PDF Options

The PDF options panel controls how Regina handles PDF packets.

There are two ways of viewing PDF packets in Regina. The first is to use KDE's embedded viewer, which will display the PDF directly within Regina's main window (as illustrated below). This requires you to have Okular installed (the PDF viewer that ships with KDE).

The second way is to use an external PDF viewer: this can be any program that displays PDF files, such as Xpdf under GNU/Linux, or Preview under MacOS X (which is illustrated below).

The PDF options panel lets you choose between these two methods and fine-tune them:

The settings here are:

Use embedded viewer if possible

If checked, Regina will search for an embedded viewer that it can use (but if it cannot find one, it will fall back to an external viewer instead). If unchecked, Regina will always use an external viewer.

External PDF viewer

Specifies the command that starts your external PDF viewer, such as “evince” or “xpdf” under GNU/Linux, or “open” under MacOS X. Regina</span> will look for this command on the default search path. If your viewer is installed somewhere unusual then you will need to provide the full path to the executable (such as /usr/local/bin/xpdf).

You may include additional command-line arguments here (so, for instance, MacOS X users might enter “/usr/bin/open -a Preview”). Regina will automatically add the PDF filename to the end of this command, and the entire command will be passed to a shell for execution.

You are welcome to leave this option empty, in which case Regina will search for a suitable application.

Automatically close external viewers

If checked, Regina will automatically close the external viewer when you close a PDF packet within Regina, and will automatically close and reopen the external viewer whenever you refresh the packet within Regina. If unchecked, Regina will simply leave the external viewer running (even if you exit Regina completely).

For some viewers and/or some operating systems (such as Preview under MacOS X), Regina is unable to close the external viewer even if you ask it to.