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since some time I have encountered a problem with opening pdf links with pdf-tools. I am using doom-emacs and have just the line

(add-to-list 'org-file-apps '("\\.pdf\\'" . org-pdfview-open))

to select the viewer in my config. Previously all worked well. Now for some reason I can open pdfs with counsel-find-file or other commands. But if I press enter on a pdf link I get

Symbol’s function definition is void: org-pdfview-open

I know it's hard to determine the error source without seeing everything in detail, but what could it be?

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The error message says that symbol org-pdfview-open does not point to a function. This, and the fact that piece of configuration used to work, means that the function definition disappeared from your system.

Not sure how that happened exactly: I don't think org-pdfview was in the core of a previous version of Emacs (thus, could've disappeared because of an update). Perhaps you were moving code around, or changed the configuration of your load-path so that the code can't be loaded anymore.

Note, however, that in the org-pdfview's repository the package is indicated as not maintained anymore. It also points to a fork called org-pdftools (which I see available on Melpa).

If you want to proceed using this one, it seems you'll have to use the function org-pdftools-open instead of org-pdfview-open.

I hope this helps

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  • At least I am somewhat further with my problem. When I try to use (add-to-list 'org-file-apps '("\\.pdf\\'" . org-pdftools-open)) I get a new error message I am not able to interpret: user-error: Please see Org News for version 9.0 about ‘org-file-apps’--Lisp error: org-pdftools-open.
    – Rareform
    Jun 15, 2022 at 14:11
  • Seems like this orgmode.org/worg/org-release-notes.html#org59828f4 ?
    – Greg Hendershott
    Jun 15, 2022 at 14:41
  • This seems to be saying that the function, as of Org 9.0, must accept two arguments, a file and a link, but org-pdftools-open only accepts a file. Maybe you can define your own function that takes the extra link arg, and ignores it and just calls org-pdftools-open with the file... but I don't understand the details enough to know if that would work.
    – Greg Hendershott
    Jun 15, 2022 at 14:47
  • Please don't ask a question in a comment. If the answer has helped, upvote it, even if it has not solved the problem (if it has solved the problem, you should accept it of course). Then ask a new question for org-pdftools. Questions or answers in comments are not useful: you cannot search for them (and search is difficult enough even without that complication).
    – NickD
    Jun 15, 2022 at 15:16

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