Compile and navigate the PDF

About this guide

These instructions describe the desktop application and its configured services. For the hosted browser editor, start with the AtruhaTeX Web guides above. Desktop menu names and service settings may differ from Web.

Compile the intended document

Save your work and check the project’s main file and selected engine. Select Compile. For a multi-file project, a root document brings chapters together; compiling an unrelated standalone file produces a different output. After a successful run, check the preview’s main-file identity and completion information before reviewing the page.

Understand the preview status

Current means the displayed build matches the tracked source state. Needs compile means changes require another run. Other document means the preview belongs to a different document. A failed or cancelled compile can leave the last good PDF visible, so the presence of a page does not prove that the latest edit compiled successfully.

The retained last-good PDF is not a durable backup. Recompile after changes to external dependencies or packages that are outside the tracked sources.

Move between source and page

When the compiler produces SyncTeX data, Ctrl-click a location in the source, or Command-click on macOS, to reveal its position in the PDF. Double-click a location on a PDF page to navigate back to the source. Compile after structural edits so that navigation data corresponds to the output you are checking.

Find text in the rendered PDF

Choose Search PDF beside Bookmarks, or focus the preview and use Ctrl/Command+F. Enter a phrase, then use Enter and Shift+Enter, or Next and Previous, to move through matches. Ignore diacritics helps with unvowelled Arabic searches. This searches the displayed PDF’s extracted text, not the LaTeX source. Image-only scanned pages require OCR and do not supply searchable text through this feature.

Count PDF words and set a writing goal

The newer development interface includes a Writing goal panel with Words, Time, and Both modes. Compile first to start a word baseline, set your target, then choose Start. Word progress updates from subsequent compiled PDFs, so compile again after editing. PDF count options can exclude detected page numbers, headers, footers, and references. The Word count window shows the total, excluded, and counted words, with source estimates separately. Time-only goals do not require a compiled PDF, and these local tools do not require an account.

Exclusions rely on detected page elements and recognizable reference headings. Check your publisher’s counting rules; a PDF count does not certify compliance with them.