Settings

Settings

Open them with PDF Tools Settings in the … menu, or search for pdfTools in VS Code's Settings.

Opening a PDF

Setting	Default	Values
pdfTools.default.mode	auto	auto: Fill when the PDF has editable form fields, otherwise View · view: always View · fill: Fill when the PDF has a form. A mode you pick for a file is remembered and wins
pdfTools.default.scale	auto	auto, page-actual, page-fit, page-width, or a scale such as 1.5 (= 150%)
pdfTools.default.scrollMode	vertical	vertical, horizontal, wrapped, page (one page at a time)
pdfTools.default.spreadMode	none	none, odd, even
pdfTools.default.cursor	select	select (text selection) or hand (drag to pan)
pdfTools.default.sidebar	false	Show the sidebar when a PDF opens
pdfTools.restoreViewState	true	Reopen each PDF where you left it: page, zoom, rotation, scrolling, spreads, sidebar and mode

Coming from vscode-pdf? When a pdfTools.default.* setting is not set, PDF Tools uses the matching pdf-preview.default.* setting of vscode-pdf (scale, scrollMode, spreadMode, cursor, sidebar), so your preferences carry over.

Appearance

Setting	Default	Values
pdfTools.toolbar	fixed	fixed: toolbars above the page · floating: Focus mode, one auto-hiding toolbar over the page (the mode tools are in the … menu and the Command Palette)
pdfTools.pageColors	off	off: the document's own colors · theme: the color theme's editor background and text colors. Printing, exports and the file are not affected

Both apply to open editors immediately. PDF Tools: Toggle Focus Mode and PDF Tools: Toggle Theme Colors for Pages switch a single editor until the setting changes.

Printing

Setting	Default	Values
pdfTools.print.method	systemViewer	systemViewer: open a temporary copy of the filled PDF in the system PDF application, then print from there · windowsPrintVerb (Windows only): send it to the default application's Print command; falls back to systemViewer if that fails

See Printing.

Using PDF Tools as the default PDF editor

"workbench.editorAssociations": {
  "*.pdf": "pdfTools.editor"
}

See Troubleshooting and FAQ.