different editors, while it worked with LaTeX-SyncTeX; there’s also no error message. I guess the parser fails on ConTeXt’s synctex files. Hraban (talk))