Forum How do I...?

Any way to preview pages as they're being developed as PDFs (or something that looks like PDF)?

jeffgarrett
I'm researching Prince and was wondering if there's a good way to see a more "final" version of what the PDF export will look like as I'm developing it. I don't want to have to export a PDF every time I want to see the changes done (and then find the page where the change occurred)

Thanks!
mikeday
Some PDF viewers will automatically reload the file whenever it changes which is very handy, as you can keep them open and see the changes immediately.
pieter.lamers
That sounds promising, Mike! Would you have an example of a PDF viewer with such properties? Acrobat just locks the file, which is terribly inconvenient.
mikeday
Evince on Linux will automatically reload PDF files on changes, and I think mupdf has a keyboard shortcut ('r') which will reload.
pieter.lamers
Thanks. I just tested Evince (on Windows), and it's mostly fine, but it does not support Hi-DPI rendering, which is a show-stopper for me. mupdf looks better (and nicely in a small window), but has the disadvantage of not doing a spread view.
mn4367
Sumatra PDF on Windows ist small, fast and has no problems with PDF files that are changed/replaced even if the file is opened in Sumatra. It will reload a changed file automatically, if the the window gets the focus.

Displaying changes while the file is changed is probably impossible for any PDF viewer...
pablonolla
On Mac, the Preview app, included by default on every OS, makes the job for us.