Shortcuts

Prerequisites

This section assumes a setup with Visual Studio Code. Where you have installed the following extension:

Name: LaTeX Workshop
Id: james-yu.latex-workshop
Description: Boost LaTeX typesetting efficiency with preview, compile, autocomplete, colorize, and more.
Version: 8.20.2
Publisher: James Yu
VS Marketplace Link: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=James-Yu.latex-workshop

To open settings.json, open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P), type settings.json and hit enter. Fragments below should be added to this file. Keep care to adhere to the required JSON (or actually JSONC) format, like separating different key-value pairs with a comma:

Wrong:

{
    "theoldsettings": "aaa"
    "something": "I pasted in"
}

Correct:

{
    "theoldsettings": "aaa",
    "something": "I pasted in"
}

VS Code uses JSONC which is JSON allowing for comments, but it is also benevolent in allowing small mistakes, like superfluous comma's.

Compile on F5

By default the .tex file is compiled on every save, but I prefer to turn that off and instruct compilation with a shortcut. For this, in the settings.json I add

"latex-workshop.latex.autoBuild.run": "never",
"latex-workshop.latex.rootFile.useSubFile": true,
"latex-workshop.latex.rootFile.doNotPrompt": true,

The last two lines concern a compilation reference when using Subfiles.

Then in keybindings.json (open in the same way as settings.json), I add

{
    "key": "F5",
    "when": "resourceExtname == .tex",
    "command": "latex-workshop.build"
},
{
    "key": "F7",
    "when": "resourceExtname == .tex",
    "command": "latex-workshop.view"
},

With F7 you now see the result of the last compilation.

Create environment

In LaTeX, you often need environments, like an align environment. The following code allows you to do this quickly, by performing on your keyboard Ctrl+E, typing align and entering Tab, and it places you within the align, ready to type your equation.

The LaTeX workshop comes with a wrap-env function, which you can bind to F5 by adding in the keybindings.json this code

{
    "key": "Ctrl+E",
    "when": "resourceExtname == .tex",
    "command": "latex-workshop.wrap-env"
},

That function creates the environment on a new line however, while I prefer to insert environments at the line my cursor is. To have more control, I use a snippet instead. In the keybindings.json add

{
    "key": "Ctrl+E",
    "when": "resourceExtname == .tex",
    "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
    "args": {
        "langId": "latex",
        "name": "CreateEnvironment"
    }
},

Now open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P), type snippet, select Preferences: Configure User Snippets, choose LaTeX, and change the file's contents to

{
    // Explanation about tab stops by VS Code:
    // Place your snippets for latex here. Each snippet is defined under a snippet name and has a prefix, body and 
    // description. The prefix is what is used to trigger the snippet and the body will be expanded and inserted. Possible variables are:
    // $1, $2 for tab stops, $0 for the final cursor position, and ${1:label}, ${2:another} for placeholders. Placeholders with the 
    // same ids are connected.

    "CreateEnvironment": {
        "prefix": "env",
        "body": [
            "\\begin{${1:align*}}",
            "    $0",
            "\\end{$1}"
        ],
        "description": "Create LaTeX environment"
    }
}

Math inline

Add to keybindings.json

{
    "key": "ctrl+shift+m",
    "when": "resourceExtname == .tex",
    "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
    "args": {
        "snippet": "\\$ ${1:} \\$$0"
    }
},

Creating more shortcuts

You can use the insertSnippet idea for everything that seems handy to you, for example

{
    "key": "Ctrl+Alt+D F",
    "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
    "args": {
        "snippet": "\\frac{$1}{$0}"
    }
},
{
    "key": "Ctrl+Alt+D E",
    "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
    "args": {
        "snippet": "\\mathbb{E}[$1]$0"
    }
},
{
    "key": "Ctrl+Alt+D [",
    "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
    "args": {
        "snippet": "\\left\\{$1\\right\\\\}$0"
    }
},
{
    "key": "Ctrl+Alt+D Ctrl+G",
    "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
    "args": {
        "snippet": "\\mathcal{G}$0"
    }
},
{
    "key": "Ctrl+Alt+D Ctrl+C",
    "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
    "args": {
        "snippet": "\\mathcal{C}$0"
    }
},
{
    "key": "Ctrl+Alt+D Shift+C",
    "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
    "args": {
        "snippet": "\\mathbb{C}$0"
    }
},
{
    "key": "Ctrl+Alt+D Shift+R",
    "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
    "args": {
        "snippet": "\\mathbb{R}$0"
    }
},
{
    "key": "Ctrl+Alt+D Shift+Z",
    "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
    "args": {
        "snippet": "\\mathbb{Z}$0"
    }
},
{
    "key": "Ctrl+Alt+D Shift+N",
    "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
    "args": {
        "snippet": "\\mathbb{N}$0"
    }
},

Other optimizations

People often write their paragraph on one line. While word wrap shows the text spread over multiple lines, I prefer to not rely on this technique, and spread the text over actual lines. For this, I use the Rewrap package. I select the text I want to rewrap, and press Alt+Q to execute Rewrap's functionality.

Name: Rewrap
Id: stkb.rewrap
Description: Hard word wrapping for comments and other text at a given column.
Version: 1.14.0
Publisher: stkb
VS Marketplace Link: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=stkb.rewrap

Works well with settings like

"[tex]": {
    "editor.rulers": [80, 100],
    "rewrap.wrappingColumn": 100,
},
"[latex]": {
    "editor.formatOnPaste": false,
    "editor.suggestSelection": "recentlyUsedByPrefix",
    "editor.rulers": [80, 100],
    "rewrap.wrappingColumn": 100,
},
"editor.rulers": [80],
"rewrap.wrappingColumn": 80,
"rewrap.wholeComment": false,

Lastly, in my settings.json, I have also made it that Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab switch between VS Code tabs in the order they are shown in. By default they switch between tabs in an order based on how recently you used the tab.

{
    "key": "Ctrl+Tab",
    "command": "workbench.action.nextEditor"
},
{
    "key": "Ctrl+Shift+Tab",
    "command": "workbench.action.previousEditor"
},