Pangur docsWhere PDFs come from
After you save a work, Pangur looks for a PDF of it in a fixed order of sources. This page explains that order, how to set up access through your institution, and what each import status means when an import is waiting for you.
When you save a work from a search, a lookup or a reading list, Pangur creates the item first and then looks for a PDF of it. It tries a fixed list of sources in order and stops at the first one that gives it a file. If none of them does, the item stays in your library without a PDF, and you can add one yourself.
The order of sources
Pangur tries these sources one after another:
- Unpaywall, which lists open-access copies of articles by DOI.
- OpenAlex, which records open-access locations for the works it indexes.
- Institutional access, if you have given Pangur your institution's EZproxy prefix or OpenURL resolver (see Setting up institutional access below).
- Pangur's resolver service, an additional source that an administrator can make available to some accounts. Most accounts do not have it, and for them the list ends at step 3.
The first source that gives Pangur a file ends the search. If a source fails or times out, Pangur simply goes on to the next, so an error at one source never ends the search by itself.
Pangur does not look for a PDF when the item is a web page, a news or magazine article, a blog post, a video, a podcast or another type that is not normally published as a PDF.
What institutional access does
Many PDFs sit behind a publisher's paywall and can only be read through a university or library subscription. Pangur's server cannot sign in to your institution for you, and it never holds your library session. Institutional access therefore works in two stages. Pangur's server first tries to fetch the file from the publisher's address without signing in, and attaches it if the publisher serves it. Otherwise it builds a link to the work through your institution's proxy or resolver and adds it to the item as a link attachment titled "Access via institution". At that point the import is waiting for you: you open the link, sign in as you normally would, download the PDF and add it to the item.
Setting up institutional access
Institutional access is set once for your account and applies in every project.
- Open Settings and choose Institution.
- Choose Set up (or Edit if it is already set up).
- Fill in Institution name, EZproxy base URL (for example
https://ezproxy.st-andrews.ac.uk) and, if your library has one, OpenURL resolver (optional). - Choose Save.
Both addresses must begin with https://. Your library's website usually gives the EZproxy address under off-campus or remote access. Once saved, the panel confirms that paywalled imports will get a link through your institution. On the command line, pangur institution --ezproxy … sets the same values.
The same values are used by source flows, which let Pangur for Mac sign in to your institution and download the PDF itself.
Import statuses
Each save is recorded as an import, and its PDF outcome is one of the statuses below. You see them on the candidate card straight after saving, and later in Recent imports on a project's settings page.
| Status | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| resolving… | Pangur is still looking. | Wait. When the search runs in the background, it appears in Activity as "Finding a PDF for …". |
| PDF attached | Pangur found a file and stored it on the item. The table names the source ("via …"). | Nothing. |
| awaiting upload | Only a route through your institution is available. Pangur attached an "Access via institution" link and is waiting for the PDF. Activity shows the task as Needs you. | Choose open via institution, download the PDF, then upload it in the same row or on the item. |
| saved | The item was saved without a PDF search, so nothing is pending. | Upload a PDF on the item if you have one. |
| no PDF | No source had a copy. | Upload a PDF you have, or leave the item without one. |
| failed | Pangur could not store the file, for example because it would take the account past its plan's storage. | See the message; free space or change plan, then try again. |
Recent imports and bulk imports
A project's settings page has two tables of imports. Recent imports lists single saves, up to 20 of them, with the columns Title, Identifier, PDF, When and Actions. A row that is awaiting upload or no PDF offers open via institution where a link exists, and a place to upload the file. Bulk imports lists imports of many references at once, such as a reading list, with their progress (how many are saved, the number of PDFs, duplicates and failures). Its Retry unfinished button carries on with entries that failed or were held back by a rate limit, and Find PDFs looks for PDFs for the references in a finished import that were saved without a search.
Both tables list only the imports made into the project whose settings page you are on.
Adding a PDF yourself
There are three places to add a PDF you have downloaded. The first is the candidate card, straight after saving: when Pangur found no open copy, the card offers a link through your institution and an area to drop the PDF. The second is the row for that import in Recent imports. The third is the item itself: open its Read tab, choose Add a copy, and drop the file or click to choose it. The file becomes a new copy of the item (see resources, copies and surrogates).
The upload area on the candidate card and in Recent imports reports what Pangur made of the file, for example that it was saved and read with a page count, or that it is a scan with no text layer. A scan with no text layer can be read on screen, but Pangur cannot search its words or use them to answer questions (see how Pangur reads your sources). The same area offers to keep a smaller copy of a PDF for reading on a phone, and the original is stored unchanged beside it.
On a Mac
Pangur for Mac can download a PDF through your institution itself, in a window of its own, using sign-in details kept in the Mac's Keychain. Choose Download PDF from source… from an item's menu. The details are in Download through your institution.
Find and add a work
The search bar finds a book, article or early printed edition in your library and in outside catalogues at the same time, and saves it as an item. This page explains how the search works, how Pangur handles identifiers and duplicates, and how to add a reference by hand.
Add files you already have
You can drop PDFs, documents, e-books, recordings and spreadsheets onto your library, and Pangur works out which work each file belongs to. This page explains what happens to each file, the formats and limits, and what to do with a file Pangur could not identify.