1.3 Getting started

Once activated, preview-latex and its documentation will be accessible via its menus (note that preview-latex requires AUCTeX to be loaded). When you have loaded a LaTeX document (a sample document ‘circ.tex’ is included in the distribution, but most documents including math and/or figures should do), you can use its menu or C-c C-p C-d (for ‘Preview/Document’). Previews will now be generated for various objects in your document. You can use the time to take a short look at the other menu entries and key bindings in the ‘Preview’ menu. You’ll see the previewed objects change into a roadworks sign when preview-latex has determined just what it is going to preview. Note that you can freely navigate the buffer while this is going on. When the process is finished you will see the objects typeset in your buffer.

It is a bad idea, however, to edit the buffer before the roadworks signs appear, since that is the moment when the correlation between the original text and the buffer locations gets established. If the buffer changes before that point of time, the previews will not be placed where they belong. If you do want to change some obvious error you just spotted, we recommend you stop the background process by pressing C-c C-k.

To see/edit the LaTeX code for a specific object, put the point (the cursor) on it and press C-c C-p C-p (for ‘Preview/at point’). It will also do to click with the middle mouse button on the preview. Now you can edit the code, and generate a new preview by again pressing C-c C-p C-p (or by clicking with the middle mouse button on the icon before the edited text).

If you are using the desktop package, previews will remain from one session to the next as long as you don’t kill your buffer.

This document was generated on January 17, 2024 using texi2html 1.82.