Get started

This tutorial takes you from a new account to a first draft. Along the way you create a project, bring three works into its library, read one of them and highlight a passage, ask a question that Pangur answers from your sources, and lay out the beginning of an argument in Plan. Each step also says what Pangur is doing in the background, so that you know what to expect when you work on your own.

You need a web browser and, for one of the three works, a PDF on your computer. Everything here works in Pangur for Mac as well, because the Mac app shows the same screens.

Step 1: create your accountCopy Anchor Link

Depending on the deployment, Pangur opens accounts either directly or from a waitlist. Go to the sign-up page from Sign up or Join the waitlist on pangur.io.

If the page says Create your account, fill in your email address, first and last name and a password of at least eight characters, then choose Create account. Pangur emails you a confirmation link that works for two days. Open it, enter the same password again, and choose Open my account.

If the page says instead that sign-up is by waitlist, choose Join the waitlist and fill in the form. When your place is ready, Pangur emails you a link to set your password. That link works for seven days.

Once you have an account, sign in at Sign in with your email address and password, or with one of the Google, GitHub or Apple buttons if your deployment offers them. Keep me signed in is ticked by default and keeps the browser signed in between visits.

Step 2: create a projectCopy Anchor Link

A new account has no project yet, so Pangur opens a welcome screen. A project is a library and everything you make from it: your Ask conversations, analysis, drafts and exhibitions all belong to one project. You can make more projects later, usually one for each area of work.

1. Under Start with an empty project, keep the suggested project name "My library" or type your own.
2. Choose Create project.

Pangur creates the project's library on its server and opens the Library, which is empty for now. The address in your browser now starts with /p/ followed by the project's address.

If you already keep a library in Zotero, you could choose Import from Zotero here instead. Pangur then copies the Zotero library into the new project without changing anything in Zotero (see Import from Zotero). This tutorial continues with an empty project.

Step 3: add a work by its DOICopy Anchor Link

The search bar at the top of the screen searches your library and outside catalogues at the same time, and it recognises identifiers when you paste one.

1. Click the search bar, which reads "Search, or paste a DOI, ISBN or URL", and paste the DOI of an article you know. A DOI begins 10..
2. The list under the bar says that a DOI has been detected. Press Enter.
3. Pangur shows the work under Not in your library — exact lookup, as a card with its title, authors and year. Choose Save to library.

Pangur saves the reference to your library and then looks for a PDF. It tries an open-access copy through Unpaywall and OpenAlex first and then, if you have set up institutional access, a link through your institution. The card reports the outcome as it goes, saying first that it is looking for a PDF and then either which source the PDF came from or that none was found. If there is no free copy, you can add the PDF yourself later. The full order of sources, and what each outcome means, is in Where PDFs come from.

Step 4: add a work by searching for itCopy Anchor Link

1. Type a few words of a title or a subject into the search bar.
2. After three characters, suggestions from OpenAlex appear under Add to your library. Choose one.
3. Pangur opens the work as a card in the library. Choosing a suggestion does not save it by itself, so check the details on the card and choose Save to library.

If the work is already in your library, the card says so before you save. Pressing Enter instead of choosing a suggestion runs a full search and shows your library's matches above the works found elsewhere.

Step 5: add a PDF you already haveCopy Anchor Link

1. Drag a PDF from your computer onto the library. The screen invites you to drop the file to add it to your library.
2. Drop it. The Files being added tray shows the file's progress.

Pangur's server reads the first pages of the file looking for a DOI, ISBN or arXiv identifier. If it finds one, it creates the reference with the file attached and the tray shows Added. If it cannot tell what the file is, the tray shows Stored; needs a reference. The file is kept either way, and you can accept Pangur's best guess at the reference or choose Add details… to fill it in yourself. The formats and size limits are in Add files you already have.

Step 6: open and read a workCopy Anchor Link

Choose one of your three works in the library list. The item opens in a pane with three tabs, Read, About and Study. Because the work has a PDF, the pane opens on Read, which shows the PDF itself.

While you were adding works, Pangur's background worker began extracting the text of each file and indexing it. That text is what Ask and the library's passage search work from, and it usually takes a few minutes to appear for a new file. What gets read, and what cannot be, is the subject of How Pangur reads your sources.

Use the arrow buttons or the → and ← keys to turn pages, and the zoom buttons to change the size. About shows the work's details and notes.

Step 7: highlight a passageCopy Anchor Link

1. In the PDF, select a sentence or two with the mouse.
2. A bar appears beside the selection. Choose Highlight.
3. Pick a colour and, if you want one, type a note in Note, perhaps a question such as "Why does this matter?".
4. Choose Save highlight.

The highlight is kept with the item and labelled with the PDF's own page number where the file has one. Annotations in the reader's toolbar lists every highlight in the file, and choosing one turns to its page. Colours, tags and editing are covered in Highlights, notes and assistant marks.

Step 8: ask a questionCopy Anchor Link

1. Choose Ask in the sidebar.
2. Type a question your three works might answer into the field, which suggests "What do my sources say about…?", and send it.

Pangur searches the text it has read, gathers the passages that bear on the question, and hands them to a model, which writes an answer from them. Each claim in the answer carries a number such as [1]. Choose the number to see the passage under Sources, and Open in the reader to see it in place in the PDF. How this answer was found lists the steps Pangur took.

A few things can change what you see at this point. If your files have not been read yet, a notice says that your library is being read, and until reading finishes the answers come from titles, abstracts and notes, so ask again in a few minutes. If no model is switched on for your deployment, the home page's search offers Find passages in place of Ask, and Pangur shows the matching passages without writing an answer. And each question counts against your plan's Ask allowance, which on the Free plan is 25 questions in any 30 days by default. Which actions count is set out in Models, assistants and who pays.

The whole process, from search to answer, is described in How Ask answers.

Step 9: start a draftCopy Anchor Link

1. Choose Plan in the sidebar.
2. In the drafts list, type a title into "New draft…" and choose Start.
3. The draft opens with one section, named after the draft. The field under it asks what this part of the argument is for; write a sentence about what the section will argue.
4. Press Enter in the outline to add the next section.
5. When you are ready to write, choose Write this section.

A draft is personal to you, and its sections are its working copy. Plan is where you lay out the argument and collect the works each section needs. Write, which opens at the same section, is where you write the prose and cite your sources. How the two fit together is explained in Drafts, sections and versions.

Where to go nextCopy Anchor Link

• Bring in more sources from a reading list or reference file, from your Zotero library, or by photographing a manuscript.
• Sort the library into collections, as described in Work with items and collections.
• Analyse a primary source for its people, places and dates with Analyse a source.
• Connect Claude or ChatGPT to your library: Connect Claude, ChatGPT or a coding agent.
• Install Pangur on your other devices: Pangur on your devices.