1. Open the PDF in PDFcove
Drag the file onto the home page, or tap Choose PDF and pick it from your device. The file never leaves your browser — there is no upload step. If you want to try the workflow first, open the sample PDF from the home page.
2. Select text and pick a highlight color
Drag across any passage to select it. A small toolbar appears with four colors — use them however you like (claim / evidence / counterpoint / quote works well for papers). Highlights snap to the underlying text, not pixel boxes, so they stay tidy.
3. Add a margin note
Any highlight can carry a note. Open the marks sidebar, click the passage, and type. Notes are searchable from the same panel, so a long document never turns into a haystack.
4. Export your notes as Markdown
When the document is done, export everything as Markdown or plain text. Notes are sorted by page, with the highlighted passage quoted above each one — drop the file into your note system and you have a full study summary in seconds.
5. Download a PDF with highlights baked in
Need to send the marked-up version to a colleague? PDFcove can save a new PDF with your highlights drawn directly onto the pages. The original file is untouched and nothing leaves your device.
A note on privacy
PDFcove processes the document locally. Your highlights and notes live in this browser's storage, on this device, attached to the file's fingerprint. There is no cloud sync — which also means no leak risk and nothing to delete from a server later.