1. To be added into your init.vim or .vimrc or .vimrc.local file, depending on whether or not you use any distributions of vim plugins and resources. Do refer to the configuration provided by lervag beforehand. Please ensure that the ‘lervag/vimtex’ plugin is installed.

   VimL

   """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
   " VIMTEX
   """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
   let &rtp  = '~/.vim/bundle/vimtex,' . &rtp
   let &rtp .= ',~/.vim/bundle/vimtex/after'
   let g:tex_flavor = 'latex'
   
   " Starting to use vimtex and it needs several configurations to work correctly
   let g:vimtex_fold_enabled = 0
   let g:vimtex_indent_enabled = 1
   let g:vimtex_complete_recursive_bib = 0
   let g:vimtex_view_method = 'zathura'
   let g:vimtex_complete_close_braces = 1
   let g:vimtex_quickfix_mode = 2
   let g:vimtex_quickfix_open_on_warning = 1
   call vimtex#imaps#add_map({
     \ 'lhs' : '<m-i>',
     \ 'rhs' : '\item ',
     \ 'leader' : '',
     \ 'wrapper' : 'vimtex#imaps#wrap_environment',
     \ 'context' : ["itemize", "enumerate", "compactitem"],
     \})
   
   " Setting `vimtex-clientserver` is important for inverse-search
   if empty(v:servername) && exists('*remote_startserver')
     call remote_startserver('VIM')
   endif

   Alternatively, vimtex-synctex-inverse-search can also be achieved by adding the following configurations:-

   • open .tex file with the below command:-

     bash

     vim --servername VIM filename.tex

     OR
     

   • place this line in .zshrc file:-

     ~/.zshrc

     alias vim="vim --servername VIM"

     *(A note for myself): To make it work when opening .tex files from ranger, add this line to the following file:-

     ~/.config/ranger/rifle.conf

     ext tex, has vim = vim --servername VIM "$@"

     Additional Notes
     The additional configuration above is not needed for gvim as it works out of the box.

2. ~/.latexmkrc

   Take note of the below line in this .latexmkrc file:

   $pdflatex = 'xelatex -file-line-error -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode -shell-escape %S %O -verbose';

   This line will be responsible to act as the command in compiling a latex document to PDF automatically.
   

Now, how to do the synctex-forward-search and synctex-backward-search in zathura when compiling .tex documents with latexmk (the default compiler for vimtex)?

• For synctex-forward-search: Go to vim (if using this editor) where the .tex doc is opened and point to the sentence we would like to see in zathura, and then press \lv.

   The '\' here means, "whatever key defined as a maplocalleader in vim config file".

  Notice that in zathura, it brings us to the page containing the sentence we previously pointed from vim.
  

• For synctex-backward/inverse-search: In zathura, press Ctrl + highlight (Left Click and select the word with touchpad/mouse), the cursor will then automatically be pointed to the front line of the .tex file in vim where it contains the word highlighted from zathura.
  

Watch the video below to see it in action (updated on 24 September 2020, and the editor used is VIM).

Zathura can be customized with a simple config file. Save the config file as zathurarc in ~/.config/zathura directory, like the one I have here.