You can read and take notes on your PDFs in Capacities. They are full objects, so you can tag them, reference them, and embed them in other objects.

Capacities Believer users can highlight passages and capture snapshots. With AI enabled, Believers can also run PDF analysis for a reader view, summary, and searchable text.

PDF properties

Every PDF object comes with properties that help you describe, organize, and query your documents:

• Title – The name of the PDF object.
• Tags – Labels you can assign to group related PDFs.
• Description – A short text summary of the document.
• Blocks – Where you write your notes on the PDF.
• Document type – A classification such as report or academic paper. Used for filtering and queries.
• Topic – A broader theme used for grouping and queries.
• Number of Pages – How many pages the file has.
• Source – Where the PDF came from.

Capacities Believer users with AI enabled can use PDF analysis to fill title, description, document type, and topic automatically. PDF analysis is available on Believer only.

You can still set these properties yourself. Capacities Pro and Believer users can use them in queries.

Uploading

Go to + new type in the left side bar, choose 'PDFs' from the template list and then open that object type. Click new in the top right.

You can also upload a PDF in any of the ways you create another type of object, all of which are explained here.

Once uploaded, you can rename your PDFs, add tags, add them to collections and add notes as you would with any other object.

Reading a PDF

Open a PDF object to switch between tabs:

• PDF: The viewer, with highlights and a Dark mode toggle of its own, separate from the app theme. After you run PDF analysis as a Believer with AI enabled, press Cmd + F / Ctrl + F to search inside the document. Matches are highlighted and you can step through them.
• Reader: Extracted text, split by page, after PDF analysis. Believer with AI only. Use find in page (Cmd + F / Ctrl + F) to search the extracted content. From a match, you can jump to that page in the viewer.
• Summary: The overview plus keywords after PDF analysis. Believer with AI only.

The PDF tab is available as soon as the file has uploaded. Reader and Summary appear after a Believer with AI runs analysis.

PDF annotations and highlighting

PDF annotations and snapshots are a beta feature for all Capacities Believer users on every platform. You can highlight text in a PDF and add notes.

Select text in the PDF viewer to highlight it, pick a color, add a note, or remove a highlight. After a Believer with AI runs PDF analysis, you can also highlight in the Reader tab. Highlights stay in sync between both views.

Passages with notes show a small note icon. Hover for a preview, or click to open the highlight menu. Highlights and linked notes include Jump to location so you can return to the passage in the PDF.

You can copy highlighted text from the PDF viewer.

Highlights live on the PDF object and appear as note blocks in your content, the same way highlights from weblink annotations do.

Snapshots (desktop)

On desktop, you can capture a snapshot of an area of the page and drop it into your notes. From the snapshot in your notes, you can scroll back to that place in the PDF to see the surrounding context. Snapshot capture is not available on phone.

PDF analysis

PDF analysis is part of Capacities' media analysis feature. It helps Capacities understand the content of an uploaded PDF so you can search it, filter it, and use it as context in AI chat.

PDF analysis is a beta feature for Capacities Believer only. You also need AI features enabled in the space. The Reader and Summary tabs are part of analysis and follow the same Believer requirement.

Open any PDF and click the Analyze button in the PDF toolbar or object menu. You can also start analysis from a card, an embed, or a table title. Capacities processes the document and fills in the following:

• Reader – The extracted text, split by page, shown in the Reader tab.
• Summary – A short overview of the document, shown in the Summary tab.
• Keywords – Key terms from the document, shown with the summary.
• Title – A descriptive name when the current title is empty or generic.
• Description – A short text summary, written to the Description property.
• Document type – A classification such as report or academic paper, written to the Document type property.
• Topic – A broader theme, written to the Topic property.

If you want to run analysis again, use Analyze on the PDF. Progress and errors are shown in place.

Analysis uses your AI budget. Longer documents use more budget. If your preferred model provider in Settings is expensive, you will run through your budget faster.

If your AI budget is exhausted, analysis shows an AI budget used state and opens AI settings. Wait until your budget resets at the start of the next billing month, or add Pro+ or Believer+ for a much larger monthly budget and top-ups when you need more. See Subscriptions and payments for details.

Search and AI chat

After a Believer runs PDF analysis, the extracted text is included in search. When a search result comes from a PDF, Capacities can open the matching page.

The same extracted information is available as context for the AI assistant. Add the PDF as context and ask questions about the document.

Embedding PDFs in other pages

Just like any other type of object, PDFs can easily be embedded elsewhere with the @ or [[]] shortcuts. You can choose the view you need too.

Here's what each view looks like:

Inline PDF View

Link Block PDF View

Widecard PDF View

Small Card PDF View

Embedded PDF view

FAQs

• What's the best way to work with PDFs in Capacities?
  Upload the PDF and add your notes on the object. If you are a Believer with AI enabled, run PDF analysis for a reader view and properties you can query. If you also need details such as author or year, create a custom object type (for example Sources), add those properties there, and link or embed the PDF.
• How do I add or attach a PDF?
  Click + New in the top-left of the screen and scroll to PDF, or inside a note, type /pdf.
• Do I need PDF analysis to use Document type and Topic?
  No. You can fill both properties yourself. Believers with AI enabled can also use PDF analysis to fill them automatically.
• Can I highlight a PDF on phone?
  Yes. Highlights and notes work on every platform for Believer users. Capturing a snapshot of an area is desktop-only.
• Do I need AI to highlight a PDF?
  No. Annotations and snapshots are available for all Believer users. PDF analysis, the Reader tab, and the Summary tab require Believer and AI to be turned on.
• Can Pro users run PDF analysis?
  Not yet. PDF analysis is a Believer beta feature. A rollout to Pro is planned.
• When can I use Cmd + F / Ctrl + F in a PDF?
  Find in page in the PDF viewer and Reader tab works only after you run PDF analysis. Before analysis, those tabs do not have searchable extracted text yet.