10.5: Use Preview to instantly see changes to PDFs

Nov 14, '07 01:30:00PM

Contributed by: djbrugh

This is more an observation that I have not seen elsewhere. As far as I'm concerned, this should have been feature 301 because it is so important to the way I work.

I use LaTeX extensively, and my workflow involves using BBEdit to write and edit the source, using Terminal to issue compilation commands, and then using a PDF viewer to view the output. I like to have all three application open at the same time so that I can instantly see the effect of any changes I make to the source. Yes, I know there are alternatives such as TeXShop, but I prefer the simplicity of BBEdit, Terminal, and a PDF viewer.

Under Tiger, I could never use Preview as the PDF viewer because it did not auto-reload PDF files that had changed on disk. Instead, I had to use alternatives such as PDFView or Skim. Tonight I made a pleasant discovery: Preview under Leopard will auto-reload a PDF file that changes on disk. Now my LaTeX workflow involves just BBEdit, Terminal, and Preview. This is a nice addition to Preview. If this were the only new feature in 10.5, I might have bought it just for that.

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