Emacs has a built-in pdf viewer named doc-view-mode. It require ghostscript to convert the pdf files. On my OSX 10.8 laptop, I use ghostscript 9.07 (2013-02-14) version, installed by

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brew install ghostscript

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Usage and configs

Using docview is pretty simple, just use your emacs to open the file and it’s done. I added two keyboard macro to help me navigate the PDF.

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;; view docs
(fset 'doc-prev "\C-xo\C-x[\C-xo")
(fset 'doc-next "\C-xo\C-x]\C-xo")
(global-set-key (kbd "M-[") 'doc-prev)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-]") 'doc-next)

The keybindings is only for two windows layout. You can use M-[ or M-] to navigate the pages while your cursor is in another window. So that you can write your notes and navigate without leaving your notes! Pretty neat, right?