Think

Turn what you've read into thinking, across papers

So reading doesn't end with each paper. Rectoly gathers the annotations of every paper in one place, lays methods and results side by side across papers, and lets you sort passages under each research question.

How it works

See it in use

Annotate right in Reading Mode

Highlight, underline, note and handwrite on the reflowed text. Every annotation sits at its real place in the PDF, so it syncs to Mendeley or Zotero as an ordinary annotation.

A highlight and an underline being made on the reflowed text

Search every annotation at once

Search the text and annotations of every paper on your computer at once; a result opens its page.

A search across papers for "reflow", and a result opening its page

Compare papers section by section

Pull the Methods, Results, Limitations and other sections from several papers into one table, one row per paper. No AI and no uploading — it reads the structure already in the PDF.

Sections pulled from several papers into one comparison table

Collect passages in a research theme

Keep one plain Markdown note per research question open beside your papers. Send a passage to it with one shortcut, and drag fragments between headings such as Claims, Evidence and Counterarguments. Press Enter on a fragment to jump back to its source sentence.

A passage sent to a research theme, then dragged from Inbox to Claims

When you'd use it

Where it fits in your day

Related work for a thesis

Line up the methods to see where yours stands

With each paper's Methods in one table, the difference from your own work becomes visible.

After a lab meeting

A passage for a counterargument, sent with its source

Send it to the theme note when it occurs to you, and you won't be hunting for the source when you write.

A paper you read months ago

“I noted that somewhere”, found by search

Search your words and the page with the annotation opens, whichever paper it's in.

The details

No AI, no cloud: The comparison table is built from the section structure already in the PDF. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.
Notes are plain Markdown: A research theme is an ordinary Markdown file you can open in any editor.
Handwriting is searchable too: Handwriting made on the iPad is included in search.
Find similar passages: Find passages in other papers that resemble the one you're reading. It runs on your computer.

Every feature, free for 14 days

On Windows or Mac, everything is free for 14 days. Then it's a one-time purchase that works on every device signed in to the same account.

Pricing & download