What's new

New features in the latest version of Rectoly, by system and edition, newest first. Each item links to the page that explains it.

Applies to Mendeley and Zotero editions Windows · Linux · Mac · iPad · Android Free

Mac and iPad

New for iPad, iPhone and Mac in Rectoly for Zotero 5.1.2 and Rectoly for Mendeley 5.1.2:

  • Send diagnostic data without email. Settings › Troubleshooting › “Send diagnostic data” now sends the data straight from the app — no mail app or account needed. You get a receipt number to tell us if you are already in touch, and the data is deleted after 30 days. See Troubleshooting.
  • Lasso. Circle handwriting on a PDF and move it together (iPad and Mac).
  • Zotero editionContinue with email. You can now sign in with an email address. Even without Zotero, a trial or a purchase also works in Rectoly on your other devices (from “Don’t use Zotero? Continue with email” on the purchase screen).
  • Mendeley editionContinue with email. You can now sign in with an email address. Even without Mendeley, a trial or a purchase also works in Rectoly on your other devices (from “Don’t use Mendeley? Continue with email” on the purchase screen).
  • Small changes. Highlighting or underlining the same passage again removes the mark; with another color it changes the color. The sidebar now has a close button.
  • Fixes and improvements. Fixed handwriting looking blurry when a PDF is zoomed in (iPad). A brief network drop is no longer shown as a sync failure: your changes stay on the device and are sent again automatically. Reading Mode now shows the Schemes of chemistry papers as figures. The purchase screen now says up front that the free trial never charges you automatically.

Earlier:

  • Zotero editionOrganize your notes with AI. In Across papers, “Organize with AI” groups your comments and sticky notes in the chosen collection by topic and saves them as a research theme. It writes only the headings; every note stays as you wrote it and opens its paper at the place. See Organizing your notes with AI.
  • Mendeley editionOrganize your notes with AI. In Across papers, “Organize with AI” groups your sticky notes and notes in the chosen collection by topic and saves them as a research theme. It writes only the headings; every note stays as you wrote it and opens its paper at the place. See Organizing your notes with AI.
  • Zotero editionPaper cards for your review table. “Paper cards…” in the library’s “…” menu writes each paper’s research question, method, data, findings and stated limitations from its own text. Every sentence carries its page, and a sentence the text does not support is dropped. The table exports as Markdown and CSV, and each card can be saved as a Zotero note. See Paper cards and the literature review table.
  • Mendeley editionPaper cards for your review table. “Paper cards…” in the library’s “…” menu writes each paper’s research question, method, data, findings and stated limitations from its own text. Every sentence carries its page, and a sentence the text does not support is dropped. The table exports as Markdown and CSV. See Paper cards and the literature review table.
  • AI with your own API key. Run translation, Organize with AI and paper cards with your own API key for OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek and others — also on devices that cannot run the on-device model. Your text goes straight to the provider, and you are always asked before it is sent. In Settings › AI. See AI settings and your own API key.
  • Translate into Vietnamese, Ukrainian and Thai. Papers can now be translated into Vietnamese, Ukrainian and Thai as well (Thai with System translation). Choose one under Translation language. See Translation.
  • Swap the panes, move the columns. Press and hold the header of either of two PDFs side by side, or of the PDF beside Reading Mode, and move it (with a mouse, just drag) to swap left and right or top and bottom. The sidebar and the figure column move to either side the same way. The header’s Two-pane arrangement menu and VoiceOver can swap them too. See Two panes and their arrangement.
  • Zotero editionPDFs on WebDAV, flagged in the library. When your library’s PDFs are on a WebDAV server that isn’t set up here, the library says so at the top and marks those papers “On WebDAV”. Set it up from there, before any paper fails to open. See Files on a WebDAV server.
  • Passages that may relate. A research theme now ends with “Passages that may relate”: paragraphs from your library’s papers that are close to your notes. See Research themes.
  • Small changes. Handwriting on the PDF can now use a “Fountain pen” (iPad). Two PDFs opened side by side are remembered as a pair, with their sides, and come back together the next time (iPad). With page turning set to “One page at a time” or “Horizontal”, pages now slide across as they turn. Now runs on iOS 17.0 and later (it needed iOS 17.6 before).
  • Zotero editionTranslate papers on your device. Read an English paper in your own language, in Reading Mode and on the PDF page. Translation runs on this device; the paper is never sent to a translation service. If you agree, translations are saved to your Zotero library for your other devices (using your Zotero storage). The app's translation model (about 2.5 GB) needs 8 GB of memory or more. See Translation.
  • Mendeley editionTranslate papers on your device. Read an English paper in your own language, in Reading Mode and on the PDF page. Translation runs on this device; the paper is never sent to a translation service. Translations are saved to your Mendeley library for your other devices (you can turn this off in Settings). The app's translation model (about 2.5 GB) needs 8 GB of memory or more. See Translation.
  • Four tools for translating. Select text for Translate from Here (start at that paragraph) or Translate Selection (just that text, on the spot). Long-press a translated row for Retranslate This Paragraph, which tries a different way; Restore Previous Translation takes it back. Terms in your Translation Dictionary are used in every translation into that language. See Translation.
  • Math you can check against the original. When the app cannot guarantee that a translation's math or numbers match the original, the paragraph stays in the original on the PDF page, and in Reading Mode it is marked “Check the math in the original” or “Check the numbers in the original” — so a formula or a number that may be wrong never looks right. See Translation.
  • Math and code as they are on the page. Reading Mode shows real superscripts and subscripts, and shows a line with symbols that can't become text, or with stacked fractions or matrices, cut from the page. Code keeps its indentation, line by line. Figures and tables, two-column reading order, and where the references end and an appendix begins are read more accurately too. See Reading Mode.
  • Exported PDFs keep their text. A PDF made with Export annotated PDF + JSON now keeps its text, so you can search, select and copy it; your highlights and handwriting are added as annotations. Only a file that cannot take them — an encrypted PDF, for example — is still exported as pictures of its pages. See Export and sending notes.
  • Reading Mode handwriting stays in place. When the way a paper's structure is read is updated, your Reading Mode handwriting is still shown where you wrote it. Handwriting whose place can't be confirmed is never drawn somewhere else: it is listed under Unmatched handwriting, where you can open its page. Nothing is deleted. Highlights and underlines stay on their words too. See Reading Mode.
  • Formulas as they are printed. In Reading Mode, formulas inside a paragraph now come straight from the PDF page, so their symbols look exactly as printed — no more garbled characters. They follow the text size and the light or dark appearance; a paper without formulas is unchanged. See Formulas in the text.
  • Footnotes and the first page out of the way. Footnotes, and the first page's block of affiliations, e-mail addresses and received dates, no longer interrupt the text: they wait at the end, as endnotes. See Footnotes and endnotes.
  • Complete figures. A figure is cut out with everything that belongs to it: the numbers on its axes, the axis titles — including rotated ones — and the legend. See Complete figures.
  • Text size on iPhone. On iPhone, the Reading Mode bar now has an Aa button: Smaller text, the current size and Larger text sit in one menu that stays open while you adjust. You can also pinch with two fingers. See Text size on a phone.
  • Small changes. The tool rail no longer carries a Reading Mode tool — the round button at the bottom right takes you in and out. A pinch that starts at the edge of the page no longer switches papers, a paper opens with its bars and tools in place from the first moment, the reading column stays centred while the tool rail is hidden, the page number shows for a moment as you turn pages in full screen, and on iPad and iPhone this guide and the legal pages now open inside the app.
  • Tools on a vertical tool rail. The tools have moved from the top bar to a rail at the edge of the page, so many more fit at once — on an upright iPad, all of them. Tools that don't fit, and Customize toolbar…, are in the … at its foot. Show tools at the top right shows or hides the rail; on iPhone it starts hidden. See Customizing the toolbar.
  • More room for the paper. A paper open on its own no longer has a header above the page, and on iPhone the status bar is gone: its buttons moved to the top bar, the … menu and the tool rail. On iPad and iPhone, tap the page to hide the bars and read full screen. See Reader basics.
  • Citation styles and Copy with citation. Choose APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA, IEEE, Vancouver, Nature or GB/T 7714 in the reader's settings, under Export. Select text and choose Copy with citation (⌘⌥C) to copy it with its source in that style. Exported themes get a reference list in that style too. See Copy with page, BibTeX, citation keys.
    • Zotero editionWhen you are signed in, Zotero itself formats the citations.
  • Zotero editionResearch themes and Zotero notes, both ways. When you send a theme as a Zotero note, you can also tag the papers it cites with the theme's name and put them in a collection of that name. Edits made to the note in Zotero come into the theme when you open it; if both were edited, nothing is overwritten — a new note is made. See A theme as a Zotero note.
  • Mendeley editionOrganize a theme's papers in Mendeley. In a theme, choose … › Export › Organize in Mendeley… to tag the papers it cites with the theme's name, put them in a collection of that name, or both. The papers keep the tags and collections they already have. See Organize a theme's papers in Mendeley.
  • Zotero editionScanned Japanese, Chinese and Korean. On iPadOS 27, lines of Japanese, Chinese and Korean text on scanned pages are no longer missed, and on an iPad or Mac set to Korean, Japanese and Chinese scans are read correctly. See Scanned PDFs.
  • Zotero editionResearch themes as Zotero notes. In a theme, choose … › Export › Zotero note: the theme becomes a note in your personal library in Zotero, headings and all, with each quote linked to its page in the PDF. See A theme as a Zotero note.
  • Zotero editionAcross papers: Zotero annotations and collections. Across papers now lists the annotations you made in Zotero, even on papers never opened here, and narrows to one collection and the collections inside it. See Search.
  • Mendeley editionAcross papers: Mendeley notes and collections. Across papers now lists the sticky notes and notes you made in Mendeley, even on papers never opened here, and narrows to one collection and the collections inside it. See Search.
  • Zotero editionWhat your desktop plugins wrote, read here. Citation counts from Citation Counts Manager show on each row and in the sort menu; read statuses from Zotero Reading List appear in the tag filter. They show only in a library that has them, and the app asks no service of its own. See Browsing and filtering the library.
  • Zotero editionSet up WebDAV right where a PDF won't open. When a PDF that seems to be on your WebDAV server won't open, enter the URL, username and password right there; once the server checks out, the paper opens. See Files on a WebDAV server.
  • Zotero editionYour own first PDF opens free too. Before the trial, the first PDF of your own, picked in Files or dropped on the app, opens free, just like your first Zotero paper. See Opening a PDF without signing in.
  • Rectoly on your computer. Rectoly also comes for Windows and Mac. Sign in with the same Mendeley or Zotero account, and your library and purchase come with you. Send the link to your computer from Settings › Rectoly for Windows and Mac. See Trial and purchase.
  • Mendeley editionEasier to get started. The welcome now ends with two choices: Continue with Mendeley or Continue without an account. The first PDF of your own now opens free, too. If signing in fails, you now see why, right where you tried. See Getting started.
  • Now on Mac. Rectoly runs on Macs with Apple silicon, with keyboard shortcuts you can reassign, right-click menus and the mouse side buttons. See Keyboard shortcuts and Mouse, right-click and drag.
  • Library and Across papers tabs. The library column now has two tabs, Library and Across papers, as on Windows. Across papers lists your annotations from every paper and searches the full text, handwriting and notes of all your papers. The magnifier button in the paper list opens it. It is free on iPad and iPhone and included in the purchase on Mac. See Search.
  • Research themes. Collect key passages with their sources in one note, arrange them, and export to Markdown or Word. See Research themes.
  • Export figures and tables, compare sections. Figures to PNG, tables to CSV, and one table comparing many papers' abstracts, methods, results and conclusions. See Exporting figures and tables and Section comparison table.
  • A document beside the paper. Open your Word manuscript beside the paper; it refreshes each time you save. See A document beside the paper.
  • Copy with page, BibTeX and citation keys. Copy a passage as “quote” (p. 5), copy a paper's BibTeX entry or citation key, and keep your highlights as Markdown in a notes folder for Obsidian and others. See Copy with page, BibTeX, citation keys and Notes folder.
    • Zotero editionCitation keys from Zotero 7 and Better BibTeX are used.
  • Two-pane arrangement. Choose automatic, side by side or stacked, and drag the border to resize. See Two panes.
  • Open a PDF without signing in. Open or drop a PDF to read it on this device only. See Opening a PDF without signing in.
  • Citation cards on hover. On Mac, rest the pointer on a citation such as [12] to see the reference. See Citation cards.
  • Mendeley editionThe sample library is free. Everything in the six-paper sample library can be tried without an account. See Getting started.
  • Zotero editionWebDAV and linked files. Open the PDFs you sync with WebDAV; PDFs you add in the app go there too. PDFs that ZotFile or ZotMoov keep in Dropbox or Google Drive open once you choose the folder. See Files on a WebDAV server and Files linked with ZotFile or ZotMoov.
  • Mendeley editionOpen from WebDAV. Open PDFs from a WebDAV server such as Nextcloud or your university's storage, or add them to Mendeley. See Files on a WebDAV server.
  • A layout for how you use this device. On a tablet or phone, reading and thinking lead: search, highlight, pen, sticky note and colour head the tool rail. On a PC or Mac, the research theme column opens beside the paper and the writing tools come first. Your own arrangement is kept; Use this device’s layout in settings switches to the new defaults.

Windows · Linux

New in version 2.1.2 for Windows and Linux:

  • Send diagnostic data without email. Settings › Troubleshooting › “Send diagnostic data” now sends the data straight from the app — no mail app or account needed. You get a receipt number to tell us if you are already in touch, and the data is deleted after 30 days. See Troubleshooting.
  • Zotero editionContinue with email. You can now sign in with an email address, so you can start the trial or buy without Zotero.
  • Mendeley editionContinue with email. You can now sign in with an email address, so you can start the trial or buy without Mendeley.
  • Small changes. Highlighting or underlining the same passage again removes the mark; with another color it changes the color. A brief network drop is no longer shown as a sync failure: your changes stay on the device and are sent again automatically.

Earlier:

  • Zotero editionOrganize your notes with AI. In Across papers, “Organize with AI” groups your comments and sticky notes in the chosen collection by topic and saves them as a research theme. It writes only the headings; every note stays as you wrote it and opens its paper at the place. See Organizing your notes with AI.
  • Mendeley editionOrganize your notes with AI. In Across papers, “Organize with AI” groups your sticky notes and notes in the chosen collection by topic and saves them as a research theme. It writes only the headings; every note stays as you wrote it and opens its paper at the place. See Organizing your notes with AI.
  • Zotero editionPaper cards for your review table. “Paper cards…” in the library’s “⋮” menu writes each paper’s research question, method, data, findings and stated limitations from its own text. Every sentence carries its page, and a sentence the text does not support is dropped. The table exports as Markdown and CSV, and each card can be saved as a Zotero note. See Paper cards and the literature review table.
  • Mendeley editionPaper cards for your review table. “Paper cards…” in the library’s “⋮” menu writes each paper’s research question, method, data, findings and stated limitations from its own text. Every sentence carries its page, and a sentence the text does not support is dropped. The table exports as Markdown and CSV. See Paper cards and the literature review table.
  • AI with your own API key. Run translation, Organize with AI and paper cards with your own API key for OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek and others — also on devices that cannot run the on-device model. Your text goes straight to the provider, and you are always asked before it is sent. In Settings › AI. See AI settings and your own API key.
  • Translate into Vietnamese and Ukrainian. Papers can now be translated into Vietnamese and Ukrainian as well. Choose one under Translation language. See Translation.
  • Swap the panes, move the columns. Drag the header of either of two PDFs side by side, or of the PDF beside Reading Mode, to swap left and right or top and bottom (Esc cancels). The sidebar and the figure column move to either side the same way. The header’s right-click menu and screen readers can swap them too. See Two panes and their arrangement.
  • Zotero editionPDFs on WebDAV, flagged in the library. When your library’s PDFs are on a WebDAV server that isn’t set up here, the library says so at the top and marks those papers “On WebDAV”. Set it up from there, before any paper fails to open. See Files on a WebDAV server.
  • Passages that may relate. A research theme now ends with “Passages that may relate”: paragraphs from your library’s papers that are close to your notes. See Research themes.
  • Zotero editionTranslate papers on this PC. Read an English paper in your own language, in Reading Mode and on the PDF page. Translation runs on this PC; the paper is never sent to a translation service. If you agree, translations are saved to your Zotero library for your other devices (using your Zotero storage). The translation model (about 2.5 GB) needs a PC with 8 GB of memory or more. This PC can also translate for your phones and tablets (iPad and Android) on the same network. See Translation.
  • Mendeley editionTranslate papers on this PC. Read an English paper in your own language, in Reading Mode and on the PDF page. Translation runs on this PC; the paper is never sent to a translation service. Translations are saved to your Mendeley library for your other devices (you can turn this off in Settings). The translation model (about 2.5 GB) needs a PC with 8 GB of memory or more. This PC can also translate for your phones and tablets (iPad and Android) on the same network. See Translation.
  • Formulas as they are printed. In Reading Mode, formulas inside a paragraph now come straight from the PDF page, so their symbols look exactly as printed — no more garbled characters. They follow the text size and the light or dark appearance; a paper without formulas is unchanged. See Formulas in the text.
  • Footnotes and the first page out of the way. Footnotes, and the first page's block of affiliations, e-mail addresses and received dates, no longer interrupt the text: they wait at the end, as endnotes. See Footnotes and endnotes.
  • Complete figures. A figure is cut out with everything that belongs to it: the numbers on its axes, the axis titles — including rotated ones — and the legend. See Complete figures.
  • E Ink optimisation on your PC. With Settings › General › E Ink optimisation on, text is larger, grey text and lines are darker and buttons are easier to hit, as on the E Ink tablets — made for E Ink screens such as the PineNote, where it is on from the start.
  • Citation styles and Copy with citation. Choose APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA, IEEE, Vancouver, Nature or GB/T 7714 under Settings › Reader › Citation style. Select text and choose Copy with citation (Ctrl+Alt+C) to copy it with its source in that style. Exported themes get a reference list in that style too. See Copy with page, BibTeX, citation keys.
  • Zotero editionResearch themes and Zotero notes, both ways. When you send a theme as a Zotero note, you can also tag the papers it cites with the theme's name and put them in a collection of that name. Edits made to the note in Zotero come into the theme when you open it; if both were edited, nothing is overwritten — a new note is made. See A theme as a Zotero note.
  • Mendeley editionOrganize a theme's papers in Mendeley. In a theme, choose Export › Organize in Mendeley… to tag the papers it cites with the theme's name, put them in a collection of that name, or both. The papers keep the tags and collections they already have. See Organize a theme's papers in Mendeley.
  • More room for the paper. A paper open on its own no longer has a header row; its 2 screens and close buttons sit at the end of the toolbar. In a narrow window, More tools (…) now has Customize toolbar… too. See Reader basics.
  • LinuxSerif text on Linux. In Reading Mode, Aa › Typeface › Serif now shows a serif face installed on your system, such as Liberation Serif, DejaVu Serif, Noto Serif CJK or IPA Mincho, instead of a sans-serif one.
  • Zotero editionResearch themes as Zotero notes. In a theme's Export › Zotero note, the theme becomes a note in your personal library in Zotero, headings and all, with each quote linked to its page in the PDF. See A theme as a Zotero note.
  • Zotero editionAcross papers: Zotero annotations and collections. Across papers now lists the annotations you made in Zotero, even on papers never opened here, and narrows to one collection and the collections inside it. See Search.
  • Mendeley editionAcross papers: Mendeley notes and collections. Across papers now lists the sticky notes and notes you made in Mendeley, even on papers never opened here, and narrows to one collection and the collections inside it. See Search.
  • Zotero editionSet up WebDAV right where a PDF won't open. When a paper's PDF is on your WebDAV server and this PC isn't set up for it, enter the server right there. The paper opens as soon as the server checks out. Before the trial, the first PDF of your own opens free, just like your first Zotero paper. See Files on a WebDAV server.
  • Mendeley editionGetting started and signing in. The welcome now ends with two choices: Continue with Mendeley or Continue without an account. The first PDF of your own now opens free, too. If signing in fails, the reason appears right there, with a way to try again. See Signing in and accounts.
  • Zotero editionWhat your desktop plugins wrote, read here. Citation counts from Citation Counts Manager show on each row and in the sort menu; read statuses from Zotero Reading List appear in the tag filter. They show only in a library that has them, and the app asks no service of its own. See Browsing and filtering the library.
  • Mendeley editionA layout for how you use this device. On a tablet or phone, reading and thinking lead: find, sticky note, area highlight, the pen and the eraser head the toolbar. On a PC or Mac, the research theme column opens beside the paper and the writing tools come first. Your own arrangement is kept; Use this device’s layout in settings switches to the new defaults.

The first version brought the full reader to Windows:

Since September 26, 2026, Rectoly also runs on Linux. It is the same app as on Windows, so everything above works there too, except handwriting search and text recognition in scanned PDFs. See Using Rectoly on Linux.

Android Android

New in version 2.1.2 for Android:

  • Send diagnostic data without email. Settings › Troubleshooting › “Send diagnostic data” now sends the data straight from the app — no mail app or account needed. You get a receipt number to tell us if you are already in touch, and the data is deleted after 30 days. See Troubleshooting.
  • Zotero editionContinue with email. You can now sign in with an email address, so you can start the trial or buy without Zotero.
  • Mendeley editionContinue with email. You can now sign in with an email address, so you can start the trial or buy without Mendeley.
  • Small changes. Highlighting or underlining the same passage again removes the mark; with another color it changes the color. A brief network drop is no longer shown as a sync failure: your changes stay on the device and are sent again automatically.

Earlier:

  • Zotero editionOrganize your notes with AI. In Across papers, “Organize with AI” groups your comments and sticky notes in the chosen collection by topic and saves them as a research theme. It writes only the headings; every note stays as you wrote it and opens its paper at the place. See Organizing your notes with AI.
  • Mendeley editionOrganize your notes with AI. In Across papers, “Organize with AI” groups your sticky notes and notes in the chosen collection by topic and saves them as a research theme. It writes only the headings; every note stays as you wrote it and opens its paper at the place. See Organizing your notes with AI.
  • Zotero editionPaper cards for your review table. “Paper cards…” in the library’s “⋮” menu writes each paper’s research question, method, data, findings and stated limitations from its own text. Every sentence carries its page, and a sentence the text does not support is dropped. The table exports as Markdown and CSV, and each card can be saved as a Zotero note. See Paper cards and the literature review table.
  • Mendeley editionPaper cards for your review table. “Paper cards…” in the library’s “⋮” menu writes each paper’s research question, method, data, findings and stated limitations from its own text. Every sentence carries its page, and a sentence the text does not support is dropped. The table exports as Markdown and CSV. See Paper cards and the literature review table.
  • AI with your own API key. Run translation, Organize with AI and paper cards with your own API key for OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek and others — also on devices that cannot run the on-device model. Your text goes straight to the provider, and you are always asked before it is sent. In Settings › AI. See AI settings and your own API key.
  • Translate into Vietnamese and Ukrainian. Papers can now be translated into Vietnamese and Ukrainian as well. Choose one under Translation language. See Translation.
  • Swap the panes, move the columns. Press and hold the header of either of two PDFs side by side, or of the PDF beside Reading Mode, and move it (with a mouse, just drag) to swap left and right. The sidebar and the figure column move to either side the same way. “Swap left and right” in the ⋮ menu and TalkBack can swap them too. See Two panes and their arrangement.
  • Zotero editionPDFs on WebDAV, flagged in the library. When your library’s PDFs are on a WebDAV server that isn’t set up here, the library says so at the top and marks those papers “On WebDAV”. Set it up from there, before any paper fails to open. See Files on a WebDAV server.
  • Passages that may relate. A research theme now ends with “Passages that may relate”: paragraphs from your library’s papers that are close to your notes. See Research themes.
  • Zotero editionTranslate papers on your device. Read an English paper in your own language, in Reading Mode and on the PDF page. Translation runs on this device (or on your paired PC); the paper is never sent to a translation service. If you agree, translations are saved to your Zotero library for your other devices (using your Zotero storage). The app's translation model (about 2.5 GB) needs 8 GB of memory or more. A device with less can still translate when paired with a Windows or Linux PC on the same network. See Translation.
  • Mendeley editionTranslate papers on your device. Read an English paper in your own language, in Reading Mode and on the PDF page. Translation runs on this device (or on your paired PC); the paper is never sent to a translation service. Translations are saved to your Mendeley library for your other devices (you can turn this off in Settings). The app's translation model (about 2.5 GB) needs 8 GB of memory or more. A device with less can still translate when paired with a Windows or Linux PC on the same network. See Translation.
  • Formulas as they are printed. In Reading Mode, formulas inside a paragraph now come straight from the PDF page, so their symbols look exactly as printed — no more garbled characters. They follow the text size and the light or dark appearance; a paper without formulas is unchanged. See Formulas in the text.
  • Footnotes and the first page out of the way. Footnotes, and the first page's block of affiliations, e-mail addresses and received dates, no longer interrupt the text: they wait at the end, as endnotes. See Footnotes and endnotes.
  • Complete figures. A figure is cut out with everything that belongs to it: the numbers on its axes, the axis titles — including rotated ones — and the legend. See Complete figures.
  • Text size on a phone. On a phone, the Reading Mode bar now has an Aa button: Smaller text, the current size and Larger text sit in one menu that stays open while you adjust. You can also pinch with two fingers. See Text size on a phone.
  • Small changes. The tool rail no longer carries a Reading Mode tool — the round button at the bottom right takes you in and out. In full screen, the page also stays centred while the tool rail is hidden.
  • Show or hide the tool rail. A button beside the side panel button shows or hides the tool rail; on a phone the rail starts hidden and hangs just under the top buttons. The rail now holds as many tools as the screen's height allows; tools that don't fit, and Customize toolbar…, are in the … at its foot. See Customizing the toolbar.
    • Zotero editionIn Reading Mode, the rail's button is at the top left.
  • Full screen. Tap the middle of the page to hide the buttons, the tool rail and the footer; tap again to bring them back. See Reader basics.
  • Citation styles and Copy with citation. Choose APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA, IEEE, Vancouver, Nature or GB/T 7714 under Settings › Reader › Citation style. Select text and choose Copy with citation (Ctrl+Alt+C) to copy it with its source in that style. Exported themes get a reference list in that style too. See Copy with page, BibTeX, citation keys.
  • Zotero editionResearch themes and Zotero notes, both ways. When you send a theme as a Zotero note, you can also tag the papers it cites with the theme's name and put them in a collection of that name. Edits made to the note in Zotero come into the theme when you open it; if both were edited, nothing is overwritten — a new note is made. See A theme as a Zotero note.
  • Mendeley editionOrganize a theme's papers in Mendeley. In a theme, choose ⋮ › Export › Organize in Mendeley… to tag the papers it cites with the theme's name, put them in a collection of that name, or both. The papers keep the tags and collections they already have. See Organize a theme's papers in Mendeley.
  • Larger text on E Ink. With Settings › Reader › E Ink optimisation on, text is larger, buttons are easier to tap, and grey text and dividers are darker, so settings, lists and menus are easier to read. See E Ink tablets.
  • Zotero editionResearch themes as Zotero notes. In a theme's ⋮ › Export › Zotero note, the theme becomes a note in your personal library in Zotero, headings and all, with each quote linked to its page in the PDF. See A theme as a Zotero note.
  • Zotero editionAcross papers: Zotero annotations and collections. Across papers now lists the annotations you made in Zotero, even on papers never opened here, and narrows to one collection and the collections inside it. See Search.
  • Mendeley editionAcross papers: Mendeley notes and collections. Across papers now lists the sticky notes and notes you made in Mendeley, even on papers never opened here, and narrows to one collection and the collections inside it. See Search.
  • Zotero editionChinese scans read better. Scanned papers in Chinese, Traditional or Simplified, are now read with a Chinese model, so search and the HL Pen find much more of their text. Chinese scans you opened before are read again the next time you open them. See Scanned PDFs.
  • Zotero editionSet up WebDAV right where a PDF won't open. When a paper's PDF is on your WebDAV server and this device isn't set up for it, enter the server right there. The paper opens as soon as the server checks out. See Files on a WebDAV server.
  • Rectoly on your computer. Rectoly also comes for Windows and Mac. Sign in with the same Mendeley or Zotero account, and your library and purchase come with you. Send the link to your computer from Settings › Rectoly for Windows and Mac. See Trial and purchase.
  • Mendeley editionGetting started and signing in. The welcome now ends with two choices: Continue with Mendeley or Continue without an account. If signing in fails, the reason appears right there, with a way to try again. See Signing in and accounts.
  • Zotero editionWhat your desktop plugins wrote, read here. Citation counts from Citation Counts Manager show on each row and in the sort menu; read statuses from Zotero Reading List appear in the tag filter. They show only in a library that has them, and the app asks no service of its own. See Browsing and filtering the library.
  • A layout for how you use this device. On a tablet or phone, reading and thinking lead: search, highlight, pen, sticky note and colour head the tool rail. On a PC or Mac, the research theme column opens beside the paper and the writing tools come first. Your own arrangement is kept; Use this device’s layout in settings switches to the new defaults.
  • Research themes. Collect key passages with their sources in one note, arrange them, and export to Markdown or Word. See Research themes.
  • Figures and tables as files. Figures to PNG and tables to CSV, from one paper, or from many at once from the library. See Exporting figures and tables.
  • Compare sections. One table with the abstracts, methods, results and conclusions of many papers, one row per paper. See Section comparison table.
  • Your manuscript beside the paper. Open your Word manuscript beside the paper; it refreshes each time you save. See A document beside the paper.
  • Copy with page, BibTeX and citation keys. Copy a quote with its page number, or a paper's BibTeX entry or citation key, in the key format you choose. See Copy with page, BibTeX, citation keys.
  • Notes folder for Obsidian and others. Choose a folder, and each paper's highlights and notes are kept there as a Markdown file, ready for Obsidian and other note apps. See Notes folder.
  • Similar passages in other papers. Select a paragraph to find ones with similar wording or topic in your other papers, entirely on this device. See Similar passages in other papers.
  • Keyboard shortcuts. With a physical keyboard, the same shortcuts as on the PC and iPad; see and change them under Settings › FAQ. See Android keys.
  • Zotero editionWebDAV and linked files. Open the PDFs you sync with WebDAV; PDFs you add in the app go there too. PDFs that ZotFile or ZotMoov keep in Dropbox or Google Drive open once you choose the folder. See Files on a WebDAV server and Files linked with ZotFile or ZotMoov.
  • Mendeley editionOpen from WebDAV. Open PDFs from a WebDAV server such as Nextcloud or your university's storage, or add them to Mendeley. See Files on a WebDAV server.
  • Sticky note panels. Sticky notes open in a floating panel you can move, and you can open several at once. See Sticky notes.
  • Returning to two panes. Choose what comes back when you go from one pane to two again: the pages you had before, or the current page and the next one. See Two panes.
  • Mendeley editionMore reliable sync. Annotations you make, change or delete while a sync is running are no longer lost when the sync finishes. See Annotation sync.

Updated October 13, 2026