[Tex/LaTex] LyX: change PDF viewer

lyxUbuntuviewers

In LyX, how can I set Ubuntu's document viewer (Evince) as the preferred PDF reader for the generated PDF files?

All of a sudden it started using Okular, which I don't like all that much.

Best Answer

Go to Tools > Preferences > File Handling > File Formats. Choose the file format. I am guessing that you want PDF (pdflatex). Change "viewer" to "evince". You are done.

The reason it all of a sudden started using Okular is because you installed Okular after you installed LyX and you did Tools > Reconfigure (or you did something that triggered that).

Why does LyX favor Okular over Evince. Here is my interpretation: Evince is the default viewer in Ubuntu. Suppose you install a program that is not the default program (e.g. Okular). If I had to make a guess as to whether you prefer Evince or Okular, I would guess that you prefer Okular because you went to the trouble to install it, not the program that came with Ubuntu.

Modifying Scripts

Download files. (They are from Benjamin Kellermann, originally posted to Ubuntuusers on March 2011, based on an older version of the Gedit Synctex Plugin by Jose Aliste.)
Extract them, e.g. to your desktop.
Rename the file evince to evince-synctex. (To be sure that this file will be started because /usr/bin/evince will be found first in PATH.)
Open this file (evince-synctex) and replace the second line (starting with EDITORCMD) to
```
EDITORCMD="lyxclient -g %f %l"
```
In file evince_backward_search, replace the line

cmd = re.sub("%f",input_file,self.editor) with
```
cmd = re.sub("%f",input_file.split("file://")[1],self.editor)
```
Be sure that this text aligns with the text of the lines afterwards. (That change is needed because it seems that LyX can't handle filenames starting with "file://".)
Move all three files (evince-synctex, evince_backward_search, evince_forward_search) to /usr/local/bin (needs root rights). (That's the place where user scripts should be stored.)

Extra for Evince 3.4.0 (= Ubuntu 12.04)

In file evince_forward_search, replace the last line (starting with window.SyncView() with

window.SyncView(tex_file, (line_number,1), int (time.time ()), dbus_interface="org.gnome.evince.Window")

Setting up LyX

In Document > Settings > Output, check Synchronize with output
In Tools > Preferences > Output > General > PDF command, write evince_forward_search $$o $$n $$t
Change PDF Viewer (Tools > Preferences > File Handling > File Formats > PDF (pdflatex)) to evince-synctex.

Backward Search (Evince -> LyX)

Open file in LyX, view "PDF (pdflatex)".
Hold Ctrl key and (left-)click on the line you want to edit. It should be shown in LyX now.

Forward Search (LyX -> Evince)

Open file in LyX, view "PDF (pdflatex)".
Right-click on one line (in LyX), choose "forward search".

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] PDF Preview not working

[Tex/LaTex] LyX + SyncTeX + Document Viewer Evince

Modifying Scripts

Extra for Evince 3.4.0 (= Ubuntu 12.04)

Setting up LyX

Backward Search (Evince -> LyX)

Forward Search (LyX -> Evince)

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