Tired of switching between your code editor and a separate PDF reader? PDF Display brings a complete, high-performance PDF viewing and editing experience directly into VS Code.

Powered by pdf.js + pdf-lib, it includes professional tools, annotation support with Git-friendly sidecars, built-in PDF manipulation, version comparison, and more.

✨ Key Features

Core Viewer

• 🚀 Built-in High-Performance Viewer: Open PDFs instantly in a dedicated webview panel with smooth rendering.
• 🧭 Navigation & Zoom: Page navigation, jump to page, zoom (in/out/fit), rotation, and multiple view modes (Continuous, Single Page, Two-Page spread).
• 🗂️ Thumbnails, TOC & Bookmarks: Visual thumbnail sidebar, interactive Table of Contents, and persistent bookmarks.
• 🔍 Smart Search: Full-text search with accurate highlighting.
• 📊 Reading Progress: Visual progress bar showing how far you've read.
• 🌗 High Contrast Mode: One-click inversion for dark mode / accessibility.
• 📋 Image Tools: Copy current page as image or extract/copy embedded images from any page.
• ℹ️ Document Properties: View metadata (author, dates, size, etc.).
• 🧠 Smart State Restoration: Reopens exactly where you left off (page, zoom, view mode, contrast).

Annotations & Export

• Markup tools: Highlight, underline, strikeout, ink, pencil, eraser, sticky notes, typed comments, rectangle / circle / arrow, and a signature stamp. Color, opacity, and undo/redo live on a floating rail. Marks persist in VS Code global state and a git-trackable .annotations.json sidecar.
• 📤 Export Options:
  • Bake annotations into a new PDF (visible pins + wrapped text callouts via pdf-lib).
  • Export annotations as JSON.
  • Merge Annotations In-Place (overwrites original PDF with baked notes).
  • Batch export pages as high-quality PNG images.

PDF Toolkit

• 🛠️ Built-in Manipulation (via pdf-lib):
  • Extract pages (by range or "all").
  • Compress PDF (object stream optimization).
  • Split PDF by page ranges into multiple files.
  • Merge multiple PDFs into one.
• All tools accessible via toolbar, Command Palette, or keyboard shortcuts.

Git & Diff Integration

• 🔄 Git Panel: View repo status for the current PDF, commit changes (automatically includes PDF + sidecar annotations), and browse commit history with one-click "Compare".
• 📊 PDF Diff / Comparison: Compare current document vs. any Git revision or another PDF on disk. Supports:
  • Overlay mode with pixel-difference heatmap (red/blue changes + % changed).
  • Side-by-side mode.
  • Independent navigation for both documents.

Productivity

• ⌨️ Full Command Palette + Keybindings: 30+ commands with sensible Ctrl+Alt+ (or Cmd+Alt+) shortcuts.
• 📤 Cross-Document Links: Supports internal/external and GoToR links.
• ⚡ Lazy Loading & Performance: Fast even on large documents (IntersectionObserver thumbnails, retained context).

🚀 Quick Start

1. Install from the VS Code Marketplace.
2. Open any .pdf file — it will automatically use the PDF Display editor.
3. Use the toolbar, side panels (TOC, Git, Diff, Properties), or Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P → type "PDF Display").

Standalone open command: PDF Display: View PDF.

⌨️ Shortcuts & Commands

All features are available in the Command Palette under the PDF Display: prefix. Many have default keybindings (active only when a PDF viewer is focused):

Tip: Many toolbar buttons also have hover tooltips. The Git and Diff panels appear as collapsible side panels inside the viewer.

⚙️ Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.80.0 or higher.
• For Git features: a Git repository with the PDF file inside it (the extension uses the git CLI via the configured git.path setting).

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Whether it's a bug report, feature request, or a pull request, your input helps make this extension better for everyone.

Check out our CONTRIBUTING.md and DEVELOPMENT.md for details on how to set up the project locally and contribute.

📄 License

This project is open-source and licensed under the MIT License.