To use TeXShop, type your LaTeX input in the editing window it provides. Then push the "Typeset" button at the top of the window. The input will be saved and pdflatex will run. A second window will open displaying messages from tex. If there are errors, pdflatex will halt; push "return" to skip the errors one by one, or type one of the standard TeX inputs to quit, run continuously, etc. After the document has been typeset, a new window will appear showing the resulting pdf file. You can switch between the two windows by typing command-1.

A standard editing session consists of repeating this operation over and over. New additions are made to the source, when enough additions are made the document is typeset again, and the preview window is consulted to see if the additions typeset correctly. Some users like to enter substantial amounts of information before typesetting, while others tend to typeset after every new line. LaTeX can typeset 400 page books in just a few seconds, so it is not "expensive" to typeset often.

Because typesetting is so common, there is a keyboard shortcut to do it: push command-T, the command key and the "T" key simultaneously, to typeset. Later on it will turn out that there are many typesetting engines: TeX, LaTeX, XeTeX, LuaTeX, and on an on. TeXShop has been designed so the choice of typesetting engine can be made once, and from then on the menu command command-T typesets with the correct engine. So this shortcut always works.

When LaTeX typesets, it goes through the source just once. But a few operations require multiple passes. For instance, if a document has a table of contents, LaTeX has to read through the entire document to determine chapter titles, and their starting pages. LaTeX records this information in a file with extension ".aux". When the document is typeset again, this file is read and the additional information needed is filled in.

While the document is being written, this structure can be ignored, and a single typeset suffices. Occasionally references to future material will be off a few pages. When the document is ready to final checking, it will be run through LaTeX two or three times to update all necessary information.

It is common to find typesetting errors which must be fixed before proceeding. Even the best TeX users run into them often. On very rare occasions, these errors can corrupt the .aux file, so that even after the error is fixed, the document will not typeset. In these situations, it is necessary to throw away the .aux file before proceeding. TeXShop has several commands to do this, but the easiest is to use the keyboard shortcut option-command-T to typeset; this command throws away the .aux file and then typesets. Notice that option-command-T should only be used if you suspect a corrupt aux file, since the aux file is required to for typesetting operations which require multiple passes.

After typesetting, press the mouse on a section of the pdf output display to magnify the region near the cursor. Double click to magnify a larger region; triple click to magnify a still larger region. Notice that the default region size can be selected using an element of the toolbar at the top of the page.

To typeset a TeX document, push the button labeled LaTeX and select TeX instead of LaTeX. If you usually use TeX, choose it as your default program in the Preferences Dialog.

If you notice an error, you can immediately fix it in the editing window and push the "Typeset" button again without halting the first invocation of pdflatex. The program will kill that invocation and run another.

TeXShop remembers the source lines of the first twenty errors. To cycle through these lines in the source file, choose "Go To Error" in the Edit menu or type the keyboard shortcut for this menu item.

When you fix errors and typeset again, the viewer will remember the page you were previously viewing.

If a line in the source begins with the characters "%:", TeXShop interprets the remaining word or words on the line as a "tag" and adds these words to the Tag pulldown menu. Choosing a tag entry in this menu will scroll to the appropriate line in the source file. Lines which begin with the words \section, \subsection, \subsubsection, or \chapter are automatically added to the Tag menu. However, this behavior can be changed by typing the following command in Apple's Terminal program:

  `defaults write TeXShop TagSections NO`

TeXShop can show multiple documents. If you choose "New" or "Open," your original document will remain and additional windows for the new document will open. If you open a TeX file in a folder which contains a pdf file with the same name, this pdf will also appear.

Some users like to divide their source into multiple files controlled by a master file using an \input command. TeXShop always saves the source file before typesetting. If the preference item "During File Save, Save Related Files" is checked, the master file will be searched before typesetting and any input file open in TeXShop will also be saved. This feature is due to John Nairn.

You can start TeXShop by double clicking on a document with extension ".tex". The program will open that input document and (if it exists) the associated pdf document.

You can close the pdf window at any time. It will reappear when the document is typeset again. If you close the input window then both the input and output windows will close (windows from other TeX documents will remain open). Therefore, if an input source window is cluttering the screen, hide it instead of closing it.

pdftex and pdflatex are unix programs derived from Knuth's TeX program. The syntax of TeX does not allow spaces in filenames, so source files created with TeXShop should be given names without spaces. TeXShop itself has no problem with spaces in filenames.

The preview window's behavior can be changed using the "Magnification" and "Display Format" items in the Preview menu. For example, you can configure the scroller to scroll through all of the document pages; the preview window can show two pages at a time; resizing the window can be made to change the preview magnification. Experiment until you find the mode you prefer, and then select this mode in preferences to make it permanent.

Use the magnification tools in the Preview window's toolbar to magnify portions of text. By double or triple clicking before holding down the mouse, a larger portion of the text will be magnified. The magnified region can be changed during magnification by pushing the apple, option, control, and shift keys.

Use the pdf selection tool to select a portion of the preview window and drag it to the desktop or another program's window. The selection can also be copied and then pasted into another document. By default, this selected region contains only foreground text in pdf format. This is useful, for example, when dragging text to Keynote; the slide's background will show behind the text and the text can be resized without losing clarity.

Use the text selection tool to select text in the preview window. This text can be copied and then pasted to a word processor. If the preview contains links, these links can be activated by clicking with the text selection tool. Use the Back/Forward commands to return to the original page. Use the Find command in the window's drawer to search for text in the pdf document.

You can jump between the source and preview windows by holding down the Apple command key while clicking on a word or phrase. If the phrase is in the source window, the preview window will scroll to the appropriate spot and the typeset phrase will be circled in red. If the phrase is in the preview window, the source window will open (if necessary) and scroll to the appropriate spot, and the source phrase will be highlighted in yellow.

Basic Help
Typesetting Documents