You cannot add Vim-style keybindings to Papers, the PDF reader that now ships as the default on recent Ubuntu releases. The app has no settings file, no shortcut editor, and the h/j/k/l navigation keys it once supported were deliberately removed in GNOME 48. Until upstream changes course, your realistic options are switching to a viewer that still honors Vim keys, remapping keys outside the app, or waiting for the shortcuts to return in a new form.
The Vim keys were removed on purpose
Papers is GNOME's successor to the long-running Evince document viewer, and it has quietly replaced Evince as the default PDF handler on recent Ubuntu releases. Early builds of Papers included Vim-like navigation under the h, j, k, and l keys.
In GNOME 48, those bindings disappeared. The release notes are explicit about the reason: the Vim-like shortcuts under the h, j, k, l keys were removed to make room for annotation-related shortcuts planned for future releases. So this is not a bug, a regression, or a missing configuration flag — it is a deliberate design decision. The same notes suggest the Vim bindings will likely return in another form once the annotation shortcuts settle in, which means the situation may look different in a release or two.
Why there is no config file to fix this
Most Linux desktop apps offer at least one escape hatch for rebinding keys: a gsettings schema, an INI file, or a shortcut editor in the preferences dialog. Papers offers none of these. It follows the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines approach of fixed, discoverable keybindings and simply does not expose its shortcuts for customization.
There is also a toolkit-level workaround that used to work: older GTK 3 applications would load a "key theme" defined by the gtk-key-theme-name setting, which is how Emacs-style bindings were traditionally enabled. Papers is a GTK 4 application, and GTK 4 does not load custom key themes, so that route is closed too.
The remaining option is remapping at the operating-system level with a tool such as xremap, which can apply hjkl remaps only while a Papers window is focused. It works, but it adds a moving part to your desktop for the sake of one application, and any future change to the app's window matching can silently break it. For most people this is more complexity than the problem deserves.
Option 1: switch back to Evince
The simplest fix is to reinstall the viewer Papers replaced. Evince still honors the Vim-style navigation keys that Papers dropped, and it remains available in the Ubuntu archives:
sudo apt install evinceThe two applications coexist without conflict, so installing Evince does not remove Papers. To make Evince the default handler for PDFs again, either right-click a PDF in the file manager, choose Open With, and select Evince as the default, or run:
xdg-mime default org.gnome.Evince.desktop application/pdfThe trade-off is direction of travel: Papers is where GNOME's document-viewer development is happening, with a refreshed interface and new features landing there first. Evince works today but is effectively a stopgap for Vim users rather than a long-term destination.
Option 2: Okular or zathura for deeper customization
If you want more than what Evince offers, two other viewers cover different ends of the spectrum:
- Okular (KDE) ships a full shortcut editor in its settings dialog, so you can bind scrolling and page-turning actions to
hjklyourself, on top of strong annotation and form-filling support. It pulls in more KDE dependencies than the GNOME alternatives. - zathura is built around vi keybindings from the ground up and configured through a plain-text file at
~/.config/zathura/zathurarc. It is extremely lightweight, but it is a keyboard-first tool: if you rely on a graphical interface for annotations or forms, it will feel sparse.
Both are in the Ubuntu repositories and install with sudo apt install okular or sudo apt install zathura.
What to watch going forward
Because the removal was tied to a concrete plan — freeing hjkl for annotation shortcuts — the thing to watch is the arrival of those annotation shortcuts in a future Papers release. If the Vim-style navigation returns alongside them, no action will be needed. In the meantime, if hjkl navigation matters to your daily reading, adding your use case to the relevant issue on the project's tracker costs little, since upstream has already signaled openness to restoring the bindings in a different shape. Until then, keeping Evince or zathura installed alongside Papers costs nothing and covers the gap.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Papers have a hidden configuration file for keybindings?
No. Papers exposes no settings file, gsettings key, or shortcut editor for rebinding keys, and as a GTK 4 application it also ignores the old GTK key-theme mechanism. There is currently no supported way to add Vim keybindings to it.
Which keys exactly were removed in GNOME 48?
The Vim-like navigation bindings under h, j, k, and l. The stated reason was to reserve those keys for annotation-related shortcuts planned for future releases, with the Vim bindings expected to return in another form later.
Does Evince really support Vim-style navigation?
Yes. Evince kept the Vim-style navigation keys that Papers removed, which is why it is the quickest way back to familiar behavior on Ubuntu without leaving the GNOME ecosystem.
How do I make Evince the default PDF viewer again?
Run xdg-mime default org.gnome.Evince.desktop application/pdf, or right-click any PDF in the file manager, choose Open With, and set Evince as the default. Papers stays installed either way.
When will Vim keys come back to Papers?
Upstream has said the bindings will likely return in another form once the annotation shortcuts that displaced them are introduced, but there is no committed timeline. Watching the project's issue tracker is the best way to know when it lands.