Paperly

If you take it at face value, Paperly is essentially a PDF reader, but the tools it places at your disposal makes it one of the best research tools you can lay your hands on. The software's purpose is to help you review study or research material and prepare your notes in a simple, efficient and comfortable manner. Marking and underlining text, looking through references or taking notes is made exceptionally easy due to its efficient design and comfortable controls.

At the time of writing, Paperly is offered free of charge. Though it will have a price tag, the developers say that it will be affordable for everyone. The application works on all popular Windows versions, as well as Mac OS X. Its setup package is around 100 MB large, which doesn't take long to download with a modern Internet connection. Furthermore, the installation process doesn't involve any complicated settings, and it only takes a few seconds to complete.

On the surface, Paperly looks like an ordinary PDF reader, but the tools it has to offer makes it much more than that. You can load multiple documents on separate tabs, and start taking notes right away, without having to search any menus or toolbars for the right options. The best part is that everything can be done with a series of in-line tools, which makes everything much faster and smoother. For example, if you want to underline or highlight a piece of text, you only need to select it and select one of the options that will pop up next to the text. What's more, everything you highlight is saved in a notes panel, which slides in on the right side of the interface. Another useful feature is the possibility of highlighting text that is already highlighted with a different color, to make a separate note.

Paperly comes with a built-in reference parser, so if your document contains links to other content, you will find them all neatly arranged in a sliding panel on the left side of the interface, along with their meta descriptions. Of course, you can find all the basic tools you would expect from any document reader as well, like a search function that helps you find words or phrases instantly, and you can also mark content with a star if you need it for future reference.

The software automatically places all your notes in a timeline, and it provides you with a clear list of the tags you create. These features are all well and good, but a more interesting and useful tool is the automatic mind map generator, which does a real service to anyone who needs to arrange their ideas properly. The software creates a mind map all on its own to reflect keywords, tags and attachments and how they are connected. You don't have to draw any nodes yourself, but you can click existing ones to jump directly to their corresponding content.

Regardless of what material you need to prepare, you only need to decide what's worth remembering and Paperly will do the rest for you.