Papers is a desktop-based reference management and PDF reading tool built for researchers, academics, and knowledge workers. It combines a citation manager, PDF organizer, and annotation tool into a single app, with a strong focus on reading and library organization.
It’s available on macOS, Windows, iOS, and iPadOS, with optional cloud sync across devices.
If you read and annotate a lot of academic PDFs, Papers is designed to reduce friction. It helps you keep large libraries organized, quickly search across papers, and stay focused while reading. Compared to lighter citation tools, it puts more emphasis on the reading and annotation experience.
It’s especially useful for researchers who prefer a polished desktop app over browser-based tools.
You import PDFs or references manually, via DOI lookup, or through built-in search. Papers automatically extracts metadata, organizes files, and lets you tag, rate, and group content into collections.
