PaperView

A cross-platform desktop PDF reader built with Tauri v2, featuring an immersive dual-page spread reading experience.

Features

• Dual-page Spread Display - Simulates physical book reading with two pages side by side
• Cover Mode - First page displayed alone, then pairs from page 2 onwards (2-3, 4-5...)
• Multiple Navigation Methods
  • Mouse left click: right half = next page, left half = previous page
  • Mouse right click: next page (context menu disabled)
  • Keyboard: Arrow keys, PageUp/PageDown, Space
  • Mouse wheel: scroll up/down to navigate
• Fullscreen Mode - Automatic fullscreen when opening PDF, ESC to exit
• Adaptive Scaling - Pages auto-fit to window size maintaining aspect ratio
• Performance Optimization - Page caching and pre-rendering for smooth navigation
• Page Info Display - Current page/total pages shown in corner, auto-hide after 3 seconds
• Multiple File Loading
  • Native file dialog
  • Drag and drop
  • Command line arguments

Tech Stack

• Backend: Tauri v2 (Rust)
• Frontend: TypeScript + Vite
• PDF Rendering: pdfjs-dist
• Plugins:
  • @tauri-apps/plugin-dialog - Native file dialogs
  • @tauri-apps/plugin-fs - File system access
  • @tauri-apps/plugin-store - Persistent settings storage

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or later)
• Rust (latest stable)
• Platform-specific dependencies for Tauri:
  • Windows: Microsoft Visual Studio C++ Build Tools, WebView2
  • macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools
  • Linux: Various system packages (see Tauri prerequisites)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone <repository-url>
cd PaperView

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

Development

Start the development server:

npm run tauri dev

This will:

• Start the Vite dev server for hot module replacement
• Launch the Tauri application window
• Auto-reload on frontend changes

Building

Build the application for your current platform:

npm run tauri build

The built application will be located in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.

Cross-platform Build Notes

Tauri builds native binaries, so you must build on each target platform:

• Windows: Run npm run tauri build on Windows to produce .msi or .exe (NSIS)
• macOS: Run npm run tauri build on macOS to produce .dmg
• Linux: Run npm run tauri build on Linux to produce .deb and .AppImage

Project Structure

PaperView/
├── src/                    # Frontend source (TypeScript)
│   ├── main.ts            # Main application logic
│   └── style.css          # Styles
├── index.html             # Frontend entry point
├── src-tauri/             # Tauri backend (Rust)
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── main.rs        # Application entry
│   │   └── lib.rs         # Plugin registration & commands
│   ├── capabilities/      # Plugin permissions
│   │   └── default.json
│   ├── tauri.conf.json    # Tauri configuration
│   └── Cargo.toml         # Rust dependencies
├── package.json           # Node.js dependencies
├── vite.config.ts         # Vite configuration
└── tsconfig.json          # TypeScript configuration

Usage

1. Launch the application
2. Open a PDF file by:
   • Clicking the drop zone to open file dialog
   • Dragging a PDF file onto the window
   • Passing PDF path as command line argument: PaperView path/to/file.pdf
3. Navigate pages using mouse clicks, keyboard, or scroll wheel
4. Toggle cover mode using the button in top-right corner
5. Press ESC to exit fullscreen

Configuration

User settings (cover mode preference) are automatically saved to:

• Windows: %APPDATA%/com.paperview.app/settings.json
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/com.paperview.app/settings.json
• Linux: ~/.config/com.paperview.app/settings.json

License

MIT