How to use the literature reading tool: basic operation tutorial

Key points of this article

After opening the paper, drag and select a section of text. If you can select it, it means it is an electronic version. If you cannot select it, you need to do OCR first.
The results of OCR and machine translation must be checked against the original text. Formulas, numbers, and names are especially prone to errors.
Use the page sorting function to split appendices and delete irrelevant pages, so you don’t have to turn pages repeatedly when reading the text.
When there are preprint and official versions of the same paper, use the comparison function to confirm the differences, and the official version shall prevail when citing.
The files are named according to "author year_topic" and put into the same folder, and can be found later.

If you just start reading literature, you often encounter these situations: when you open the downloaded PDF, it is full of pictures, and the text cannot be selected; there are two preprints and journal versions of the same paper, and you don’t know which one to cite; halfway through, you can’t remember which paragraph is the method and which paragraph is the conclusion. These problems cannot be solved by reading multiple times and require a fixed process of opening, annotating and archiving.

This article is written for graduate students who are looking for ways to use literature reading tools, newcomers to research groups, and people who need to read English papers. After reading, you can do three things step by step: first determine whether the file can be read directly, then organize the pages and versions, and finally archive the notes and files to a location where they can be retrieved.

The steps in this article take OmniDoc's PDF editor as an example, and the general idea of other reading tools also applies.

How to use the literature reading tool? One sentence conclusion

First use the reading tool to open the paper and confirm whether the text can be selected; then use the page and text tools to organize the paper into an easy-to-read version; finally use unified naming and folder filing. The table below lists common situations and corresponding actions.

your situation	Recommended practices	reason
Electronic PDF with selectable text	Read and annotate directly, and modify them directly when typos are found.	No additional identification required, more accurate searches and citations
Scans or PDFs with unselectable text	Do OCR first and make sure the text can be selected before reading.	You cannot search for keywords or copy citations without recognition.
The same article has a preprint and a formal version	Use the comparison function to check the differences, and use the official version as the main version.	Avoid referencing versions with inconsistent content
Lots of appendices and supplementary materials	Split out appendices and delete pages that are irrelevant to reading	The text is shorter, so you don’t have to jump frequently when reading.
Need to write reading notes	Export PDF to Word and write notes in Word	Notes and original text are separated, making it easier to organize and review later.

Before you start: Confirm these points first

Note the source and version of the file. Record the source website and year when downloading. The content of the preprint version may be different from the official version. Please check the version information on the top or copyright page before citing.
Determine whether it is a scanned copy. Use the mouse to drag and select a text section in the reader. If it can be selected and searched, it means it is an electronic version; if it cannot be selected, it is usually a scanned copy and requires OCR first.
Clear the purpose of reading. If you just want to understand quickly, you can read the abstract, introduction and charts first; if you want to read and quote carefully, you need to annotate paragraph by paragraph and take complete notes. The purpose is different, and the depth of organization is also different.
Prepare a total folder. Papers, exported Word notes and translation results are all placed in the same place, eliminating the need to search for files everywhere later.
Prepare the desktop client. If you need to process a large number of PDFs, you can download the desktop client from download.omnidoc.top and complete the sorting locally.

Steps to organize a paper in OmniDoc

The operations that the PDF editor can directly complete include changing paragraph text, signing, filling out forms, blackening, page manipulation, OCR, comparing two PDFs and exporting. For reading marks such as highlighting and annotations, if your reading tool comes with it, use it; the following steps focus on what the editor can do.

Import the paper. Open the OmniDoc desktop client and import the paper PDF. If you only work on it occasionally, you can also upload files at omnidoc.top.
Determine whether to scan the document. Drag and select a piece of text. If you can select it, go to step 4, if you can't select it, go to step 3.
Perform OCR on the scanned document. Run OCR and wait for completion, then re-select the text to confirm that it can be copied and searched.
Correct identification or typographical errors. If you find typos while reading through, you can change the text directly in the paragraph. Modifications to OCR results should be based on the original image.
Organize the page structure. Delete pages that are irrelevant to reading, use split to save appendices separately, use merge to connect supplementary materials to the back of the text, and adjust page order if necessary.
Compare two versions. If you have both a preprint and a formal version, use the comparison function to view the differences between the two PDFs, and write down the changed conclusions or data in your notes.
Translate difficult-to-read passages. When you need to understand Chinese, upload the paper for translation, select bilingual download, and read it paragraph by paragraph against the original text. Machine translation may be incorrect, and key conclusions should be checked back to the original English text.
Export and archive. When you need to write notes, export the PDF to Word and record the research questions, methods and page numbers that need to be cited in Word. The files are named according to "author year_topic" and placed in the same folder.

Check each item after completion

After finishing, check the following points one by one, especially the results of OCR and translation.

Inspection items	How to see it	What should you do if there's a problem?
Can text be searched?	Search for a proper noun in a paper to see if it can locate the main text	If you can't find it, re-check OCR, or check the quality of the original file's scan
Identify if there is a mistake	Check the formula, subscripts, numbers, and names against the original image	Directly change the characters; Sentences involving data should be confirmed in the original image
Check whether the page numbers are coherent	Flip to the appendix and references to check if the page order is correct	Use the page order function to adjust and delete pages that were added incorrectly
Whether the versions are consistent	Compare the file name, header information, and the referenced version number	Use the comparison function to confirm differences; the official version is the final reference
Check if the translation is accurate	Bilingual comparison examines key conclusions and terms paragraph by paragraph	For uncertain sentences, refer to the original English text; if necessary, consult a mentor or peer for verification

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is the difference between literature reading tools and regular PDF readers?

Ordinary readers are mainly used for opening and turning pages. Literature reading tools generally also allow search, annotation, page organization, and note-taking. When choosing, you can see if it can handle scans, compare two versions, and export content to Word.

2. Is verification still required after OCR?

Yes. OCR easily misrecognizes formulas, superscripts, decimal points, and personal names. Before quoting, you should compare them with the original image one by one, especially the numbers and proper nouns.

3. Can translated content be directly quoted?

It is not recommended to quote directly. The translation results are suitable for understanding the content; when citing, you should return to the original English text to verify wording and data before including it in the paper.

4. When there are many papers, how can you quickly retrieve a certain paper?

The file name "Author Year_Topic" is uniformly used, and folders are divided according to research direction. The desktop client's literature workspace lets you search PDFs, translate papers, and connect to your commonly used literature management software, making unified document management easy.

📝 Summary

The method of using the literature reading tool is not complicated: first check if the file is readable, then organize the pages and versions, and finally file them uniformly. Only after every step is checked can the papers you read truly be useful for subsequent writing.

Open OmniDoc and use the PDF editor to process your files