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Why use a terminal pdf viewer? (programming.dev)
submitted 5 days ago by chasteinsect@programming.dev to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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I've been using Firefox to view PDFs and it works fine. Recently though I wanted to try something more minimal with vim keybindings. Found two options: Zathura and tdf (terminal pdf viewer).

What I'm curious about is why someone would choose a TUI pdf viewer over a regular one (like Zathura). What are the actual advantages people find in practice. tdf mentions being fast but I wonder if that's something you'd actually notice day to day?

Also I remember seeing screenshots where PDFs looked transparent or matched the terminal colors. Is that actually a feature of some of these viewers ? Maybe someone uses one here?

Tdf seems relatively popular with 1.4k github stars.

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[-] chasteinsect@programming.dev 4 points 4 days ago

Oh Sioyek looks interesting. Also the blog is great !

[-] hoppolito@mander.xyz 1 points 4 days ago

Sioyek really is amazing, especially for academic-style reading with a lot of jumping back and forth, and very customizable. I also heartily recommend it, but do be aware that there are some rough edges remaining.

If you ever get stuck, there are a lot of additional tricks and workarounds for some of the quirks hidden in the project’s github issues. And if there’s a feature you feel sorely missing check out the main branch version instead of the latest official point release which is a couple years behind now (e.g. still missing integrated dual-page view which the development version has for close to 2 years now)

[-] chasteinsect@programming.dev 3 points 3 days ago

Yeah I noticed the main AUR package was last updated in June 2024. Thought they abandoned it but the GitHub shows the last release was around the same time. Downloaded sioyek-git instead and it works great.

I think I'm sticking with Sioyek. It checks enough boxes for what I need from a pdf viewer. Well documented, no performance issues, and it supports epub too.

The command line tools, portals, ruler for reading, keyboard text selection, searchable highlights, easy file opening, marking. Really vim-like. Need to customize some keybinds but otherwise don't see a reason to look elsewhere for now.

[-] wwwgem@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 days ago

Thanks! I think Sioyek is really overlooked.

[-] amateurcrastinator@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

I bet it is mostly because of its name...

[-] wwwgem@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 days ago

It didn't scare me more than "Zathura" ^^ Hope it will eventually get the love it deserves.

this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2025
44 points (97.8% liked)

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