Reader: Frequently Asked Questions

Pro Tip: Use Ghostreader

One of the coolest features of Reader is an AI reading assistant called Ghostreader (based on GPT-3). Ghostreader enables you to define terms, look up encyclopedia entries, simplify complex language, and much more, but one of its most powerful functions is asking a document a question. If you're on web, you can ask this FAQ your question using Ghostreader rather and likely find the answer you're looking for.

Try it for yourself: Hit Shift + G to invoke Ghostreader at the document-level, select "Ask the document question", and input a specific question such as "How do I upload an OPML file?" or "Where do I find the Safari extension?" Nine times out of ten it should return what you're looking for!

Basics 🧒

How do I get started with Reader?

Reader is a cross-platform reading application which includes a web app (read.readwise.io), mobile apps for iOS and Android, and browser extensions for Chrome, Chromium-based browsers (Edge, Brave, Arc, etc), Firefox, and Safari.

The best way to get started using Reader is to navigate to read.readwise.io and read the Getting Started with Reader article inserted into your Library by default. From there, we recommend you navigate to different sections of the app based on the type of content you read. For example, if you read PDFs, click on the PDF section and you'll see instructions in the right sidebar for how to upload those files.

Alternatively, you can also watch our community manager Erin's short walkthrough video to get up and running with Reader as quickly as possible:

How do I find the Reader web app in my browser?

On web, go to read.readwise.io. Note that Reader and Readwise use the same account and authentication.

How do I log into Reader?

Reader uses your Readwise account for authentication. If you're not redirected automatically, make sure you're logged into Readwise on any browser you're using with Reader.

What's the relationship between Reader and Readwise? Are they automatically connected?

Right now, you can think of Reader as another reading app that integrates with Readwise (albeit seamlessly because they share a database). Every highlight you make in Reader instantly syncs with Readwise and then from Readwise to your note-taking apps. Over time, the vision is to create a unified experience between Readwise and Reader within Reader.

What is the business model of Readwise? If I start using Reader how do I know you won't disappear on me?

We've been working on Readwise since 2017 (5+ years!) and in 2018 we decided to fund the business through consumer software-as-a-service rather than raising venture capital (more here: Why We're Bootstrapping Readwise). We're a sustainable company on a team of 13 (and growing) with a long-term mission of improving the practice of reading through software by an order of magnitude. We're not going anywhere, but it's a fair question considering the many startups that raised venture capital during the peak markets of 2020/2021 and are now zombies.

What is the pricing of Reader?

Once Reader officially exits beta sometime in 2023, we intend to reprice Readwise/Reader for new subscribers thereafter. Pricing is really hard and complex so we candidly haven't figured out the exact plans yet, but we hope to justify a slightly higher price point than Readwise could before Reader. Regardless, we don't intend to increase pricing on existing full subscribers at that time. This means that if you subscribe while Reader is in beta, you'll get lifetime access for $7.99/month (billed annually) as part of our current Readwise Full plan.

How do I use Reader offline?

Reader works offline on both web and mobile. On web, so long as you have read.readwise.io open before you go offline, Reader will continue to work and any changes you make (eg new highlights) will sync once you come back online. Alternatively, you can install Reader as a Chrome web app or a wrapped Safari app that will both open and work offline. On mobile, so long as you open the app before you go offline to make sure all your content is synced, Reader will work offline. You might need to open articles, EPUBs, and PDFs to cache images.

Does Reader have a Command Palette?

Reader has a Command Palette on web (Cmd/Ctrl + K) which contains virtually any action you can take in the application. The Command Palette is a great way to find out if actions you're looking to take exist and, if so, what is the keyboard shortcut.

Does Reader use keyboard shortcuts or hotkeys?

Reader is fully keyboard shortcut driven including while reading documents. Most shortcuts are shown in hover tooltips in the user interface, but you can additionally open the Command Palette (Cmd/Ctrl + K) or use the ? shortcut to pull up a reference. Note that if you use a Magic Keyboard with iPad, you should use the Reader web app in iOS Safari as we've not yet had an opportunity to optimize the iPad app with keyboard shortcuts yet. This is on the roadmap.

Does Reader support end-to-end encryption?

No. Reader is consumer software optimizing for user experience over enterprise compliance. If you're dealing in matters of national security requiring NSA-level encryption, you should definitely not save anything containing your state secrets to Reader. That said, you should generally feel comfortable that your private content will be kept private. For example, if you upload a PDF to Reader, no one will ever see that PDF but you.

Adding Content to Reader ➕

How do I import my Instapaper or Pocket articles to Reader?

If you have Instapaper or Pocket connected to Readwise, any articles you've saved previously will automatically import to Readwise. You can connect Instapaper and Pocket within Readwise by following this link. Any articles that were archived inside Instapaper or Pocket will appear inside your Archive in Reader; the ten most recently saved items not archived will appear inside your Inbox in Reader; everything else will go in Later.

It seems some of my Instapaper articles are missing. How do I make sure ALL my Instapaper articles imported?

If it looks like you're missing Instapaper or Pocket articles within Reader, first note that any articles that were archived inside Instapaper or Pocket will appear inside your Archive in Reader; the ten most recently saved items not archived will appear inside your Inbox in Reader; everything else will go in Later. If you've checked those places and still don't find the articles you're looking for, it's possible you might be hitting an Instapaper API export bug which caps the number of items export at 500. To get around this, you can download a CSV export of your Instapaper articles and then upload those on read.readwise.io/import.

It seems some of my Pocket articles are missing. How do I make sure ALL my Pocket articles imported?

If it looks like you're missing Instapaper or Pocket articles within Reader, first note that any articles that were archived inside Instapaper or Pocket will appear inside your Archive in Reader; the ten most recently saved items not archived will appear inside your Inbox in Reader; everything else will go in Later. If you've checked those places and still don't find the articles you're looking for, it's possible you might have so many Pocket articles that Reader only imported the first 10,000. If you open the Command Palette and search for "Import entire Pocket library", you can trigger an import of the rest. Note that we recommend you have a powerful machine and modern phone before you do this.

How do I use the browser extensions to save articles to Reader?

The Reader browser extension performs two functions: first, saving articles to Reader and, optionally, highlighting the open web. To save a document to Reader, tap the icon in the browser bar. This will save a clean version of the document to your Reader inbox. Once you've tapped the icon, you can optionally begin highlighting on the website itself. This is purely optional, however. Note that the browser extension is the most robust way to save documents to Reader because the extension gets the underlying content rendered in your browser as opposed to just a URL.

How do I use the mobile app to save articles to Reader?

Once you have the mobile app installed on your iOS or Android device, you can share documents to Reader using your mobile operating system's share sheet. Sometimes iOS has a bug where new apps do not immediately appear in the share sheet. One way to fix this is to restart your iPhone or iPad. Note that saving from Safari is the best way to save documents to Reader on mobile because iOS gives our app access to the underlying content in addition to the URL resulting in better parsing.

My Chrome extension is asking for an API token. What do I do?

This is not actually a Chrome extension made by Readwise but rather someone in the community. You should not use this extension with Reader. Instead, install the official extension here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jjhefcfhmnkfeepcpnilbbkaadhngkbi

How do I install the Reader Firefox extension?

You can install the Reader Firefox extension using this link: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/readwise-highlighter/

How do I install the Reader Safari extension?

You can install the Reader Safari extension using this link: https://apps.apple.com/app/save-to-reader/id1640236961

How do I use a keyboard shortcut to save documents to Reader using the browser extension?

By default, you should be able to tap Alt + R to save a document to Reader using the browser extension. If you're using Chrome or a Chromium-based browser, you can edit this shortcut for the browser extension here: chrome://extensions/shortcuts.

What's the difference between Library and Feed?

Reader has two broad sections: Library and Feed. Library is further subdivided into a handful of locations like Inbox, Later, Archive, and Shortlist (depending on your Library configuration). Library is where things that you manually curate for yourself and choose to save permanently go. Feed is where things that are automatically pushed to you go. As you find documents in Feed that you want to read later and/or permanently save, you can move them to your Library.

How do I upload an OPML file to import all my RSS feeds from my existing RSS feed reader such as Feedly, Inoreader, Reeder, etc?

You can upload OPML files to Reader by dragging the OPML file on top of the web app or opening the upload dialog (keyboard shortcut: U) and selecting the file.

How do I subscribe or unsubscribe to feeds in Reader?

You subscribe to RSS feeds inside Reader many different ways.

First, whenever you save a document to Reader, Reader scans the domain for the presence of an RSS feed. If it detects and associated RSS feed, a Subscribe button will appear in the right sidebar on both web and mobile. You can tap this Subscribe button to add this RSS feed to your account. If you're subscribed to the source, this Subscribe button will become Unsubscribe.

Second, you can navigate to the Manage feeds section of the web app or mobile app and click Add feeds (Shift + A) to search for or manually input a domain or RSS feed.

Third, you can upload an OPML file of RSS feeds to Reader by exporting the file from an existing feed reading, dragging the OPML file on top of the web app or opening the upload dialog (keyboard shortcut: U) and selecting the file. This is typically how you would quickly migrate from an existing feed reader such as Feedly, Inoreader, Reeder, Feedbin, etc.

Finally, you can subscribe in bulk to suggested feeds from the "Suggested" tab on the Manage feeds section of the web app. This tab contains all the RSS feeds detected on documents you've saved to Reader. If you're not a pre-existing RSS power user, we recommend subscribing to all feeds contained in the "High signal feeds" section and then pruning back sources you don't like over time.

How do I upload files to Reader?

You can upload different kinds of files to Reader including PDFs, EPUBs, and OPML files. To upload a file, drag it on top of the web app or open the Upload dialog (keyboard shortcut: U) and selecting the file. On mobile, use the "share" action and find the option in the share sheet labeled "Upload [file] to Reader".

How do I save Twitter threads to Reader?

You can save Twitter threads to Reader and they'll compile into beautiful, blog-like documents. To save a Twitter thread, you first need to make sure your Twitter account is connected to Reader from the Import page. Once connected, you can publicly reply to a Twitter thread with @readwise save thread or privately DM the thread to @readwise with the body text "t" or "thread". If you're on mobile, you can also use the share sheet to share the first tweet of the thread into Reader.

How do I configure where individual tweets and Twitter threads go between Reader and Readwise?

Users have many different preferences on where they want to save individual tweets and threads. By default, we make the assumption that individual tweets are like highlights and therefore go into Readwise whereas Twitter threads are like articles and therefore go into Reader. If you want to change any of this, you can customize the Twitter behavior on the Import page.

How do I add Twitter lists to Reader?

You can subscribe to public Twitter Lists in Reader as if they were an RSS feed. It's a great way to separate the good parts of Twitter (high signal information/entertainment) from the bad parts (phone addiction?). Once you're subscribed to a Twitter List, you'll start receiving two digests per day in the AM and the PM containing all the new tweets over the past 12 hours. To subscribe to a Twitter List, find the URL of a public list and subscribe to it in the Feed section of Reader.

How do I watch a YouTube video inside Reader?

If you save a YouTube link to Reader, you'll be able to watch it alongside its time-synced transcript, and take notes and highlights as it plays. You can also precisely navigate the video by clicking any fragment, clicking a highlight in the right sidebar, or using special keyboard controls.

Highlights, Tags, and Notes ✍️

Can I highlight and/or make annotations using the keyboard?

Reader on web is designed with a "keyboard-based reading experience" enabling you to read, navigate, highlight, tag, and annotate without using your mouse. You navigate the document using the up or down arrows, which moves the blue focus indicator paragraph-by-paragraph. If you want to highlight a paragraph, tap H. Alternatively, you can tap T to tag a highlight or N to add a note to a highlight. On web, if you have a wide enough screen or the sidebars hidden these annotations (notes and tags) will appear in the right margin.

How do I highlight more than one paragraph or less than one paragraph using keyboard shortcuts?

Right now, keyboard-based highlighting and annotating is limited to the paragraph level, but it's on our roadmap to make this finer grained so you can highlight less than or more than a single paragraph.

How do I highlight images in Reader?

Reader enables you to highlight images while reading. These images will carry over into Readwise and even into your note-taking app if you export your highlights. To highlight images, simply focus the image and use the keyboard shortcut H or select it with the mouse (plus any desired text) on web, or select it plus any desired text on mobile.

How do I use the browser extension to highlight the open web?

Once you've activated the Reader extension on a particular web page, you can begin highlighting text and images on the site itself. You might do this for a couple reasons:

First, although most users generally prefer the clean, distraction-free reading experience of the Reader app, there are some exceptions where the original site is more pleasing. In these cases, you can honor the original author and read what they wrote in the manner they intended.

Second, although Reader's parsing already exceeds Instapaper and Pocket in our benchmark tests, we'll never be able to parse 100% of the internet 100% perfectly. HTML and CSS are just too flexible. The web highlighter is an exception handler.

Third, sometimes you'll find yourself reading an article wanting to take a highlight but not wanting to break your flow. Just activate the highlighter, make your highlight, and keep reading.

Will highlights made using the Reader browser extension show up in the Reader apps and vice versa?

Any highlight you make on the native web using the browser extension will typically sync with Reader and vice versa. Most of the time, these highlights will appear in both places. In other words, if you highlight the open web using the Reader browser extension, this highlight will typically appear on top of the clean article in the Reader apps; conversely, if you highlight the clean article in the Reader app, this highlight will typically appear overlaid on the open web.

Sometimes highlights that I took using the browser extension do not appear overlaid in the Reader app. How do I get highlights made using the browser extension to appear in the Reader web app?

Any highlight you make on the native web using the browser extension will typically sync with Reader (and from Reader to Readwise) and vice versa. That said, there are some exceptions when the position of highlight made in one platform cannot be matched with sufficient confidence in the other platform. In these rare cases, the app will notify you that it failed to match and those highlights will still be visible in the Notebook tab of the Reader web app.

How do I add a note to the document as opposed to just a highlight?

Currently, you can only add a document note in the web version of Reader. You can find this option in the right sidebar under Notebook (or using the keyboard shortcut Shift + N). We're in the process of adding document notes throughout Reader including the browser extensions (so you can add a document note when saving an article) and the mobile apps. Once we do that, we'll make sure these document notes also export to your note-taking app.

Sometimes I have trouble selecting leading and/or trailing punctuation on iOS. How do I highlight the leading and trailing punctuation on iOS?

Believe it or not, this is a frustration caused by iOS's built-in text selecting module which we're using for the Reader iOS app. To fix this, we'll need to build our own text selection which is definitely on our roadmap. In the meantime, one workaround is to simply double-tap to highlight a paragraph (the mobile analog of tapping H on web to highlight a paragraph). This won't solve all frustration, but we've found it addresses 80% of instances!

How do I highlight in multiple colors?

We haven't yet added multiple highlight colors. If you use highlight colors as a kind of workflow or system (as opposed to as a visual affordance), you might try using highlight tags instead.

How do I use the Apple Pencil with Reader on my iPad?

We haven't yet had an opportunity to optimize the iOS for iPad specifically nevertheless the Apple Pencil. That said, we recognize the iPad and Pencil combo is one of the most powerful reading for betterment platforms out there so we look forward to focusing on this in the future.

Do document tags apply to highlight tags and vice versa?

Currently, there is no inheritance between highlight tags and document tags. In other words, if you tag a document that tag will not apply to highlights in the document. Conversely, if you tag a highlight that tag will not apply to the document.

How do I find my tagged highlights?

Right now we are deferring most highlight-based workflows to Readwise so you can find your tagged highlights in Readwise here: https://readwise.io/tags. Over time, we intend to create a unified experience between Readwise and Reader in Reader.

How do I add multiple highlight tags or document tags in a row without closing the dialog?

By default, when you hit T or Shift + T to open the tag dialog, input your tag, and then hit Enter to add, the dialog will close. If you want the dialog to stay open after inputting a tag, hit Cmd/Ctrl + Enter instead.

How do I insert a line break into a highlight note?

By default, when you hit Enter inside the highlight note field on web, it will save the note. If you want to insert a line break, hit Shift + Enter instead.

How do I add a note when saving a document to Reader?

Currently, we've added the ability to input a document note to the Reader web app, but haven't yet adapted it to other areas of Reader including the browser extension and mobile apps. That said, we're in the process of extending document note now and once added, you'll be able to add a note when saving via the browser extension and the mobile app.

How do I copy text or highlights to the clipboard?

You can copy a highlight's text to your clipboard by selecting the highlight, tapping the "more menu" icon (...), and selecting Copy text. If you have autohighlighting disabled, you can also copy selected text to the clipboard this way. If you have autohighlighting enabled, you can hold down Alt (on Windows) or Option on (Mac) to temporarily disable autohighlighting and select text. Finally, you can quickly use the keyboard shortcut Cmd/Ctrl + C on web to copy the focused paragraph or focused to clipboard.

How do I edit or adjust the starting and ending points of an already made highlight?

When we initially designed highlighting for Reader, we intended to make it possible to tap an already made highlight to show "handles" that would enable you to adjust the starting and ending points of the highlight. But once we started building Reader, we discovered that this functionality would be incredibly difficult. It's possible, but we decided to punt this until later on our roadmap. If this is your desired flow, you can disable autohighlighting and first select text with handles.

How do I quickly pull up all articles with a particular document tag?

You can quickly pull up all documents with a particular document a couple different ways. First, you can always tap a document tag wherever it's shown in the user interface to navigate to a Filtered View of that document tag. Second, you can go to the Manage tags page from the Library on web or you can click on Views on mobile and choose Tags. Finally, you can input a filtered view by tapping Shift + F on web and entering tag:[tag-name] (replace [tag-name] with the exact name of your tag).

How do I find a list of my Readwise highlight tags inside Reader?

Currently, you'll only see tags used within Reader inside Reader as opposed to tags already existing inside Readwise. Over time, we intend to create a unified Readwise and Reader experience within Reader.

How do I select multiple items to perform actions in bulk?

Currently, Reader does not have a multiselect option enabling you to manually select more than one document in a particular list view. That said, Reader does have a Bulk Action (Shift + B) option enabling you to perform actions on every document in the list in one fell swoop. Combined with filtering (Shift + F, described below), you can often achieve the desired outcome of multiselection with Bulk Actions.

Appearance

Can I customize the appearance of Reader?

You can customize the text formatting on both web and mobile. On web, click the Aa icon in the bottom left to pull open a variety of settings including typeface, font-size, line-width, and line-height. You can tweak the same settings on mobile by tapping the more context menu (...) in the bottom right and choosing "Customize styles".

Does Reader have dark mode?

Reader has both light mode and dark mode as well as an auto setting to detect the color mode of the operating system.

Does Reader have a true black mode for OLED devices?

At the moment, Reader does not a have a true black mode for OLED devices, but it's on our roadmap to add a more flexible theming system enabling a wide variety of color combinations from true black to sepia.

Feed (RSS, Newsletters, Twitter Digests) 📥

How do I group or organize RSS feeds into folders?

You organize all content in Reader (including RSS feeds) using a concept called Filtered Views. Filtered Views are extremely powerful enabling you to create all kinds of dynamic subsets of your documents, but you can quickly add RSS feeds to groups on the Manage feeds section within Feed.

For a more detailed overview of getting the most out of your Feed section, see our Reader 201 walkthrough video on Feeds. For a more detailed overview of getting the most out of Filtered Views, see our Reader 202 walkthrough video on Filtered Views.

How do I mark items as seen simply while scrolling my Feed?

Right now, Reader doesn't have a way to automatically mark items as seen as you scroll your Feed list like other RSS apps you may have used in the past. That said, there is a one-at-a-time, TikTok-like UI on mobile that will mark items as seen as you scroll them. In addition, you can customize your swipes on mobile to include an action that marks all items above as seen so you scroll and then once done mark all items you've scrolled past with a single action.

I added an RSS feed which comes in with incomplete articles to Reader. How do I get the full content of incomplete RSS feeds?

Some RSS feed creators include partial rather than full content in their RSS feed (eg just a summary or first paragraph rather than the whole article). If you notice this happened, you can "Report partial feed content" by pulling open the Command Palette and searching for this option. This will cause Reader to forcefully parse the URL of the RSS entry going forward rather than relying on the feed author to include the proper content.

How do I quickly pull up all articles from a particular RSS feed?

You can quickly view all articles from a particular RSS feed by clicking the Source metadata in the right sidebar on mobile or on web. This will take you to a Filtered View of that particular RSS feed.

Email Newsletters 📧

How do I find my custom Reader email address?

You can find your custom Reader email address in Reader a variety of places.

On web, if navigate to the default Email section, your address will be in the right sidebar if there's no content (if there is content you can tap the Getting started button in the bottom right of the right sidebar). The same is true if you navigate to the Feed section. You can also click the blue + button in the bottom right where you'll see options to Send emails to your Feed or Library. Finally, you can navigate to the yet unstyled import page to see your custom email addresses.

On mobile, if you navigate to the Settings tab, you'll be able to find your custom email addresses listed.

How do I customize my custom Reader email address to make it easier to remember?

Currently, we're generating random custom email addresses as a security measure, but it's on our roadmap to enable you to choose a custom address.

How do I forward emails to Reader?

Once you have your custom Reader email address, you can send any email to that address to have it appear in your Reader Feed or Library, respectively. This includes one-off emails, subscribing directly to newsletters with the custom address, or subscribing to newsletters using your personal address and auto-forwarding. Because it's a random string of characters, you don't need to whitelist any sending addresses.

How do I unsubscribe from an email newsletter subscribed to my Reader custom email address?

You can unsubscribe from an email newsletter in Reader the same way you would in your email client: by opening the email, navigating to the bottom, and finding an unsubscribe link. It's on our roadmap to detect newsletter subscriptions and add them to the Manage feeds to make this process easier.

How do I find email newsletters that I'm subscribed to in Reader?

Currently, there is no way to find a list of all email newsletters you're subscribed to inside Reader, but it's on our roadmap to detect newsletter subscriptions and add them to the Manage feeds section.

How do I confirm auto-forwarding from Gmail to my custom Reader email address?

If you set up auto-forwarding from Gmail to your custom Reader email address, Reader will automatically "click" the link contained inside that email to confirm. If Gmail is still asking for a confirmation code to complete the auto-forwarding setup, Reader will email your Gmail email address automatically with the code.

How do I customize the sections in the left sidebar of the web app?

The sections in the left sidebar are just defaults and fully customizable but for Home, Library, Feed, and Search (those are fixed). You can reorder the views by dragging and dropping, unpin the views by clicking the down caret at the top of the view, and pin new views on the Manage views page.

How do I customize the swipe actions in the Reader mobile app?

You can customize the swipe actions in the Reader mobile app by navigating to the Settings tab and choosing Customize swipes.

Sometimes when I perform an action on a document such as Inboxing, Latering, or Archiving, it returns me to the document list rather than advanced to the next document? How do I perform an action and then advance to the next document?

By default, if you move a document while in its reading view, you'll be returned to previous document list. You can toggle this behavior to instead auto-advance by looking for "Toggle auto-advance" in the Command Palette on web or switching the setting in the Settings panel on mobile.

How do I find a list of keyboard shortcuts?

Reader on web is fully keyboard shortcut driven including while reading documents. Most keyboard shortcuts are shown in hover tooltips in the user interface, but you can additionally open the Command Palette (Cmd/Ctrl + K) to reference shortcuts or use the ? shortcut to pull up a reference.

Some keyboard shortcuts are not working on my keyboard such as `[` and `]` to open or hide the side panels. How do I customize my keyboard shortcuts?

Some non-North American keyboard layouts (such as German, Swedish, Dutch, Norwegian, Catalonian, keyboards etc) may not be optimized for the default Reader shortcuts. Currently, there is no way to edit these default shortcuts, but it's on our roadmap to add customization.

How do I use keyboard shortcuts in the iPad app?

We haven't yet had an opportunity to optimize the iOS for iPad yet, but it's on our roadmap. In the meantime, if you use your iPad with a keyboard as a quasi-laptop, we recommed using Reader inside the browser web app (read.readwise.io) rather than the native app.

How do I dismiss the nudge to use the mobile app when using read.readwise.io in Safari on iPad?

Whenever you enable deeplinking into your iOS app, Apple will detect the link pattern in Safari and dropdown a header nudging you to use the native app rather than the web app. This is annoying and we've not yet found a way to disable this behavior, but we're working on it.

How do I change settings to keep the sidebars hidden at all times?

You can change the default sidebar setting upon entering the reading view by opening the Command Palette and searching for "Hide side panels by default in reading view".

Searching 🔎

How do I use full-text search to find a particular document?

Reader has blazingly fast, full-text offline search built-in by default on both web and mobile. Click the magnifying glass or use the keyboard shortcut / to begin searching the full-text of the document, it's title, and author.

How do I find specific text within a document?

On web, you can find text within a document by using Cmd/Ctrl + F. On mobile, you can find text within a document by tapping the more menu (...) in the bottom right and choosing Find in document.

How do I filter my full-text searches?

Currently, filtered views and full-text search are distinct features. That said, it's on our roadmap to merge the two features so you can use query or parameter-based subsetting as part of searching.

How do I use full-text search to find a PDF?

Currently, the full-text of PDFs are not being indexed so matching PDFs will not appear in full-text search results yet. That said, it's on our roadmap to index PDFs and include those in search.

Parsing 📄

An article I saved is missing content such text, images, videos, or tables. How do I fix missing content in saved articles?

We built a benchmark test we run against the top 200 articles saved to Readwise from Instapaper and Pocket and Reader already parses them better, but it's still not possible to parse the open web 100% correct 100% of the time.

If you save documents using the browser extensions on web or using the Safari browser and share sheet on iOS, these methods will generally result in the highest quality parsing because Reader is getting the full document content rather than the naked URL.

If the document is still missing content (such as missing images), you should report those documents through the feedback section of the Reader app and selecting Report document parsing issue. We have an engineer dedicated to fixing parsing tickets and we are constantly upgrading our parsing.

An article I saved includes non-core content such as an advertisement. How do I fix extra content in saved articles?

If the document still has extraneous content (such as inline advertisements), you should report those documents through the feedback section of the Reader app and selecting Report document parsing issue. We have an engineer dedicated to fixing parsing tickets and we are constantly upgrading our parsing.

How do I save articles behind paywalls?

If you save documents using the browser extensions on web or using the Safari browser and share sheet on iOS, paywalled document should be saved without issue.

I noticed that articles from large news sites such as NYT, Washington Post, Medium, and so on do not contain the full content. How do I save the full content of an article behind a paywall?

If you save documents using the browser extensions on web or using the Safari browser and share sheet on iOS, paywalled document should be saved without issue. Note that if you save directly from another app on iOS, such as the NYTimes app, this may result in impartial parsing because Reader can only get the naked URL and those apps aggressively block read-it-later apps.

Organizing Content 📂

What are Filtered Views?

The core organizational concept in Reader is what we call a Filtered View. A Filtered View is similar to a query-based search in Gmail like title:Getting Started or author:Paul Graham. Basically, you can think of your Reader account as one flat database of documents and Filtered Views enable you to "filter" those documents based on a variety of different parameters. Every time you click an author name or tag or RSS source in the Reader user interface to see all documents by that author or with that tag or from that RSS source, you are just creating a Filtered View on that parameter.

The best way to learn how to use Filtered Views is to watch our Reader 202 walkthrough video on Filtered Views.

You can reference all the different parameters that can be used with Filtered Views (including examples) from this Filtered View guide.

How do I create groups or folders of documents?

You can create groups or folders of documents using Filtered Views. Filtered Views enable all kinds of powerful filtering of your documents, but the simplest way to create a "folder" analog is to tag documents with your desired folder name. You can then click this tag to generated a Filtered View for all documents having that tag. You can then save the Filtered View to effectively have a folder.

How do I put an icon in front of a filtered view?

When saving a Filtered View, if you input an emoji as the first character of the saved name, this emoji will be used as a de facto icon in the left sidebar of the Reader app.

How can I see how my items are in a saved filtered view?

You can optionally enable a "count badge" for any saved Filter View that will appear on top of the icon in the left sidebar. You can toggle on the count bar by click the down chevron next to the saved Filtered View's name in the top header.

How do I use filtered views?

The best way to learn how to use Filtered Views is to watch our Reader 202 walkthrough video on Filtered Views. You can reference all the different parameters that can be used with Filtered Views (including examples) from this Filtered View guide.

How can I see all my tags?

You can see all your tags from the Manage tags section visible in the top header of the Library section of Reader.

PDFs 📃

Sometimes PDFs have strange filenames. How do I change the name of a PDF?

Reader uses the metadata contained inside the PDF to determine its filename, which was often improperly set or not set at all by the PDF file creator. When this happens, the title of the PDF may be strange or confusing. That said, you can edit this metadata by selecting Edit Metadata (Shift + M) in the bottom right of the web app. You can edit other document-level metadata than just title, and you can do this on documents other than just PDFs. Right now, Edit Metadata is just on web but it's on our near-term roadmap to adapt to mobile.

How do I edit metadata on mobile?

Currently, you can only edit metadata on web, but it's on our near-term roadmap to adapt Edit Metadata to mobile.

How do I zoom in or out on a PDF?

On web, you can zoom in or out by using the + and - icons in the top of a PDF or the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl/Cmd + - Ctrl/Cmd + +. On mobile, you can pinch.

How do I highlight images, tables, and figures in a PDF?

Currently, there is no way to highlight non-text entities in PDFs such as images, tables, and figures, but it's on our roadmap to add a "snapshotting" feature to enable this.

How do I download and/or export a highlighted PDF from Reader?

Currently, there is no way to download and/or export a highlighted PDF from Reader, but this is on our roadmap to add.

How do I import highlights from a previously highlighted PDF to Reader?

Currently, highlights made in another PDF app will not be recognized as proper highlights inside of Reader, but this is on our roadmap to add.

How do I highlight across pages inside a PDF?

Without reflowing the PDF into plain text, there is no way to highlight across PDF pages in any app that we're aware of. That said, you can use Readwise's "inline concatenation" feature to combine two disjoint highlights when they're imported into Readwise and before they're exported to your note-taking app.

How do I remove the random line breaks from highlights made in a PDF?

The underlying text behind a PDF often has glitches that aren't visible on the rendered PDF that will appear in the highlights such as random line breaks. It's on our roadmap to clean this text automatically.

Text-to-Speech (TTS) 🗣️

What is text-to-speech?

Text-to-speech enables you to listen to virtually any document using the highest quality AI voices the big tech companies have to offer. Right now, text-to-speech is just on mobile (not web), only handles English, and doesn't work on PDFs.

How do I start text-to-speech (TTS) at an arbitrary position?

Currently, it's not possible to choose an arbitrary starting position (or "seek") while using text-to-speech, but this is on our roadmap to add.

How do I highlight while listening to a document using text-to-speech. Can I triple tap my AirPods?

Currently, you can't use your AirPods to "highlight" while listening to text-to-speech, but this is on our roadmap to add. In the meantime, the spoken speech position will track with the underlying text content making it is easy to pause the track and highlight what was just spoken.

Sometimes the highlighted word misaligns from the spoken word while using text-to-speech. How do I make sure the highlighted word maps closer to the spoken word?

Occasionally, the speech will disconnect from the highlighted text. We are constantly improving the accuracy of this feature.

How do I use text-to-speech offline?

Currently, it's not possible to use text-to-speech offline, but it's on our roadmap to add the ability to pre-download TTS before going offline.

How do I use text-to-speech in the web app?

Currently, text-to-speech is only in the mobile apps, but it's on our roadmap to add to the web app over time.

Does text-to-speech work on languages other than English?

At the moment, no. This is a limitation of the text-to-speech API we're using, but we're experimenting with some newer providers in the hopes of solving this and making the voices even better.

Exporting 📤

How do I export my highlights to my note-taking app such as Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research, Logseq, Evernote, etc?

Reader is innately connected to Readwise so every highlight you make in Reader will instantly sync with Readwise and then from Readwise to your note-taking apps. Over time, we intend to create a unified experience within Reader.

How do I generate a CSV of all my saved documents?

You can generate a CSV of all your documents by entering the Command Palette and searching for "Generate CSV export".

How do I copy the URL of the document to my clipboard?

You can copy the URL of the document to your clipboard a variety of different ways. On web, you can simply hit Shift + C to copy the URL of the current document or focused document to your clipboard. Alternatively, you can hit O to open the original document in a new tab or hover over the domain underneath the document title in the right sidebar to reveal a copy button. On mobile, you can enter the more menu (...) on any document and choose Share to copy the URL.

How do I share an annotated article with a friend, colleague, or family member?

You can share a clean, distraction free version of any document you highlighted and annotated in Reader (except for EPUBs or PDFs) by entering the more menu (...), choosing Share, and selecting Enable public link on web or Share with annotations on mobile. This will create a publicly viewable link with your highlights and annotations overlaid. For more on this feature including best practices, see our Twitter thread announcing the share annotated documents feature.

How do I share highlights?

Right now, the way to share highlights is by copying the highlight's text to your clipboard by selecting the highlight, tapping the "more menu" icon (...), and selecting Copy text. That said, it's on our roadmap to add a quoteshotting feature as is possible in Readwise to Reader.

Miscellaneous ❔

What is Ghostreader?

Ghostreader is Reader's implementation of GPT-3 to create a "Copilot of Reading". Ghostreader can operate at the word, sentence, paragraph, section, and document levels.

At the word level, Ghostreader can define words in context, supply encyclopedia entries, define a term in context of the author's usage, and translate. At the sentence and paragraph level, Ghostreader can simplify complex language, summarize long passages, and translate. It can even create haikus and emoji strings. To use Ghostreader at these levels, select text or use the focused paragraph and choose Invoke Ghostreader from the context menu or use the keyboard shortcut G. On mobile, open the context menu and select Invoke Ghostreader.

At the document level, Ghostreader can summarize documents, answer questions likely to be contained in the document, and more. To use Ghostreader at the document level, tap the more menu in the top right and select Invoke Ghostreader or use the keyboard shortcut Shift + G. Note that document level Ghostreader is only available on web currently.

In addition to these built-in prompts, you can interface with GPT-3 directly using Ghostreader in tandem with Jinja templating and custom document variables.

How do I request a feature, make a suggestion, or report a bug regarding Reader?

You can leave feedback from within Reader by using the Command Palette (Cmd/Ctrl + K) on web and typing "feedback" or by tapping the "more menu" icon (...) and choosing Provide feedback on mobile.

I have highlights in Readwise that I can't find in Reader. Where do I find all my previous highlights?

Right now, you can think of Reader as another reading app that integrates with Readwse (albeit seamlessly). Every highlight you make in Reader instantly syncs with Readwise and then from Readwise to your note-taking apps. This integration, however, does not go the opposite direction. In other words, you won't find your Kindle highlights inside of Reader. Over time, we intend to create a unified experience within Reader.

How do I find out about the Reader public API?

You can find the Reader public API documentation at readwise.io/reader_api. If you have a use case or endpoint you'd like us to support, please don't hesitate to reach out!

How do I import my Matter articles to Reader?

You can import your Matter articles to Reader by generating an export inside the Matter app, which will send you an email with a link to download your data, and forwarding this email to read@readwise.io. Reader will automatically follow the link and import your previously saved documents.

I have multiple Readwise-related browser extensions installed. Do I need them all?

Browser extensions pose a constant security threat so we maintain multiple extensions with different levels of access. The original Readwise extension (white background) automatically syncs your Kindle highlights to Readwise. If you no longer use Kindle, you can delete this extension. Otherwise, you can keep it installed and unpinned as it does its work in the background. The Readwise export extension is used to authenticate Readwise with your Roam Research or Notion account. If you no longer use Roam or Notion, you can delete this extension. Finally, the Reader extension (yellow) is used to save documents to Reader and optionally enable highlighting of the open web.

How do I find a roadmap or list of known issues to not report something you're already aware of or planning to build?

Our Reader beta newsletter is a great resource to get some insight into what we're working on. Also feel free to reach out via the in-app feedback or email (hello@readwise.io) to ask us any specific question. In general, we don't mind receiving duplicate feedback because it helps us prioritize.