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I am syncing AUCTeX with Sumatra PDF on MSWindows. I used the instructions in https://www.barik.net/archive/2012/07/18/154432/ (I write here the setqs instead of customization)

(setq TeX-source-correlate-mode t)
(setq TeX-source-correlate-method 'synctex) 
(setq TeX-view-program-list 
  '(("Sumatra PDF" ("\"C:/bin86/SumatraPDF/SumatraPDF.exe\" -reuse-instance" 
                      (mode-io-correlate " -forward-search %b %n ") " %o"))))
 (setq TeX-view-program-selection  
      '(((output-dvi style-pstricks) "dvips and start") (output-dvi "Yap") 
       (output-pdf "Sumatra PDF") (output-html "start")))

However, when there is a space in the file name (e.g. "example 1.tex"), the syncing has problems: when from Emacs I do CRTL-c CRTL-v, it opens both the the file "example 1.pdf" and a dummy "123" file, where 123 is the line number in the source file.

Any suggestions on how to solve this problem?

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    The tutorial you link to is quite old. You can find the current instructions for your version of AucTeX from Emacs: C-h i to open the info system, m Auctex <return> to pick the AucTeX manual, m viewing <return> to open the chapter on viewers. It looks like your value for TeX-source-correlate-method is not in the right format. It should be (setq TeX-source-correlate-method '((dvi . source-specials) (pdf . synctex))) – Tyler Feb 1 at 18:45
  • Code that manipulates file and directory names should use the Elisp functions provided for that. It should not use just string-manipulation functions. IOW, tell Emacs that these are file names by using filename-manipulation functions. – Drew Feb 1 at 18:55
  • @Tyler - TeX-source-correlate-method can be set to the symbol synctex. Check the docstring with C-h v TeX-source-correlate-method RET. – Arash Esbati Feb 2 at 12:31
  • The tutorial I used is the one recommend by the AUCTeX documentation emacswiki.org/emacs/AUCTeX#toc26 – Antongiulio Fornasiero Feb 2 at 19:27
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With a recent AUCTeX, you can reduce the required customization if you have SumatraPDF in your PATH env. variable. You can check if Emacs finds the executable with ESC-: (executable-find "sumatrapdf") RET. If the executable is found, you only need to customize TeX-view-program-selection and add the following line:

(output-pdf "SumatraPDF")

Note the missing blank.

If you have to hardcode the path, you have to quote the %b expander with \":

(setq TeX-view-program-list 
      '(("Sumatra PDF"
         ("\"C:/bin86/SumatraPDF/SumatraPDF.exe\" -reuse-instance" 
          (mode-io-correlate " -forward-search \"%b\" %n ") " %o"))))
|improve this answer
  • Thanks, the suggestion of adding the \" worked perfectly. – Antongiulio Fornasiero Feb 4 at 15:25
  • On the other hand, the line (output-pdf "SumatraPDF") should be added to the variable TeX-view-program-selection. Moreover, in the builtin variable TeX-view-program-list-builtin there is the same bug I had in my customization: if I view a file with a space inside its name, it also opens a dummy page with the pagenumber. – Antongiulio Fornasiero Feb 4 at 15:52
  • @AntongiulioFornasiero - Thanks for catching the typo, I meant TeX-view-program-selection, answer edited. Reg. TeX-view-program-list-builtin, you're right, this issue was fixed in AUCTeX sources in April 2018, but the last ELPA release was in March 2018. It is time for a new ELPA release :-) – Arash Esbati Feb 4 at 16:56

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