TexLive vs pdf

[Jeff Barnett]

sorry if I'm asking my questions in the wrong forum; if that's the case,
please redirect me to the right place.

I'm in the process of building new Windows 11 machines after running
Windows 7 for about a decade. I installed MiXTeX on a new machine and
was delighted to see that it included the TexLive editor which I have
heard of but never used. So I tried a few line example and ran PDFLaTeX
on it - TexLive picked up the MiXTeX compiler without any real assist
from me. I displayed the output file then typed control-p at which time
I was told that the TexLive viewer wasn't clever enough to print and I
was offered a choice to use the machine (Windows) default viewer.

Since my default, was the Adobe Reader, that choice would have the
undesirable effect of locking the file so I could not recompile until I
remembered to quit Adobe. I downloaded the Sumatra PDF program which
more gently interacts with TeX-based systems, made it my default PDF
handler, recompiled my example, tried to print the PDF output, got the
same message and elected to "use the Windows default program (= Sumatra
at this point). Happily, it printed.

For reasons not germane to my problem, I need to have the default PDF
handler set to The Adobe Reader. So I switched that default back to
Adobe after closing TexLive. Next, I repeated the process of using
TexLive to to compile my test file and display the PDF output. The only
thing in TexLive's memory was that it was supposed to use the default
PDF handler. Since that was now, Adobe, that's what it used. The fact
that it was set to Sumatra the last time through was forgotten.

So my question is obvious after this lengthy description: How do I tell
TexLive to use Sumatra in a way that the choice will be remembered?

[Jeff Barnett]

On 11/27/2024 12:51 AM, Jeff Barnett wrote:

Whoops! I meant Tex Works, not TexLive.

Post by Jeff Barnett
sorry if I'm asking my questions in the wrong forum; if that's the case,
please redirect me to the right place.
I'm in the process of building new Windows 11 machines after running
Windows 7 for about a decade. I installed MiXTeX on a new machine and
was delighted to see that it included the TexLive editor which I have
heard of but never used. So I tried a few line example and ran PDFLaTeX
on it - TexLive picked up the MiXTeX compiler without any real assist
from me. I displayed the output file then typed control-p at which time
I was told that the TexLive viewer wasn't clever enough to print and I
was offered a choice to use the machine (Windows) default viewer.
Since my default, was the Adobe Reader, that choice would have the
undesirable effect of locking the file so I could not recompile until I
remembered to quit Adobe. I downloaded the Sumatra PDF program which
more gently interacts with TeX-based systems, made it my default PDF
handler, recompiled my example, tried to print the PDF output, got the
same message and elected to "use the Windows default program (= Sumatra
at this point). Happily, it printed.
For reasons not germane to my problem, I need to have the default PDF
handler set to The Adobe Reader. So I switched that default back to
Adobe after closing TexLive. Next, I repeated the process of using
TexLive to to compile my test file and display the PDF output. The only
thing in TexLive's memory was that it was supposed to use the default
PDF handler. Since that was now, Adobe, that's what it used. The fact
that it was set to Sumatra the last time through was forgotten.
So my question is obvious after this lengthy description: How do I tell
TexLive to use Sumatra in a way that the choice will be remembered?

[Peter Flynn]

Post by Jeff Barnett
Whoops! I meant Tex Works, not TexLive.

Post by Jeff Barnett
So my question is obvious after this lengthy description: How do I
tell TexWorks to use Sumatra in a way that the choice will be
remembered?

I think this is a question for the TeXWorks people.

Peter

[Holger Schieferdecker]

I'm not familiar with TeXworks. In the settings I didn't find an option
to configure an external viewer.

Does it help if you open your PDF document with Sumatra before working
with TeXworks?

You could also switch to another editor like TeXstudio or TeXnicCenter.

TeXstudio[1] features an integrated PDF viewer, but can also be
configured to use an external one like Sumatra. It is under active
development.

The development of TeXnicCenter[2] more or less stopped, but I use it
without problems. It can also be configured to work with Sumatra.

Holger

[1] https://www.texstudio.org/
[2] https://www.texniccenter.org/

Post by Jeff Barnett
sorry if I'm asking my questions in the wrong forum; if that's the case,
please redirect me to the right place.
I'm in the process of building new Windows 11 machines after running
Windows 7 for about a decade. I installed MiXTeX on a new machine and
was delighted to see that it included the TexLive editor which I have
heard of but never used. So I tried a few line example and ran PDFLaTeX
on it - TexLive picked up the MiXTeX compiler without any real assist
from me. I displayed the output file then typed control-p at which time
I was told that the TexLive viewer wasn't clever enough to print and I
was offered a choice to use the machine (Windows) default viewer.
Since my default, was the Adobe Reader, that choice would have the
undesirable effect of locking the file so I could not recompile until I
remembered to quit Adobe. I downloaded the Sumatra PDF program which
more gently interacts with TeX-based systems, made it my default PDF
handler, recompiled my example, tried to print the PDF output, got the
same message and elected to "use the Windows default program (= Sumatra
at this point). Happily, it printed.
For reasons not germane to my problem, I need to have the default PDF
handler set to The Adobe Reader. So I switched that default back to
Adobe after closing TexLive. Next, I repeated the process of using
TexLive to to compile my test file and display the PDF output. The only
thing in TexLive's memory was that it was supposed to use the default
PDF handler. Since that was now, Adobe, that's what it used. The fact
that it was set to Sumatra the last time through was forgotten.
So my question is obvious after this lengthy description: How do I tell
TexLive to use Sumatra in a way that the choice will be remembered?

[Jeff Barnett]

The only problem with the TeXworks PDF display app is that it can't
print! Thanks for you suggestions - I'll take a look at them to see if
they are useful.
Jeff

Post by Holger Schieferdecker
I'm not familiar with TeXworks. In the settings I didn't find an option
to configure an external viewer.
Does it help if you open your PDF document with Sumatra before working
with TeXworks?
You could also switch to another editor like TeXstudio or TeXnicCenter.
TeXstudio[1] features an integrated PDF viewer, but can also be
configured to use an external one like Sumatra. It is under active
development.
The development of TeXnicCenter[2] more or less stopped, but I use it
without problems. It can also be configured to work with Sumatra.
Holger
[1] https://www.texstudio.org/
[2] https://www.texniccenter.org/

Post by Jeff Barnett
sorry if I'm asking my questions in the wrong forum; if that's the
case, please redirect me to the right place.
I'm in the process of building new Windows 11 machines after running
Windows 7 for about a decade. I installed MiXTeX on a new machine and
was delighted to see that it included the TexLive editor which I have
heard of but never used. So I tried a few line example and ran
PDFLaTeX on it - TexLive picked up the MiXTeX compiler without any
real assist from me. I displayed the output file then typed control-p
at which time I was told that the TexLive viewer wasn't clever enough
to print and I was offered a choice to use the machine (Windows)
default viewer.
Since my default, was the Adobe Reader, that choice would have the
undesirable effect of locking the file so I could not recompile until
I remembered to quit Adobe. I downloaded the Sumatra PDF program which
more gently interacts with TeX-based systems, made it my default PDF
handler, recompiled my example, tried to print the PDF output, got the
same message and elected to "use the Windows default program (=
Sumatra at this point). Happily, it printed.
For reasons not germane to my problem, I need to have the default PDF
handler set to The Adobe Reader. So I switched that default back to
Adobe after closing TexLive. Next, I repeated the process of using
TexLive to to compile my test file and display the PDF output. The
only thing in TexLive's memory was that it was supposed to use the
default PDF handler. Since that was now, Adobe, that's what it used.
The fact that it was set to Sumatra the last time through was forgotten.
So my question is obvious after this lengthy description: How do I
tell TexLive to use Sumatra in a way that the choice will be remembered?