Highlight and annotate PDFs
Read scientific articles at Charlie and highlight the passages that matter. Your highlights are saved, easy to find, and work on both computers and tablets.
Emerit Science Team
Charlie includes a full-featured PDF reader: open an article from your library, from a clickable citation, or via the Open Access proxy—you can read it directly within the app, without having to download it first.
You can highlight key passages, add notes, and everything is saved on the server—no need for a local file; your highlights are available on any device.
1. Highlight a passage
- 1 Select the text with your mouse or finger on a tablet. A floating bar will appear showing the available colors.
- 2 Choose a color (for example: yellow for methods, green for results, pink for limits). The highlighting is applied and saved immediately.
- 3 Click on a highlight to add a note (text comment) or to remove it.
2. Look up a passage at Charlie
The floating bar that appears when you select text also includes a "Send to Charlie" button. With a single click, the selected passage becomes the context for your next question—ask for an explanation, a definition, a comparison with other articles, or a comparison with your corpus.
You stay in the PDF reader: Charlie's response appears in the active session, right next to the article. This is handy for breaking down a complex method without losing your place in the text.
2. Persistence and Synchronization
Your highlights are stored on the webCharlie—not in the PDF. This means you’ll see your highlights whenever you reopen the article from any device or browser logged into your account. No need to carry around an annotated file.
3. Touchscreen support
Highlighting works with your finger or a stylus on tablets (iPad, Android). Very useful for reading sessions at the library or during meetings.
4. Jump directly to the quoted sentence
When Charlie cites a PDF from your library in a response, clicking on the citation opens the reader directly to the correct page with the exact passage already highlighted. You can verify the source in just two clicks, without having to reread the entire article.
Tip
Use a consistent color-coding system from the start (e.g., methods / results / limitations / areas for further investigation). This will help you review your entire manuscript more quickly.
Read and annotate your PDFs
Upload your articles to Charlie and start active reading on all your devices.
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