Upload PDFs

When you add a paper's PDF to your library, Papero reads its text. You can then read the paper in the app, open it at the passage behind a citation, and let suggestions, section drafts, the Citation report and Chat use passages from it. See Autocomplete and Chat with your library.

PDF uploads work on Free and Plus. You need a confirmed email address first. See Create your account.

Add PDFs on the Library page

1. In the sidebar, press Library.
2. Drop one or more PDFs on the box above your sources, or press Choose PDFs and pick them.
3. The first time, Papero shows How Papero’s AI handles your text. Read it and press Got it. Your files wait until you do.

Papero adds the files one after another. Each one shows where it has got to: Waiting, Reading the PDF, Uploading, Saving, then Added to your library. Press Clear list to tidy the list once they are done. The box also shows your plan's limits for PDFs.

You can also drop PDFs on the same kind of box in the Library panel beside your document. See Your library.

How Papero matches a PDF to a source

Your browser reads the text of the PDF, then Papero looks for a DOI in its first two pages.

• If a source in your library has that DOI, the PDF joins it.
• If not, Papero looks the DOI up and adds the paper to your library with its details.
• If there is no DOI, or the lookup fails, Papero adds a new source titled with the file name. You can then fill in its details in the Edit source drawer. See Custom citations.

Add a PDF to one source

To add a PDF to a source you already have, so Papero does not have to match it:

• In the Library panel, press Add PDF on the source.
• In the Edit source drawer, press Add PDF in its PDF section.

A source has at most one PDF. To replace it, remove the PDF first. When the paper has a free open-access copy, Get free PDF fetches it for you. See Get a free PDF. You can also upload a PDF from Chat; see Chat with your library.

What a PDF shows in your library

A source with a PDF has a badge with its page count, such as PDF, 12 pages. Press the badge for:

• Open PDF: opens the PDF in the reader. See The PDF reader.
• Download PDF: saves the file to your computer.
• Remove PDF: removes the file and its text. Press Remove the PDF to confirm. The source stays in your library.

A scanned PDF often has no text in it, only pictures of the pages. Papero keeps the file and you can open it, but the badge says No text found in this PDF, and Papero's AI cannot use or cite it. To use its text, remove it and upload a copy that has a text layer, for example one made with text recognition (OCR).

While a file is uploading it already counts toward your limits. An upload that fails, or that you stop, no longer counts.

When a PDF is not added

Papero says why on the file's line. The most common reasons:

• This file is not a PDF.
• This PDF is protected by a password. Remove the password and add it again.
• Papero could not read this PDF. It may be damaged.
• The PDF is larger, or has more pages, than your plan takes for one file.
• On Free, you have as many PDFs as the Free plan keeps. Remove one, or upgrade to Plus.
• Your PDF storage, or the text Papero keeps for your account, is full. Remove some PDFs to add more.
• Confirm your email address to add PDFs.
• You have added a lot of PDFs in the last hour. Try again later.

Free and Plus

Both plans can upload PDFs. The Free plan keeps a limited number of PDFs, each with a size and page limit. Plus has far more room. The exact limits are on the pricing page.

Your files and your privacy

Papero stores each PDF privately with your account and never shares it with other users. Your files and their text are never used to train AI models. When an AI feature uses a paper whose PDF you uploaded, passages of its text go to OpenAI for that request. When you upload a PDF, Papero also sends passages of its text to OpenAI to compute embeddings, which help it find the passages that match what you write or ask. By uploading a PDF, you confirm that you have the right to upload it.

Papero deletes a PDF and its text when you remove the PDF or its source, or when you delete your account. It also deletes your uploaded PDFs 12 months after your last sign-in, and emails you 30 days before. Your library entries and the citations in your documents stay. The Privacy Policy has the details.

Next: the PDF reader.