How annotations work

Annotations in the Research app are interactive tools that allow you to mark up, highlight, and comment on specific parts of your research materials. They help you engage more deeply with your content and create a personalized layer of analysis.

What are Annotations?

Annotations are marks or notes you add directly to the content of your research items. They can include:

• Highlights
• Text annotations
• Area annotations (for diagrams, charts, or multi-column layouts)
• Comments and discussions

Key features of annotations:

1. Highlighting: Select and color-code important passages in your texts.

2. Text annotations: Add notes to specific words, sentences, or paragraphs.

3. Area annotations: Highlight and comment on entire sections, including graphics or multi-column layouts in PDFs.

4. AI-assisted discussion: Engage with AI to gain deeper insights about your annotations.

5. Color coding: Use different colors for various types of annotations or to categorize information.

6. Easy navigation: Quickly jump to different annotations within a document.

Creating annotations

• Text hughlighting: Select the text you want to highlight, then choose your preferred color or style.
• Area highlighting: Hold down the Option key (Mac) or Alt key (Windows/Linux), then click and drag over the area you want to highlight.
• Adding comments: Locate the comments section under each annotation to add your thoughts or questions.

AI-Assisted annotations

Engage with the AI to gain deeper insights:

1. Create an annotation on a passage or area of interest.
2. In the comments section, ask the AI a question about the highlighted content.
3. The AI will respond, taking into account the context of your highlight, including text and images.

Use this feature to:

• Clarify complex concepts
• Get additional background information
• Analyze graphs or charts
• Explore different interpretations of the text

Working with annotations

• Viewing: Open an item to see all your annotations within the context of the document.
• Editing: Modify the color, text, or comments associated with your annotations at any time.
• Organizing: Use the annotations panel to see a list of all annotations in a document.
• Searching: Find specific annotations using the search function.

Best practices for annotations

• Use consistent color coding for different types of information or importance levels.
• Combine highlights with comments to capture your thoughts alongside the original text.
• Use area annotations for visual elements to ensure you capture all relevant information.
• Engage with the AI for clarification or deeper analysis of difficult passages.

Annotations are a powerful way to interact with your research materials, creating a personalized study guide and analysis layer on top of your documents. By effectively using annotations, you can enhance your understanding and recall of complex research materials.