Save, Summarize, Organize, and Learn from PDFs
You download a 200-page report, a research paper, or a course reading, and it sits in your downloads folder until you forget why you saved it. PDFs are dense and valuable, but they’re also the hardest format to skim, search, and come back to. Recall turns any PDF into a summarized, searchable card in your knowledge base, so you can skim it in minutes and find it again the moment you need it.
Why use Recall for PDFs
- Never lose a document again: the papers, reports, and readings you care about live in one place and are organized for you automatically, instead of scattered across folders and downloads.
- Skim before you commit: read a summary in two minutes and decide whether a long document is worth your full attention.
- Get to the exact point: chat with a PDF to jump straight to the section you need or pull out the key findings, without scrolling page by page.
- Still read, just faster: prefer audio? Have the summary read back to you with Listen Mode, so you get a long document in a few minutes on your next walk or commute.
- Turn reading into lasting knowledge: review what you save so the ideas actually stick, instead of fading a week later.
For example, you receive a 40-page industry report. You upload it to Recall, read the summary, and save the three sections that matter. Recall tags it and connects it to articles and notes you saved on the same topic. Two months later you’re writing a brief, search the topic, and instantly find the report and your highlights.
See it in action
Upload a PDF through Add Content in the Recall web app. You can add one file at a time, or upload multiple PDFs at once on Plus and Max.
The PDF workflow, step by step
Whatever you save, the flow is the same: save, summarize, organize, chat, remember, and connect. Expand any step to see what it looks like with a PDF.
Part 1Save
- Upload in the app: click Add Content in the Recall web or mobile app and select your PDF. On Plus and Max, you can upload multiple PDFs at once.
- Mobile share sheet: share a PDF directly from your phone's files app or email into Recall. If you don't see Recall in the share sheet the first time, tap More to find it, where you can enable it for next time. Get Recall on the App Store or Google Play.
- Paste a link: if the PDF is hosted online, paste the URL into Recall.
Example: Your professor shares a 30-page reading as a PDF. You upload it to Recall before class, and by the time you sit down, the summary is ready and you know which sections to focus on.
Part 2Summarize
Recall automatically generates an AI summary of the document, so a long paper or report becomes something you can read in a couple of minutes.
- Concise or detailed: get a quick overview of the key points, or a more detailed breakdown when you want the full picture.
- Pre-screen before you commit: read the summary first and decide whether the full document is worth your time.
- Listen to the summary: prefer audio? With Listen Mode, have the summary read aloud in a natural voice, or even one you’ve cloned, so you can absorb a long document in a few minutes while you commute or work out. (Available on Plus.)
- Capture the parts that matter: pull the specific takeaways you care about into your own notes on the card.
Example: A 60-page research paper becomes a short list of the hypothesis, methodology, key findings, and limitations, so you get the value even on a day you don’t have an hour to read the full thing.
Part 3Organize
A summary you can’t find later is no better than a forgotten PDF. Recall keeps every document organized so it resurfaces when it’s relevant.
- Automatic tagging: Recall reads the document and tags it by topic, so it lands in the right place without any effort.
- Your own tags: add tags that match how you think, like
research,coursework, or a specific project.
Example: You tag a paper on climate policy with research, and the next time you open that tag, the PDF is sitting alongside every article and note you’ve saved on the subject.
Part 4Chat
This is where a PDF stops being something you read once and becomes something you can interrogate.
- Chat with the document: ask questions about that specific PDF, like “What were the main findings?” or “How did they define the sample size?” Answers are grounded only in that document, so they stay accurate to the source.
- Chat across everything: open global chat in the left panel by clicking the AI icon, then
@mention a tag to ask a question across every PDF, article, and note you've saved on a topic at once. See global chat. - Go deeper than the summary: follow up, ask for clarification, or have a dense section explained in simpler terms.
Example: After saving three papers on the same topic, you ask across all of them, “What do these studies agree and disagree on?” and get a synthesized answer with the points of consensus and conflict.
Part 5Remember
Saving and summarizing get the ideas in; this step keeps them with you.
- Search: find any idea from any PDF using natural language, months after you read it.
- Quiz and spaced repetition: turn key documents into quizzes and review them over time so the ideas stick. See Quiz and spaced repetition.
- Augmented Browsing: related content resurface as you browse the web, reconnecting you with what you've already learned. See Augmented Browsing.
Example: Three months after reading a report, you’re preparing a presentation. You search a key statistic and instantly find the PDF and the page where it came from.
Part 6Connect
This is where PDFs get powerful. Instead of sitting in isolation, every document joins a growing web of ideas across everything you’ve saved.
- Automatic connections: Recall links each PDF to related content you've already saved, with no work on your part. A research paper links itself to articles and videos you saved on the same topic.
- Your own connections: want to go further? You can create connections by hand to capture a link only you would see, tying a document to a specific project or idea. See Connect Content. It's entirely optional.
- See it visually: explore how everything fits together in the Knowledge Graph, or learn more in Connect Content.
Example: You save three PDFs and a few articles on a topic you’re researching. Without linking anything by hand, Recall connects them around shared concepts, so when you open the topic later, the whole theme is already tied together.
How PDFs become part of your second brain
A PDF you read once tends to vanish into a downloads folder you never reopen. In Recall, every document you save joins everything else in your library: your articles, podcasts, videos, and notes. Each one is summarized, tagged, and connected, so a research paper resurfaces next to the articles and notes you’ve saved on the same subject. That connected, searchable library is your second brain: a place where what you read compounds into knowledge you can actually use. See how it all fits together in the AI Second Brain guide.
Supported platforms and limitations
Recall works with the PDFs you already have. Here’s what’s supported today and what to know before you save.
Supported
- PDF uploads: add any text-based PDF through Add Content in the web or mobile app.
- Online PDFs: paste a URL to a PDF hosted on the web.
- Bulk upload: upload multiple PDFs at once on Plus and Max.
Limitations
- 100 MB file size limit per PDF.
- Scanned or image-only PDFs (without selectable text) may not summarize or chat as reliably as text-based documents.
- Google Docs and Slides are also supported separately with the same 100 MB limit. See the Google Docs and Slides guide.
For the full list of content Recall supports, see All Supported Content.
Frequently asked questions
How do I summarize a PDF?
To summarize a PDF in Recall, upload it through Add Content in the web or mobile app, share it from your phone, or paste a link to a PDF hosted online. Recall generates a concise or detailed AI summary of the document and saves it as a searchable card you can chat with, organize, and revisit, so a long report becomes a two-minute read.
Can ChatGPT summarize a PDF?
ChatGPT can summarize a PDF you upload into a chat, but the result isn’t saved, organized, or connected to your other documents. Recall summarizes PDFs and keeps them: each document becomes a card in your knowledge base that’s automatically tagged, linked to related content, and available to chat with or search months later, so your reading compounds instead of disappearing.
Can I chat with a PDF?
Yes. In Recall you can chat with any PDF you’ve saved on its card, asking questions like what the main findings were or how a term is defined, with answers grounded only in that document so they stay accurate. To chat across several PDFs at once, open global chat in the left panel by clicking the AI icon and compare what different papers or reports say on the same topic.
What is the file size limit for PDFs in Recall?
Recall supports PDFs up to 100 MB each. You can upload them one at a time, or upload multiple PDFs at once on Recall’s Plus and Max plans. Text-based PDFs summarize most reliably; scanned or image-only documents may work less well.
Can Recall summarize scanned PDFs?
Recall works best with text-based PDFs that have selectable text. Scanned or image-only PDFs can still be uploaded, but they may not summarize or support chat as reliably as text-based documents. For the best results, use a PDF with real, selectable text rather than a photo or scan.