PDF Owl
Build the table of contents using on-device AI. Plus a reader-focused PDF viewer
PDF Owl is a Mac PDF reader for when you need to navigate long documents, review passages, and organize pages, with AI-generated tables of contents processed on your device.
by Grigory Temchenko
What you get
Find your way through long PDFs without scrolling page by page.
You get a navigable table of contents for PDFs that lack one. PDF Owl uses on-device AI to identify headings and build an outline, so you can jump to sections instead of hunting through pages. You can adjust that outline, and it stays inside the file for use in other PDF readers.
When you're studying or reviewing a document, you can highlight passages, add margin notes, and browse your annotations together as page cutouts. To find a passage again, you can limit searches to annotated pages or particular sections, or use regular expressions to match text patterns.
You can also combine PDFs, split files, and reorder, duplicate, or remove pages while keeping the outline in view. Your documents are processed locally rather than uploaded for AI analysis.
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Jump straight to sections
You can navigate an automatically generated outline, edit its entries, and keep it available in other PDF readers.
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Revisit what matters
You can collect highlights and notes, then review them together as cutouts from the original pages.
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Narrow your search
You can find passages within selected sections or annotated pages, and use regular expressions for precise text patterns.
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Put pages in order
You can merge documents, split files, and rearrange or remove pages without losing sight of the outline.
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Keep AI processing local
You can generate outlines on your Mac without uploading your documents for analysis.
Best for
- Students reviewing long course PDFs
- Researchers navigating papers without useful outlines
- You regularly combine and reorganize lengthy documents
Skip it if
You probably don't need it if you only read short PDFs and your current reader already handles your occasional highlights.
Screenshots
From the developer
PDF Owl is an AI-powered PDF reader for Mac that automatically generates a table of contents for any document — so you can actually navigate large files without scrolling forever.Read the full description
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