[Tex/LaTex] “Go to Source” for Latex on VS Code does not seem to work

visual-studio-code

I am currently trying to migrate to VS Code (on Mac) for creating and editing tex files. Everything has been working just fine except that, when I build and preview, I do not seem to be able to use the "Go to source" feature. In other words, I have a side by side split window, tex file on the left and PDF on the right, and what I wish do is to be able to click on the PDF preview and be taken to the source code on the left. Likewise, I would like to click on the code and be taken to the PDF on the right.

I have the LaTeX Preview extension installed which is supposed to do that, but the 'Show in Preview' button is absolutely inert, as well as double-clicking (or ctrl+click) the PDF. I have even considered the hypothesis that the name of the files might have had special characters, so I ran a test with a file named 'test.tex', and it still doesn't work.

I am digging around, trying to learn something about synctex in this link but I'm really out of my element here. Would appreciate some help.

Thanks in advance.

Best Answer

I recommend installing LaTeX Workshop instead of LaTeX Preview.

Then use the following shortcuts for synctex (aka 'jumping' between code and pdf):

from code to pdf:
- mac: cmd+option+j
- windows/linux: ctrl+alt+j
from pdf to code: ctrl+click

Make sure to enable synctex in the settings.json.

"latex-workshop.synctex.synctexjs.enabled": true,
"latex-workshop.synctex.afterBuild.enabled": true,
"latex-workshop.view.pdf.viewer": "tab",

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] PDF Preview in Visual Studio Code

In my setup I only installed LaTeX Workshop (version 8.7.2), without LaTeX Preview, and it worked out of the box (with MikTeX and the latexmk package already installed).

I would recommend disabling LaTeX Preview and Markdown PDF (it sounds like you already tried that and it didn't work) then try to open the pdf in these other ways to see if they work:

On the toolbar next to the file tab click on this button:
Press Ctrl + Shift + P and start typing latex workshop view latex pdf file and click on it when it appears.
Edit: On the side bar, click on the "TeX" button, then "View LaTeX PDF". Try expanding the menu and try the different options.
On the side bar click on this button to open the Explorer: , then click on the pdf file. If you see a message about it being a binary file click on something like "open anyway".

If none of these work, you have a problem with VS Code's pdf viewer. If only the last one works it's a problem with LaTeX workshop. If all of them work there's something wrong with the keyboard shortcut.

Update

For updated question:

It looks like the tasks.json is set so that calling "update pdf" will call "build" before running, but you want calling "build" to call "update pdf" after running.

I think the tasks.json should look like this:

{
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
          {
            "label": "Run pdflatex",
            "type": "shell",
            "group": "build",
            "command": "pdflatex",
            "args": [
                "-synctex=1",
                "-interaction=nonstopmode",
                "-file-line-error",
                "_CFA.tex"
            ]
        },
        {
            "label": "Run bibtex",
            "type": "shell",
            "group": {
                "kind": "test",
                "isDefault": true
            },
            "command": "bibtex",
            "args": [
                "-terse",
                "*.aux"
            ]
        },
        {
            "label": "update pdf",
            "command": "${command:latex-workshop.refresh-viewer}"
        },
        {
            "label": "Compile and update",
            "group": {
                "kind": "build",
                "isDefault": true
            },
            "dependsOrder": "sequence",
            "dependsOn": ["Run pdflatex", "update pdf"]
        }
    ]
}

Here I have created a new task that calls "Run pdflatex" and then "update pdf" in sequence. I have also made it the default build tool, so it will run with Ctrl+Shift+B. If you want to run bibtex as well, you can add it to the "dependsOn" field.

Note that LaTeX-Workshop's build recipe runs with Ctrl+Alt+B rather than Ctrl+Shift+B. To get that to work, you can remove latexmk form the list of recipes by putting this in your settings.json:

  "latex-workshop.latex.recipes": [
    {
      "name": "pdflatex ➞ bibtex ➞ pdflatex × 2",
      "tools": [
        "pdflatex",
        "bibtex",
        "pdflatex",
        "pdflatex"
      ]
    },
  ],

[Tex/LaTex] Setting up LaTeX in VS Code

I think I might have found a solution.

I need to install latexmk (I have done this using the MiKTeX console).

Then, to run latexmk I have installed strawberry perl.

Best Answer

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[Tex/LaTex] Setting up LaTeX in VS Code

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