Reading tools for researchers and students
A paper rests on its sources, and sources on the web change, disappear or arrive buried under menus and ads. Copying them by hand loses the tables, the links and the time you need for reading.
Three tools keep the sources in a usable shape: Web2Document saves a page as a clean PDF, Word file and Markdown, SmartTable Capture takes its tables into Excel, and CleanCopy copies an article with its formatting into your notes. Each shows a free preview first.
What you can get done
- Web2Document
Keep every source as a clean, dated document
Paste the address of an article or a report and choose A4 or Letter. Add a cover page with the title, the site, the address and the date it was captured, and a table of contents for long pages. You get a PDF to file and cite, a Word file to annotate and Markdown for your notes.
Open Web2Document - SmartTable Capture
Take the tables of a report into a spreadsheet
Paste a link or add a PDF made from a document. Every table found is listed with its first rows; keep the ones you need and get Excel with one sheet per table, CSV and JSON. Numbers and dates arrive as real values, so you can sort and calculate at once.
Open SmartTable Capture - CleanCopy
Quote an article without its page around it
Paste a link or what you copied, and copy the clean article as formatted text into your document: headings, lists, links and tables keep their look, the page's fonts and colours do not come along.
Open CleanCopy
Practical tips
- Switch on the cover page in Web2Document: it records where and when the source was captured.
- For a PDF report, check that you can select its text; a scanned report has no tables to read.
- Keep the Markdown copy of each source in your notes app to search all of them at once.
Frequently asked questions
Can these tools read articles behind a paywall or a sign-in?
No. Only public pages that open without an account are read, and sites that ask automatic readers to stay away are respected.
Do I have to buy all three tools?
No. Each tool is sold on its own in packs, and a pack's balance never expires.
Are Arabic sources laid out correctly?
Yes. The direction of the page is kept, so Arabic text reads from right to left in every file.
Guides that help
- How to save a web page as a clean PDFWhy browser printing gives messy PDFs, what a clean copy keeps and removes, A4 or Letter, cover and contents, and how to get PDF, Word and Markdown together.
- How to get tables from a page or PDFHow to take tables from web pages and PDF reports into Excel, CSV and JSON: merged cells, header rows, numbers, dates, Arabic digits and scanned files.
- How to copy an article without adsWhy pasted web text looks broken, what a clean copy keeps, how to paste formatted text into Word, Google Docs or e-mail, and when to use Markdown.