A little help for your reading space.

Paperlane helps you discover research, read original PDFs and keep notes close to the source.

Ask a paper

Open a paper and choose the speech-bubble button. Sign in to save questions and answers with that paper. Review source text before confirming each AI request. You can use the author abstract, relevant PDF excerpts, up to twelve selected PDF pages, or a selected PDF passage. Relevant excerpts are chosen on your device; for long PDFs, only up to eighty sampled pages are inspected. Coverage is shown before sending. Scanned pages without selectable text cannot be used.

Expand a citation to see its original quotation and return to its PDF page. The assistant checks that quotations appear in the supplied text, but this does not guarantee that every interpretation is correct. Compare answers with the paper. Failed requests keep their source for an explicit retry; refreshing or reopening never automatically sends a new question. The latest saved conversation and unfinished draft remain available on the same device when offline; asking AI, refreshing and exporting saved cloud conversations require a connection. Use Stop to cancel an active answer, or export and clear a conversation from its toolbar.

Contact

For help, bug reports and privacy requests, email xw2893@columbia.edu. Paperlane is published by Xingze Wang.

Include your app version, iOS version, the public arXiv paper ID and what happened. Never include API keys or passwords. Screenshots are optional; remove personal notes first.

Open a paper

Paste an arXiv ID or link into Discover, or search for a title. Explore cards open a source overview. Choose PDF to read the original, or Text when a readable HTML version is available. The embedded reader serves papers whose reuse license we can verify as CC BY or CC0. For other papers, choose Open original PDF to read directly on arXiv.

Read offline

Save a paper, then open its reader menu and choose Keep PDF offline. Wait for the saved confirmation. Downloaded papers appear in Library’s Offline filter. Download figures separately when keeping readable text offline. Source searches and new downloads require a connection.

Optional sign-in and sync

Open Settings to see available Google, Apple and X sign-in options. Android browser users can use Google or X sign-in. Your guest library remains separate; after signing in, choose Copy guest library to upload it into your account. Saved paper details, notes and reading positions sync; download PDFs and figures separately on each device. Offline edits wait on the device until it reconnects. Concurrent note edits are retained as separate notes.

Use Sync now to retry a connection. Sign out affects this device only. To remove your account, export any work you want to keep, then choose Delete account in Settings and confirm. Apple users may need to sign in with Apple again before deletion so its authorization can be revoked. For help with deletion, use the contact address above.

Organize your library

In Library, choose New collection to make a folder. Use Organize paper on a saved or recently read paper to add it to one or more collections. Adding a recent paper also saves it. Filter by a collection or Not in a collection. Renaming and deleting a collection keep your papers, downloads and notes. Collections sync within your signed-in account and are included in backups and Copy guest library.

Keep a backup

Open Settings & backups, choose Export backup, and save the JSON file with the system share sheet. Choose Import backup on another installation. The backup contains your library and annotations; download originals and figures again on the destination device. Keep a backup before deleting the app or clearing its data.

Choose how AI is used

“Search without AI” keeps paper search available without sending a question to an AI provider. This choice is remembered. AI settings let you turn explanations on or off, withdraw permission, or choose a personal provider. AI may be unavailable when shared or provider limits are reached; source results remain available.

Research posts and visual stories

Open Explore → Community to share research, discuss a paper or follow a researcher. Ordinary text, paper links and permitted images are free. Your first contributions, images and visual stories wait for review; their status is visible in My posts. Changes to your public name and biography also wait for review; your existing approved profile stays visible meanwhile. The post menu and researcher pages provide report and block controls. If an uploaded image cannot load, Paperlane refreshes its link once and offers Retry image in the post when another attempt may help. Contact the support address above for urgent moderation issues or appeals.

Visual studio turns a paper or your text into an editable story with an active membership. Preview the source and confirm sharing it before generation. You may leave while it runs; reopen Visual studio to find the result. There is no per-story charge. Failed tasks can be retried, and pending work can be cancelled. Check every page against its source, save edits and submit for publication, or export individual pages. Your work is not published automatically.

Membership and purchase recovery

Subscribe monthly or yearly in the iOS app while signed in to the Paperlane account that should receive membership. Available prices come from the App Store. Membership works on other devices with the same Paperlane account. If payment finishes but membership is missing, choose Restore purchases in Visual studio. Do not subscribe with another Paperlane account to retry delivery. Pending purchases take effect after Apple approval.

Use Manage subscription to change or cancel renewal in Apple settings. Membership continues until the current period ends; completed stories remain editable and exportable afterwards. Update payment details with Apple if billing needs attention. Request monetary refunds through Apple’s Report a Problem. Deleting Paperlane or your account does not cancel your Apple subscription.

When a source is unavailable

Try again later or paste the paper’s arXiv ID. Availability depends on arXiv and the paper index. Always check important details against the original paper. Paperlane is independent of arXiv; preprints may not have been peer reviewed.

Private PDFs

Open Library → Private PDFs and sign in to import an original PDF. Files are private to your account. Each PDF can be up to 25 MB; the library holds up to 200 files / 500 MB, with the same allowance for new uploads per day. Select the same PDF again to resume an interrupted upload. Open the PDF options to keep an offline copy or export the original file. Removing an offline copy keeps the cloud file; Delete PDF removes the private paper from your account. The ordinary JSON library backup does not include original private files.