FAQ

FAQ and common issues

• Known incompatible extensions
• The Problem Pane displays wrong messages
• I cannot use ctrl+alt in a shortcut
• Disable automatic build on save
• My file is built when I paste

Known incompatible Extensions

The following extensions are known to cause issues when active at the same time as LaTeX-Workshop, namely a significant delay when using the Enter key in large files.

• Spell Right
• Brackets Pair Colorizer 2
• Prettify Symbols Mode

The Problem Pane displays wrong messages

LaTeX compilers usually produce hard wrapped log messages, which makes them really hard to parse. To hopefully deal with complex log messages, we have decided to rely on non hard wrapped log messages. This can be achieved either

• by setting the environment variable max_print_line. This is automatically done within the extension and works for the TeXLive distribution.
• by adding the --max-print-line option to the compilers. This is automatically done within the extension and works for the MiKTeX distribution. Unfortunately, some compilers such as lualatex or xelatex do not understand this option and may therefore fail. To disable the automatic addition of this option, set latex-workshop.latex.option.maxPrintLine.enabled to false.

Note that when log messages are hard wrapped, the Problems Pane may be messed up.

I cannot use ctrl+alt in a shortcut

The default shortcuts for commands related to build and view use the modifiers ctrl+alt. On some keyboard layouts, ctrl+alt is used to emulate AltrGr, which makes these shortcuts unusable. Alternatively, you can use ctrl+l, alt+letter instead of ctrl+alt+letter by setting latex-workshop.bind.altKeymap.enabled to true (you need reload/reopen vscode for the change to be taken into account).

Disable automatic build on save

Set the configuration variable latex-workshop.latex.autoBuild.onSave.enabled to false.

My file is built when I paste

Set editor.formatOnPaste to false.

The formatter programm latexindent changes the file on disk when formatting and not only the buffer content. VSCode interprets it as a file save and triggers a build if latex-workshop.latex.autoBuild.onSave.enabled to true