Announcing Skim: Stop printing – Start Skimming.
Monday 2 April 2007 - Filed under grad-school + mac + research + skim
If you spend a lot of time reading articles and research papers that you get in PDF form, then you might be interested in the latest app from the folks who brought you BibDesk. If you already use BibDesk, then you certainly want to take a look.
Even though we keep our research papers stored on disk as PDF, all too often we print them out to read and write notes on. There’s something missing in the experience of reading papers on a computer, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Announcing Skim. Skim is a PDF reading and note-taking app for Mac OS X that is designed to make reading research papers and manuals better. Just like in Preview, you can search, scan, and zoom through PDFs, but you also get some custom features for your workflow:
- Snapshots: if there’s a graph on page two and the description continues to page three, just draw a box around the graph with the command key down and a snapshot window pops up with the graph, and you can keep on reading with the graph in view. For more fun, minimize that snapshot window – they stick around in their own dock in the document window.
- Tooltips: If a PDF has links, such as for citation references or indexes and section headings, you can click on them as usual to go to the destination, but there’s more – hover the mouse over those links and Skim will show you a tooltip with the target of the link. No more losing your place to peek at a citation! For more fun, command-click on a link to pop up a snapshot window showing the link’s destination.
- Presentation and Full-screen Modes: Full-screen reading is handy. So is showing a PDF as a presentation. But they’re a little different. For instance, you might not want to show the table of contents in a presentation, but it’s nice to see it when you’re just reading by yourself. So Full-screen and Presentation are separate modes in Skim.
There’s plenty more – download it and take a look, and join the mailing list to discuss it. There’s even a full help book in the first public beta release!
Many thanks to everyone who has worked on this app, and especially to Christiaan Hofman, who moved the app from a prototype to something really useful faster than I would have thought possible.
2007-04-02 » mike
2 April 2007 @ 12:02 pm
[...] April 3rd, 2007 in PDF Viewing, BibTeX, bibliography, LaTeX, TeX/LaTeX In a recent blog post, Mike McCracken, creator of BibDesk, writes the following: If you spend a lot of time reading [...]
2 April 2007 @ 1:21 pm
Obviously I haven’t tried it in depth yet… but it looks pretty cool. Thanks to everyone involved!
2 April 2007 @ 3:33 pm
This looks very promising, even at 0.2 – for those of us who store as much as possible in version control, what is the recommended use pattern? I’m guessing it involves generating and committing .skim files since the resource fork information will be clobbered, but I’d like to hear what you and the other devs had in mind.
2 April 2007 @ 3:48 pm
Don – thanks. That’s a good question, I hadn’t really thought about keeping PDFs in version control. The notes aren’t stored in the resource fork – they’re in xattrs, which should survive being copied into version control, but I don’t know for sure.
You might want to bring this up on the skim-app-users list to get the full story.
3 April 2007 @ 12:37 am
Are these comments/annotations compatible with the Adobe commenting tools?
I only ask, as I once had to write a huge web based workflow app that basically did what your program does, but also had to be version controlled and Adobe comment compatible.
3 April 2007 @ 12:45 am
AC: I’m not really sure. I haven’t used Adobe’s commenting tools. Skim stores its notes in extended attributes, which Adobe apps won’t read. You can export the PDF with the notes included, which will then show up in a PDF reader, but I have no idea what Adobe’s apps will do with that then.
3 April 2007 @ 4:52 am
Is there a forum for Skim or just a mailing list?
Great little app, although still a bit unstable (of course, it’s only 0.2). Lots of features that seem like they might not be too hard to add…. Adjustable font size for notes Be able to personally define the shortcuts for adding notes / highlights Ability to change color of highlights (for ranking importance?) Minimize note boxes in document Be able to read notes/highlights independent of the document itself.
If any of these features are in there, and I’ve been too stupid to find them, I’d welcome advice or getting pointed in the right direction.
Again, great product, right price.
3 April 2007 @ 7:00 am
[...] Skim 0.2 is a PDF annotation application. [...]
3 April 2007 @ 7:08 am
I can’t help noticing that you seem to be duplicating some of what Mekentosj are doing with Papers. Papers is not free, so you may have something here, but you might want to clarify in you own mind how skim is distinct from Papers.
Thanks for the effort
3 April 2007 @ 8:16 am
Amazing. And just in time for end-of-semester research projects. I’ll be telling folks.
3 April 2007 @ 10:09 am
[...] This page has some more information about some of the Skim’s features. Interesting [...]
3 April 2007 @ 10:14 am
The application is very interesting.
Did you think about storing the annotations in a “side-car” file, leaving the original PDF untouched?
This would be super handy when you are reading a PDF on a read-only medium. And it would make possible to mix two annotations file in oder to see the comments two people have made on the same documents one over the other.
Anyway, I was long waiting for an application like this one, I have also taken into consideration the option to build it on my own.
Thank you very much for your effort.
Giulio Cesare
3 April 2007 @ 7:04 pm
Michael, you might just have saved my life. My Mac is awash with hundreds of journal articles in PDF, and along with Yep, your app enables me to work more productively than ever. As someone who plans to register for their PhD later this year, I wish you well!
3 April 2007 @ 7:14 pm
[...] has got some pretty neat features – read what one of the developers Michael O McCracken has to say about it in his blog. Also try it out if you have Mac OS X running. I can’t wait to include Skim into my [...]
3 April 2007 @ 8:51 pm
Man, this rocks! I love it and can imagine how useful this will be. I do like the above post on the “side-car” file that leaves the original untouched. We all forward PDFs along to other people, and you often wouldn’t want to give them a marked up version. Even without the marking, I love the smoothly scrolling nature of it. Thanks!
4 April 2007 @ 6:22 am
Excellent app. One nitpick would be support for 2-column journal files. If I drag over text, it drags across both columns. No immediate idea how you would fix that, unless the multi-column info is in the pdf code itself. Nevertheless, an excellent tool!
4 April 2007 @ 9:38 am
JBarnes: only mailing lists. Please use the feature request tracker to submit requests – they will get lost if they’re only in comments on this post.
Bryan: I am very clear about how Skim is different from Papers.
Dan K, John B.: Thanks!
Giulio: You can in fact export the annotations to a separate file, but if you have a specific feature request about read-only use or diffing annotations, please use the Skim feature tracker on Sourceforge.
SciGuy: You can use the export feature to save a copy without the annotations for emailing.
joh3n: Selecting a column of text works if you hold the option key down while you select – you can select a rectangular region that way. This works in Preview too, it’s a feature of PDFKit.
4 April 2007 @ 11:26 am
Bryan: There is nothing very particular behind an app like Papers, it’s just an iTunes-style application. So are OsiriX, Mental Case and many other apps that run on macosX (including xcode itself!). Those apps are great because they do something useful while respecting certain design guidelines set by Apple (the WoW factor!). In other words, Papers doesn’t introduce novelty and I would certainly not pay for it.
This said a free app that can let one browse quickly through pdf’s is more than a goodie, it deserves a spot in a coveted dock.
Thanks for the app, Michael and the Skim team!
4 April 2007 @ 1:53 pm
[...] Review: Skim-PDF Reader If you won a Mac, it’s a little hard to get excited about a new PDF reader. Preview does a great job as a light weight reader and Adobe Reader works when you need forms to file your taxes. Both are free. Scientists have a peculiar problem with PDFs, however. We use them ALL THE TIME. A good reader doesn’t just show the text and graphs. It also allows annotation, helps the user act as a librarian to keep things organized, and helps with searching. Some, such as DEVONthink, even try to make relationships between articles by using sophisticated AI functionality. Many folks have different methods to keep things organized. There has been an active discussion of different options at MacResearch. One of the most respected projects in the literature organization niche is BibDesk, which combines a PDF library or database, with a very lightweight viewer, and (most importantly) an easy interface for citations in LaTeX. These kind souls who produced BibDesk free of charge (and, yes, free as in freedom as well) now present Skim. Skim is currently in early Beta, but is very promising. It lets you do to a PDF what we would all do to the printed version. It lets you add notes, underline and highlight text as well as box whatever you want. You can then save your amended version to look at later. This may not sound to different from Preview, but Skim already allows more types of note taking and commenting than Preview. I downloaded version 0.2 today and I was immediately abel to figure out how to get more flexibility and features then what I get from Preview. Full screen viewing/editing is cool, but “snapshots” seem to be a more unique idea. In other browsers I find myself shuffling between pages so I can look at a figure that is two pages beyond where the author describes the data. “Snapshots” allow you to actually drag that dang Fig. 3 over to page 5 where the author tells you all about what is going on. Since this is a product from BibDesk you won’t be surprised that they have thought through the citation functionality pretty hard. Rather than shuffling to the last page to see the citation mentioned on the second page, just hover your cursor over the in-line citation and a box shows you all the information you need. Cool. With the limited testing I did, it seems that this feature may not have all the kinks worked out, and it clearly requires that you have a rather specifically formated PDF to begin with. However, when it works, it rocks. Skim may not be yet be in the patheon of apps every scientist must have (what is that list again?), but let us not forget that the official release of the 0.2 Beta was only a few days ago. This is clearly a project with great potential and one I’ll be watching very closely. Get the sourceforge site. One of the developers describes it here. [...]
4 April 2007 @ 3:22 pm
Skim is great! After 10 minutes, I’m loving it.
As for the discussion about Papers — yes, the PDF viewing and some of the annotation tools are similar between Skim and Papers, but the apps are useful for different things. I think (@noar) that it’s a little harsh to say that Papers introduces “no novelty.” Papers looks like it will be great for searching, organizing, and otherwise dealing with collections of journal articles (particularly from PubMed, which I use a lot). I’ve read elsewhere general griping about how Papers is so PubMed-centric (particularly from people in CS research, who want similar ACM tools), but for someone doing biomedical research, I think it’s coming along and could be something I’ll use often. We’ll see when it hits 1.0.
Skim is more streamlined for handling PDFs on a file-by-file basis, and is not linked with web searching features and other bloat. I am already tempted to make it my default PDF reader — something Papers, of course, could never be.
The distinction between the two programs seems pretty clear to me, and I hope that both mekentosj and the Skim team both keep up their good work, from which we all benefit!
4 April 2007 @ 10:35 pm
[...] michael-mccracken.net » Announcing Skim: Stop printing – Start Skimming. This is a pretty cool looking app that enables you to comment on pdf documents. It is still an early release (0.2) and I don’t know if it will have a price but if it doesn’t, it is yet another app to take a shot at Adobe Acrobat. The download is availab (tags: skim pdf mac osx apps research Reading application commenting) [...]
6 April 2007 @ 1:42 am
[...] the Editor wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptIf you spend a lot of time reading articles and research papers that you get in PDF form, then you might be interested in the latest app from the folks who brought you BibDesk. If you already use BibDesk, then you certainly want to take … [...]
7 April 2007 @ 7:18 pm
[...] While it is still in beta, and not as robust as the above two it is FREE. You can read reviews here and here. Apparently this is made from the folks who made Bibdesk, so it has good lineage, and [...]
8 April 2007 @ 2:49 pm
Michael:
This is a terrific tool at version 0.2. I have been a mac loyalist since 1985, though I often have to work with windows tools since so many clients are stuck with them. One of the rare functions that has been pc only for awhile is the use of drop dead simple paperport type annotations on pdf pages and graphics for business presentations, pictures, and informal communication. Skim has quickly rated a permanent place in my dock and special utilities folder after a day or two of use. [I own the full adobe acrobat programs for both mac and windows from versions 2-8, and I never use them for routine stuff if I can help it, due to feature bloat and clumsiness- though pdfs have become the lingua franca of all edocument transfers for my work.]
Skim already provides 80% of the latest paperport software annotation functions. Two suggestions for you to consider for a feature wish list that would certainly make my day (and others too, I bet). One is to add the ability to annotate with basic arrow shapes (say thick and thin using your highlight color palette with 45 degree pointer rotation). If you wanted to get way out fancy, you might include a couple other place markers like a round dot or diamond shape, or perhaps even an old fashioned hand with an extended finger pointer graphic.
The second would be to model the use of the 1/4″ x 1″ post-it square edged or arrow flags along the pdf page margins, again using the usual color choices. If they could sport a flag number as well (like an index tab set), that would be over the top. Or perhaps include the sign here type post-it flag type. I am not aware of any program on either platform that duplicates electronically this very common paper based function millions of users/readers work with every day.
Congratulations on this gem. I would be happy to pay a modest shareware type fee for a future pro version of your software with these enhancements. I can’t wait to see how this program evolves.
Victor Alexander, MD
9 April 2007 @ 12:03 pm
Hello
Terrific program, it is now my standard pdf-viewer program. I have one suggestion, though… The snapshot function is great, but wouldn’t it be possible to instead choose specific pages (by i.e. ctrl-clic) and then be able to swap betwen those 2, 3 or more pages? It gets a bit annoying with the extra window.
Anyways, thanks for a great app :)
Veronica, Denmark
9 April 2007 @ 12:32 pm
Hi everyone, thanks for all the comments! – I don’t have time to reply to everything, but I appreciate the comments and I am reading every one.
I have a couple of things I wanted to make clear: I’m not the only person working on Skim. In fact, Christiaan Hofman has done almost all the work.
Skim is an open source team project. As such, the best place to report bugs or request features is using the appropriate tracker on the project page at sourceforge: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=192583
If you would like to discuss the app with all the developers and users, please join the skim-app-users mailing list. You can find a link from the http://skim-app.sourceforge.net/ main page.
Thanks!
13 April 2007 @ 9:53 am
Hello,
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this app. I have wished so many times that Preview had a “Make-page-fit-full-screen” feature, and finally Skim has it.
Chinmoy
16 April 2007 @ 3:24 am
This is a terrific application. I already use it as my regular pdf viewer. There is just one think I miss: PDFsync. If I had that too, I could use skim also in combination with TextMate while texing…
19 April 2007 @ 9:42 pm
[...] Skim in the podcast, but couldn’t remember its name. I only remembered I had read about it on Michael McCracken’s [...]
25 April 2007 @ 9:48 am
I have been enjoying skim for the last two weeks, and only wish there were a way to force Firefox (and even Safari) to open PDF documents with skim, rather than Adobe Reader (or the Adobe Plugin in Safari). Is anyone working on a skim browser plugin?
25 April 2007 @ 9:54 am
Hardy – I think that if you have Skim set as your default PDF viewer, the browsers should open it as necessary.
With Firefox, it may use its own mapping because it’s not really a native mac app. I’m not sure about that.
As for the browser plugin, no – nobody’s working on that, but if you register it as a feature request on the skim sourceforge site, you can bring it to the attention of the developers. It sounds like a good idea, but I’m not sure how much is involved in getting that to work.
16 May 2007 @ 2:11 am
[...] I read about it on this blog. [...]
10 September 2007 @ 7:23 am
I am not the most intelligent person in the world, but I am trying to figure out how to highlight test in SKIM and having no luck. I am unable to select text to highlight. Is this something I am doing wrong or something about the file or what? HELP!
10 September 2007 @ 9:44 am
Jordan: make sure you’re using the text tool. (Tools > Text Tool)
Also, some PDFs don’t have text layers, they’re just bitmap pictures of text. Try another PDF to test this.