DDE Commands

You can control SumatraPDF with DDE commands.

They are mostly used to use SumatraPDF as a preview tool from e.g. LaTeX editors that generate PDF files.

Format of DDE commands

Single DDE command: [Command(parameter1, parameter2, ..., )]

Multiple DDE commands: [Command1(parameter1, parameter2, ..., )][Command2(...)][...]

Sending DDE commands

You can either use windows api by sending DDE commands to server SUMATRA and topic control. See this code for example of sending DDE command.

Or you can use -dde command-line argument to SumatraPDF.exe e.g. SumatraPDF.exe -dde "[SetView(\"c:\\file.pdf\",\"continuous\",-3)]".

Notice escaping of DDE command string: " and \ with \.

List of DDE commands:

Named commands

Ver 3.5+: you can send all named commands as DDE:

• format [<command_id>] e.g. [CmdClose]

Open file

• format: [Open("<filePath>"[,<newWindow>,<focus>,<forceRefresh>])]
• arguments:
  • if newWindow is 1 then a new window is created even if the file is already open
  • if focus is 1 then the focus is set to the window
  • if forceRefresh is 1 the command forces the refresh of the file window if already open (useful for files opened over network that don't get file-change notifications)".
• example: [Open("c:\file.pdf",1,1,0)]

Forward-search

• format: [ForwardSearch(["<pdffilepath>",]"<sourcefilepath>",<line>,<column>[,<newwindow>,<setfocus>])]
• arguments:
  • pdffilepath : path to the PDF document (if this path is omitted and the document isn't already open, SumatraPDF won't open it for you)
  • column : this parameter is for future use (just always pass 0)
  • newwindow : 1 to open the document in a new window (even if the file is already opened)
  • focus : 1 to set focus to SumatraPDF's window.
• examples
  • [ForwardSearch("c:\file.pdf","c:\folder\source.tex",298,0)]
  • [ForwardSearch("c:\folder\source.tex",298,0,0,1)]

Jump to named destination command

• format: [GotoNamedDest("<pdffilepath>","<destination name>")]
• example: [GotoNamedDest("c:\file.pdf", "chapter.1")]
• note: the pdf file must be already opened

Go to page

• format: [GotoPage("<pdffilepath>",<page number>)]
• example: [GotoPage("c:\file.pdf", 37)]
• note: the pdf file must be already opened.

Set view settings

• format: [SetView("<pdffilepath>","<view mode>",<zoom level>[,<scrollX>,<scrollY>])]
• arguments:
  • view mode:
    • "single page"
    • "facing"
    • "book view"
    • "continuous"
    • "continuous facing"
    • "continuous book view"
  • zoom level : either a zoom factor between 8 and 6400 (in percent) or one of -1 (Fit Page), -2 (Fit Width) or -3 (Fit Content)
  • scrollX, scrollY : PDF document (user) coordinates of the point to be visible in the top-left of the window
• example: [SetView("c:\file.pdf","continuous",-3)]
• note: the pdf file must already be opened