Comments on: How can I organize and annotate my PDFs on linux?

Question: How can I organize and annotate my PDFs on linux?

comwiz — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:59:13 -0800

Help me get my PDF's organised! I need to be reading large quantities of academic papers for research I am working on and currently don't have a way to keep my readings organised. Is there some snazzy yet simple software (preferably for linux) to help me keep a library of PDF files, and hopefully jot some comments down after I'm done reading? Additionally, any good linux software for simple highlighting/annotating of these files?

By: you're a kitty!

you're a kitty! — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:08:29 -0800

Papers is fantastic, though I believe it's Mac-only at this point. You said "preferably" for linux, so I thought I'd toss it out there.

By: PercussivePaul

PercussivePaul — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:11:30 -0800

Jabref is what I used to use. I now use Zotero (firefox plugin) since I end up pulling most of my papers from the web; it saves me some typing. I believe the latter has some kind of pdf tagging feature, but I haven't played with it.

By: chrisamiller

chrisamiller — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:40:21 -0800

Mendeley

By: singingfish

singingfish — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:48:13 -0800

Zotero is what you want without a doubt. Also integrates with open office, and with some work, Bibtex for citation support.

By: needled

needled — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:10:35 -0800

If OS X is in the running, then consider using Skim together with the aforementioned Papers.

By: aheckler

aheckler — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:23:23 -0800

Referencer is pretty snazzy.

By: kdern

kdern — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:04:31 -0800

If you're looking for a really simple solution, itunes might work.

By: PueExMachina

PueExMachina — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:29:20 -0800

I wish i'd organized my PDFs from the beginning using something like Referencer; right now I have a mess of folders. I use Xournal for highlighting and basic notes within PDF files. It saves the highlight/notes as a seperate file and renders them on top of the PDF. SInce you're using linux, take advantage of Tracker or Beagle to index your PDFs.

By: jonesor

jonesor — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 03:10:41 -0800

Another good one, though for OS X only, is BibDesk.

By: Sitegeist

Sitegeist — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:43:34 -0800

Zotero for the 3rd time.

By: aether516

aether516 — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:44:49 -0800

Try Yep! It's the best way I've found to manage a lot of .pdf files.