Zathura is a simple document viewer for Linux and other UNIX-like operating systems. Unlike other document readers, Zathura aims to provide a minimal, plugin-based document rendering program that can handle almost any modern format. Furthermore, you can use it with Troff to produce print-ready PDF documents.
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However, one of Zathura’s most significant selling points is its focus on “mouse-free navigation.” This means that almost all of the program’s functions are available as a shortcut you can access through your keyboard. As a result, Zathura can be an efficient way of browsing through your digital documents.
This cheatsheet will show how you can effectively use Zathura for scanning essential documents in Linux. Not only that, it will also show you how you can optimize the program by using some of its hidden command mode features.
| Shortcut | Function |
|---|---|
| Document Navigation | |
| J | Move the document display window one line down. |
| K | Move the document display window one line up. |
| L | Move the document display window one column to the right. |
| H | Move the document display window one column to the left. |
| Ctrl + D | Move the document display window half a page down. |
| Ctrl + U | Move the document display window half a page up. |
| Ctrl + Y | Move the document display window half a page to the right. |
| Ctrl + T | Move the document display window half a page to the left. |
| Ctrl + B | Move the document display window a full page down. |
| Ctrl + F | Move the document display window a full page up. |
| Y | Move the document display window an entire page to the left. |
| T | Move the document display window a full page to the left. |
| G, then G | Go to the first page of the current document. |
| Shift + G | Go to the last page of the current document. |
| 5, then Shift + G | Go to the fifth page of the current document. |
| Shift + P | Go to the currently selected page. |
| Shift + H | Go to the top of the currently selected page. |
| Shift + L | Go to the bottom of the currently selected page. |
| / | Open Zathura’s forward search prompt. |
| Shift + / | Open Zathura’s reverse search prompt. |
| N | Go to the next occurrence of the current search term. |
| Shift + N | Go back to the previous occurrence of the current search term. |
| Interface Navigation | |
| A | Fit the height of the current page to the display window. |
| S | Fit the width of the current page to the display window. |
| D | Redraw the current document in a booklet format. |
| R | Rotate the current document by 90 degrees clockwise. |
| Ctrl + N | Toggle Zathura’s information bar. |
| Ctrl + M | Toggle Zathura’s input field bar. |
| Shift + Equal (=) | Zoom in the document at currently selected page. |
| Minus (-) | Zoom out of the currently selected page. |
| Equal (=) | Revert the zoom level of the document at the currently selected page. |
| 60 + Equal (=) | Set the current zoom level of the document to 60%. |
| Ctrl + R | Invert the colors of the current document. |
| Shift + R | Refresh and redraw the current document. |
| F5 | Go to Zathura’s presentation mode. |
| F11 | Go to Zathura’s fullscreen mode. |
| Q | Terminate the current Zathura session. |
| Linking and Indexing | |
| Shift + F | Show all link hints in the current page. |
| F | Load a link hint’s page to the document viewer. |
| C | Copy a link hint’s page to the system clipboard. |
| M + 1 | Create a new bookmark on the current page and save it to the character “1.” |
| Apostrophe (‘) + 1 | Load the bookmark that is currently stored in the character “1.” |
| Tab | Display the document’s content index. |
| J | Scroll one item down in the document’s content index. |
| K | Scroll one item up in the document’s content index. |
| L | Display the current index item’s subitems. |
| H | Hide the current index item’s subitems. |
| Shift + L | Display all the subitems in the document’s content index. |
| Shift + H | Hide all the subitems in the document’s content index. |
| Enter | Load the page of the currently selected index entry. |
| Presentation Mode | |
| Space | Go to the next document slide. |
| Shift + Space | Go back to the previous document slide. |
| Esc | Cancel any currently running presentation mode task. |
| F5 | Go back to the default Zathura mode. |
| Fullscreen Mode | |
| Shift + J | Move the document display window a full page down. |
| Shift + K | Move the document display window a full page up. |
| Z, then Shift + I | Zoom in the currently selected page. |
| Z, then Shift + O | Zoom out of the current selected page. |
| Z + 0 | Reset the current zoom level. |
| 60 + Equal (=) | Set the zoom level of the document to 60%. |
| Esc | Cancel any currently running fullscreen mode task. |
| F11 | Go back to the default Zathura mode. |
| Command Mode | |
| Shift + Semicolon (;) | Open Zathura’s command prompt. |
| Shift + Semicolon (;), then “close” | Exit the current document without exiting Zathura. |
| Shift + Semicolon (;), then “open” | Open a new document on the current Zathura window. |
| Shift + Semicolon (;), then “blist” | List all the available bookmarks for the current session. |
| Shift + Semicolon (;), then “badd” | Add the current page to the session’s bookmark index. |
| Shift + Semicolon (;), then “bdelete” | Open Zathura’s bookmark deletion prompt. |
| Shift + Semicolon (;), then “exec” | Run an external shell command on the current document. |
| Shift + Semicolon (;), then “info” | Print the document’s internal properties. |
| Shift + Semicolon (;), then “print” | Send the current document to the machine’s print spool. |
Image credit: Unsplash and pwmt.org. All alterations and screenshots by Ramces Red.
