[OS X TeX] Helpful(?) ``Trick''

[Herbert Schulz]

Howdy,

Here's a (possibly useful) trick for TeXShop users (and possibly others) that are bothered by all the extraneous files produced by a typesetting run. Yes, there are commands to tell pdflatex, etc., to put them in a different folder but TeXShop needs the pdf and root source file to be in the same folder and, I believe, synctex may have a problem going between source and preview. 

The trick, by Dick Koch, is to typeset once to produce a pdf file, place all the produced files in a folder and, create symbolic links (NOT Aliases) to the source file(s) and the final pdf file wherever you wish them. TeXShop follows that links so the system ``thinks'' everything is together and everything seems to work fine. PS: You can even delete the pdf file once the symbolic link is created.

The example I supply has an `inner' folder inside an `outer' folder. The `inner' folder contains the actual source file and I've deleted the initial pdf file after creating the symbolic link to it. The outer folder simply contains symbolic links to those files. Double Click the (symbolic link to the) source file in the `outer' folder to open in TeXShop. Typeset the file, change and typeset again, etc., clean the aux files, try out synctex.

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PS: Did you know that if you \include sub-files in your root file you can have TeXShop automatically open them up in Tabs by using TeXShop's

% !TEX useTabs

directive? If you \input a file that won't work but you can create a list of files to open in Tabs by using TeXShop's

% !TEX useTabsWithFiles

directive followed by a list of file path's to open, e.g.,

% !TEX tabbedFile{secondfile.tex}
% !TEX tabbedFile{thirdfile.tex}
% !TEX tabbedFile{subdir/fourthfile.tex}

directives.

PPS: Personally I'm not bothered by the extraneous files so I probably won't use this trick but I do find it interesting and others may find it useful.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
herbs at wideopenwest.com



         
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