PDFs on the canvas

A PDF can sit on your canvas beside your other references. Open its node to read the document in a centred panel, find a phrase, move between pages or save a quotation with its page number.

You can use a PDF at a web address or add a PDF from your device. These are different ways of keeping the reference: a web PDF depends on the original site's document, while an uploaded PDF uses the file you supplied.

Add a PDF#

For a web PDF, copy its complete web address and paste it onto a canvas you can add to. Glob can recognise the destination as a PDF and open it in the PDF panel.

For a file on your device, drag the PDF onto that canvas. A PDF present on the clipboard can also use the canvas's paste action. Glob says Uploading the PDF…, then places its node. The first page can become the node's preview picture. The file's name supplies the starting title.

Uploads can be up to 25 MB each. Larger files are refused before upload with That PDF is larger than 25 MB, the most Glob keeps. The PDF allowance for an account is 500 MB across up to 200 files. If a quota warning appears, adding the same file repeatedly will not create more space.

That file isn't a PDF means Glob did not accept the file as a PDF. Check the original file instead of changing its extension. Too many uploads at once. Try again shortly means to wait before retrying.

The usual canvas access rules apply to placing the result. For how an uploaded PDF's node is shared, see sharing web references.

Open and size the panel#

Click the PDF node, enter it, or choose Open PDF from its menu. The panel opens centred over the canvas, fitted to show one whole page within the available space.

The PDF's title is at the top of the panel. Its expand and close controls are beside the canvas's top-bar box:

• Expand to full size fills the available canvas area.
• Back to one page returns from that expanded layout.
• Close the PDF closes the panel.

The rest of the PDF tools are on the left rail. On a phone, the same tools are in the bottom bar. Settings is in Home. If Home is unavailable, use the small Settings gear near the bottom-left corner.

Move through the document#

Scroll the pages in the panel, or use Go to page at its foot. Type a page number and press Enter. The indicator shows the current page and total, such as Page 3 of 12. A number outside the document's range takes you to the nearest valid page.

Pages opens a column of page thumbnails. Choose a thumbnail to jump there. Choose Pages again to close the column.

Outline opens the document's outline when it has one. Choose an entry with a page destination to jump to that page. This PDF has no outline means the document supplies no outline for this view; use Pages or Go to page instead.

Use Zoom in and Zoom out to move through the manual zoom steps, from 50% to 300%. Fit the page returns to fitting the whole page to the panel. Fitting follows the available space, so it can use a different scale from a manual zoom step.

Expanding the panel and zooming the page are separate controls. Expand when you want more reading space; zoom when you want the page's contents larger.

Find words in the PDF#

While the panel is open, the top bar's box becomes Find in PDF. Press Ctrl+F, or ⌘F on a Mac, to focus it.

Type a word or phrase. Glob searches the document's text across its pages and goes to the first match. Searching… changes to a position such as 3 of 12, or No matches.

Press Enter for the next match, Shift+Enter for the previous, or use Next match and Previous match. Navigation wraps at the ends. Escape clears a non-empty search field.

Matches are marked on the page, with the current match distinguished from the others. The search ignores letter case. It searches the document's text, so a scanned picture of words without selectable text may have nothing to find.

Closing the PDF restores the top bar's ordinary search. This PDF search behaves differently from Find on page, which leaves the browser's Find shortcut to the live website.

Clip a passage#

Select text on a PDF page and release the pointer, or right-click the selection. Choose Take note, Save as node, Share to chat or Copy with source.

The clip keeps the page number and selected position when available. Keep the passage within 2,500 characters. For the source card, editing and where a saved note goes, read notes and clips.

The Body and Wall controls let you move between the document and its discussion. A PDF linked from the web can have Everywhere for its address. An uploaded PDF has no website address, so its panel's discussion has Here only.

If the PDF does not open#

Couldn't open this PDF can mean the document could not be fetched or read. For a web PDF, use Open in new tab from the node's menu to check the original address. For an uploaded PDF, check that the original file opens on your device, then close and reopen the panel.

The panel does not offer a password-entry step. Use an appropriate PDF application if the document needs a password. If the panel opens but a page stays blank or text cannot be selected, try the original document rather than assuming the PDF contains no content.

See web page problems for connection, preview and clipboard messages.