Open files in VS Code and Cursor / Office files

Open a PDF in Cursor

Cursor ships without a PDF viewer (its built-in media preview covers images, audio and video). Install PDF Reader from the Extensions view; Cursor gets it from Open VSX. Then click the PDF. You can search, read in dark mode, highlight passages and copy the highlights as Markdown with page links, which is handy for pasting into Cursor chat.

Install in VS Code Marketplace page Open VSX (Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium)

Free, MIT license. Extension ID zovo.pdf-viewer-dark, version 0.2.8. Needs VS Code 1.90.0 or newer.

A PDF with dark pages. Three passages are highlighted in yellow, green and blue, and the Highlights tab on the left lists them with their page numbers.

Steps in VS Code

Install PDF Reader from the Marketplace, or press Ctrl+P (Cmd+P on macOS) and run ext install zovo.pdf-viewer-dark.
Click the .pdf file in the Explorer.
Select text and press H to highlight it. Four colors are available.
Run "Copy Highlights as Markdown" and paste the quotes, with their page links, into chat or a notes file.
Press Ctrl+G to go to a page. The viewer remembers the page and zoom of each PDF.

Steps in Cursor, Windsurf or VSCodium

Open the Extensions view with Ctrl+Shift+X (Cmd+Shift+X on macOS).
Search for zovo.pdf-viewer-dark and click Install. Cursor, Windsurf and VSCodium install from Open VSX, where it is published as zovo/pdf-viewer-dark.
If your editor has no gallery, download the .vsix from the Open VSX page and run "Extensions: Install from VSIX...".
Then use it the same way as in VS Code.

What PDF Reader handles

Dark and sepia pages that keep photos in color.
Search with a match counter, outline and thumbnails.
Markdown links such as paper.pdf#page=12 open at that page.

What it does not do

Highlights are kept in the editor on this computer, not written into the PDF, and they do not sync.
No form filling, editing or printing. PDF JavaScript never runs.

Other options

vscode-pdf (tomoki1207.pdf, 14.4 million installs, on Open VSX). Also on Open VSX, so it installs in Cursor.
PDF Viewer (mathematic.vscode-pdf, 2.9 million installs, on Open VSX). Also on Open VSX.

Install counts and Open VSX status were checked on 8 November 2026. Descriptions in quotes are the extensions' own.

Questions

Why doesn't Cursor open PDFs by default?

Cursor is built on VS Code, and VS Code has no PDF viewer. Both rely on extensions for PDFs.

Can Cursor chat read the PDF?

Copy the text or your highlights from the viewer and paste them into the chat. The viewer itself sends nothing anywhere.

Does it work in Windsurf and VSCodium?

Yes. Both install extensions from Open VSX, where it is zovo/pdf-viewer-dark.

Support this work

If this extension saves you time, you can support the work on GitHub Sponsors. Monthly tiers start at $5, and one-time tiers start at $15. Sponsorship is optional, and the tool works the same without it.

Zovo on GitHub