Papers: A PDF Browser
Papers is a new public beta PDF document browser from the makers of EnzymeX, a DNA sequence analysis and editing program for Mac OS X. Papers requires OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or higher.
Papers features an all-in-one PDF organizer which can download, archive, and organize your .pdfs and allows you read in fullscreen mode, add notes and email files (leveraging Apple’s Mail program) to friends and colleagues.
While much of the functionality of Papers is aimed at the research and scientific communities, the program is so well done that even casual pdf readers may prefer it to Apple’s Preview application.
To get started you’ll want to import some files. I used the import dialogue to search for the .pdf extension on my drive and then dumped everything I had into Papers. Papers took maybe a minute to import about 10,000 pages worth of pdf files.
Once you’ve got your files added to the library it’s easy to filter, search, flag and annotate your .pdfs.
The main window in Papers is divided into three panels (sometimes four depending on your selection). On the right you have a very Mail/iPhoto like top-level panel where you can browse through your library, store saved searches, browse journals and dump files to the trash.
The center panel is the meat of the application. Depending on your source selection, you’ll see various lists of files in the center panel. For instance when browsing your library you’ll see a list of local files. When searching the journals list you’ll get a list of available journals and in the lower half of the pane a list recent articles.
Anytime you select a file in the center pane, an abstract or preview appears in the right pane — depending on the files type.
Papers also features search integration with PubMed and even includes predefined search terms to make browsing PubMed easier.
Papers also handles a number of other file types besides PDF, most of which the average person probably doesn’t encounter much such as BibTeX, EndNote, RefMan RIS and some others. There are a couple of other BibTeX readers for OS X, but Papers is by far the slickest interface I’ve used.
One of the best features in Papers is the fullscreen reading mode. Apple’s Preview is somewhat cumbersome for prolonged reading and longer articles are much easier to browse in Paper’s fullscreen mode.
It would be nice if the fullscreen mode supported more keyboard shortcuts and hopefully that’s something the Papers folks will be adding before the app hits 1.0. In the mean time there is a very iPhoto-like navigation toolstrip at the bottom of the screen that shows and hides itself as needed. Fullscreen mode also supports zoom and annotation notes, just like the normal view.
Papers is a beta and not without bugs, particularly in fullscreen mode, for instance when making notes in fullscreen mode and switching apps with cmd-tab the notes continue to overlay the screen. But in spite of a few bugs here and there Papers never crashed or mangled any files and I would feel comfortable using it even in production work. Of course YMMV.
While primarily of interest to scientists and scholars (particularly the emphasis on PubMed with is unlikely to be of interest to most), Papers is easy to use and the slick interface and fullscreen mode make it useful for even the casual user.
For the time being Papers is a free beta, once the app reaches the 1.0 stage mekentosj.com plans to charge $15 for a single seat license.
Main Interface after importing a few pdfs and BibTeX files
Fullscreen reading mode
PubMed browser, note that to grab any files is just a one click process
creating notes in fullscreen mode
