TeXShop: “Can’t find required tool. (null) does not exist
Yesterday I went to typeset my latest version of my thesis/paper, and hit the following error:
Can’t find required tool.
(null) does not exist. Perhaps TeXLive was not installed or was
removed during a system upgrade. If so, go to the TeXShop web site and
follow the instructions to (re)install TeXLive. Another possibility is
that a tool path is incorrectly configured in TeXShop preferences.
This can happen if you are using the fink teTeX distribution.
I don’t think I updated recently, and I certainly don’t remember changing any of the path settings in my preferences pane, but alas, something was amiss. After googling the error string, and trying everything that I could read (including re-installing TeXLive AND TeXShop…), I finally tried deleting my preference file. The next time TeXShop started up, it made me a new preference file (I’m running OS X 10.5), and everything works now. So if the above sounds familiar, this might be the perscription:
- Close TeXShop (Ignore if its not already open)
- Open Terminal
- Type “cd ~/Library/Preferences”
- Type “mv TeXShop.plist .TeXShop.plist” This will rename the .plist preferences file, hiding it from TeXShop the next time that it opens.
- Open TexShop
If this works congrats! If not, you can either move your .plist file back if you want, or don’t worry about it. Good luck, catch you of the flipside!
LIFESAVER, thanks!
Thanks!