videolibrarytranscript
Upload Your Own Lecture Videos and Ask Tutor From the Transcript
Host a lecture you recorded. Shelf uploads it in chunks, streams it in the reader, and uses a rough transcript when you ask Tutor.
3 min read
Read articleShelf Blog
Long guides to everything Shelf can do
Feature deep-dives and workflows for students, professionals, researchers, and lifelong learners — PDF libraries, highlights, Tutor, planner, and more.
Gemini NotebookNotebookLMalternatives
Gemini Notebook (Formerly NotebookLM) Alternatives: Choose by Workflow
Gemini Notebook is strong at working with sources and now has study aids too. Here is when a persistent PDF workspace or a specialist tool fits better.
3 min read
Read articlechat with PDFTutorPDF
How to Chat with a PDF and Verify the Answer in Shelf
Use a PDF you know, verify the cited passage, and keep the answer beside your reading notes—not in a disposable chat.
2 min read
Read articleAI PDF summarizermind maprevision
AI PDF Summarizer for Students — Notes & Mind Maps from Textbooks
Students need summaries that match their coaching PDF — not generic web condensations. Shelf Tutor summarizes from your file.
1 min read
Read articleflashcardsquizQuizlet
AI Flashcards & Quizzes from PDF Notes (Quizlet Alternative)
Turn the same PDF you chat with into flashcards and MCQ papers — active recall without retyping cards by hand.
1 min read
Read articlebest study appsstudents2026
Best Study Apps for Students in 2026 (AI, PDFs & Notes)
The best study app depends on your bottleneck. Here is how to pick — and when Shelf’s all-in-one workspace is the right answer.
2 min read
Read articlefreeAI studystudents
Free AI Study Tools for Students — Chat PDF, Tutor & Quizzes
Free should mean a real study loop — not a 3-day trial. Shelf’s free tier includes Tutor and practice quizzes with fair-use limits.
1 min read
Read articleAI tutorTutorstudents
AI Tutor from Your Notes — Personal Study Help Grounded in PDFs
An AI tutor only helps exams when it has read your syllabus PDF. Shelf Tutor answers from your library with citations.
1 min read
Read articleRemNoteQuizletAnki
RemNote, Quizlet & Anki Alternatives with PDF AI (2026)
Spaced-repetition apps win at decks. Shelf wins when decks should come from the same PDFs you chat with and annotate.
1 min read
Read articleGoodNotesNotabilityPDF annotation
GoodNotes & Notability Alternative on the Web — PDF Notes + AI
Tablet handwriting apps are great on iPad. Shelf covers annotation, notes, and AI study in a cross-device web library.
1 min read
Read articlecomparisonpricingNotebookLM
Shelf vs NotebookLM, ChatGPT, Notion and PDF Tools: Which Fits?
A practical comparison of reading, source Q&A, notes, quizzes, and planning workflows—with no one-size-fits-all winner.
5 min read
Read articlestudy workspaceNotionNotebookLM
All-in-One Study Workspace: Notion + NotebookLM + Obsidian + Docs in Shelf
One study tool instead of five: store PDFs and notes, write Docs, ask an LLM grounded in your library, quiz yourself, and plan revision on Shelf.
2 min read
Read articleteacherstestsquiz
Teacher Tool for Preparing Tests from Lesson PDFs and Notes
Teachers and tutors prepare class tests from the same materials they teach — Shelf Quiz grounded in your lesson PDFs, not a random question bank.
2 min read
Read articlestudentsTutorLLM
Student Study Tool: Organize Notes, Ask an LLM, Quiz & Plan
Students ask an LLM about their own notes and PDFs on Shelf Tutor, with citations back to class material — plus library, quiz, and planner.
2 min read
Read articleTutorLLMPDF library
Store All Your Notes and PDFs, Then Ask an LLM
People search for one app that stores notes and PDFs and lets them ask an LLM. Shelf is that workflow: personal library plus Tutor grounded in your files.
3 min read
Read articlecomparisonNotebookLMTutor
Shelf vs NotebookLM: Personal Study Library vs Source Notebooks
NotebookLM is strong for chatting with a set of sources. Shelf is a personal study library where Tutor (an LLM) lives beside reading, notes, quizzes, and planning.
2 min read
Read articlecomparisonChatPDFTutor
Shelf vs ChatPDF: Library-Wide Tutor vs Single-File Chat
ChatPDF is great for one document. Shelf is for students and professionals who need a library of notes and PDFs plus an LLM that can span collections.
2 min read
Read articlecomparisonNotion AITutor
Shelf vs Notion AI: PDF Study Library vs Workspace Assistant
Notion AI is excellent for drafting and summarizing Notion content. Shelf focuses on PDF-heavy study: store files, highlight, then ask an LLM grounded in your library.
2 min read
Read articlecomparisonObsidianTutor
Shelf vs Obsidian: PDF Study Library + LLM vs Linked Notes
Obsidian is a powerful second brain for Markdown. Shelf is a study workspace centered on PDFs, Docs, and an LLM grounded in your uploads.
2 min read
Read articletutorchatorganization
Pin Tutor Chats You Keep Coming Back To
Pin up to ten Tutor conversations so they stay above Today and Yesterday — synced to your account, not stuck on one browser.
3 min read
Read articledocscitationsresearch
Write Research Papers in Shelf Docs
Shelf Docs now include a research writing suite: APA/MLA citations, BibTeX import, outline and word count, MD/PDF/DOC/LaTeX export, and more.
3 min read
Read articletutorwritinghighlights
Paraphrase Selections and Check Library Originality in Shelf
Select text in a PDF or typed doc to paraphrase or run a library self-check. Tutor can rewrite passages and flag close matches in your notes.
3 min read
Read articleyoutubelibrarynotes
Watch YouTube Lectures in Your Shelf Library While You Take Notes
Bring coaching playlists into the same collections as your PDFs. Watch in the reader, stamp the time into notes, and resume on any device.
4 min read
Read articlestreaksharingdashboard
Share Study Streak Cards on Instagram and WhatsApp
Tap Share streak card from the header flame or dashboard to export a dark, story-ready PNG. Toggle your study goal and today's minutes before posting.
3 min read
Read articletutorsummariespremium
Quick, Standard, and Deep Answers in Tutor
Toggle Quick, Standard, or Deep before you ask. Deep reads your file section by section and synthesizes long chapter-wise summaries — ideal for 200-page textbooks.
3 min read
Read articletutorplannerquiz
Ask Tutor to Add Tasks, Reminders, and Quizzes
Tutor is no longer limited to the open file. Ask anything, or say “remind me tomorrow” or “make a quiz on this chapter” and it acts in the app.
4 min read
Read articlelibrarytelegrampdf
Save Telegram PDFs Straight into Your Shelf Library
Link Telegram once, forward PDFs to the Shelf bot, and send annotated library files back to Telegram without leaving Shelf.
5 min read
Read articlelibrarysharingcollaboration
Share Shelf Documents with Classmates — View, Edit & Links
Share a Shelf page with classmates by email, control view vs edit, open items from Shared with me, and save an independent copy when you need it.
5 min read
Read articletutorchatmermaid
Stop, Queue, Edit, and Preview Diagrams in Tutor
Chat like a modern tutor: stop generation, queue follow-ups, edit a prior question to branch the thread, delete a bad turn, and open mermaid diagrams full-screen.
4 min read
Read articlesearchcommand paletteproductivity
Search Your Entire Shelf Library with Command Palette and Tutor
Keyboard search opens pages instantly. When you only remember a concept, library-wide Tutor retrieves across collections you authorize.
2 min read
Read articlebooksnonfictionnotes
Nonfiction Readers: Book Notes, Highlights, and Evergreen PDFs on Shelf
Serious readers use Shelf as a personal book notes vault: one collection for reading life, chapter PDFs, argument highlights, and AI summaries you can revisit years later.
2 min read
Read articlelanguage learningtextbooksvocabulary
Language Learners: Annotate Textbooks and Readers in a Personal PDF Library
Collections per language, topics per skill, vocabulary highlights, and AI explanations grounded in your textbook pages — Shelf for language study beyond flashcard apps.
2 min read
Read articlepinsdashboardworkflow
Pin Collections and Continue Reading: Stay Inside Active Material
Pins keep this week’s work visible. Continue reading resumes the last page you touched. Together they remove friction between sessions.
2 min read
Read articlefocusdark modeproductivity
Dark Mode and Focused Reading: Fewer Distractions Study Sessions on Shelf
Toggle dark mode, hide chrome you do not need, install the PWA, and keep Tutor one shortcut away — a focus setup for serious reading sessions.
2 min read
Read articleTutorcomparisonRAG
Shelf Tutor vs Generic Chatbots: Why Grounding in Your PDFs Matters
Generic LLMs guess from the open web. Shelf Tutor answers from your library with retrieval and citations back to your pages — better for exam and work accuracy.
2 min read
Read articleprivacysecuritylibrary
Privacy on Shelf: Your PDFs Stay in Your Private Study Library
Your /my-content library is private to your account. Learn how uploads are stored, how Tutor uses your files, and how to stay safe on shared computers.
2 min read
Read articleteacherstutorseducation
Teacher Resources for Preparing Lesson Notes — PDFs, Handouts & Prep
Collections per class, topics per unit, annotated handouts, and planner events — Shelf as teacher resources for preparing lesson notes and tutor prep libraries.
2 min read
Read articleprofessionalsproductivityPDF
Professionals: A Calm PDF Workspace for Specs, Briefs, and Learning Docs
Collections per client or domain, highlights for decisions and TODOs, Tutor for long RFCs, and planner blocks for deep reading — Shelf as a professional document workspace.
2 min read
Read articleresearchliterature reviewacademia
Researchers: Literature Notes, PDF Highlights, and Cross-Paper Questions
One collection per project, papers as pages, color highlights for methods vs claims, and AI chat scoped to your corpus — a researcher-friendly Shelf workflow.
2 min read
Read articlepwaofflinemobile
Install Shelf as a PWA for Offline-Friendly Study
Shelf installs like an app on desktop and mobile — useful for revisiting cached library structure and reading streak data when connectivity drops.
2 min read
Read articlelawcase lawjudiciary
Law Students: Build a Case Law Library with Highlights and Tutor
Collections for subjects, topics for doctrines, color-coded highlights for facts vs holdings, and Tutor prompts that stay grounded in the judgments you uploaded.
2 min read
Read articlecollegeuniversitylecture notes
College Students: Turn Lecture PDFs into a Living Study Library
One collection per course, topics per week or unit, highlights during class review, and Tutor for exam-week synthesis — a Shelf workflow built for campus life.
2 min read
Read articleuploadorganizationPDF
How to Upload and Organize PDFs in Shelf Without Chaos
Stop dumping PDFs into Downloads. Learn when to upload at library root, collection level, or inside a topic — and how Shelf keeps links stable when you rename.
3 min read
Read articlespotifyfocusreader
Spotify Focus Audio Dock While You Read on Shelf
Paste a Spotify link into the reader dock for official embed playback while you highlight and scroll. Per-collection focus playlists optional.
2 min read
Read articlegetting startedonboardingstudy library
Getting Started with Shelf: Your First Week in a Personal Study Library
New to Shelf? This walkthrough covers account setup, your first uploads, library structure, reading with highlights, asking Tutor, and planning tasks without overwhelm.
3 min read
Read articlekeyboardshortcutssearch
Keyboard Shortcuts and Command-Palette Search on Shelf
Press ⌘K or / to search your library, g then d for dashboard, ⌘L to ask Tutor on a selection — shortcuts never fire while you type in inputs.
3 min read
Read articlesyncreading progresspdf
Cross-Device Reading Progress and Last-Read Sync
Shelf saves PDF page, scroll, and zoom to your account so phone, tablet, and laptop pick up the same document where you stopped.
2 min read
Read articlepremiumsubscriptionpricing
Shelf Premium: Storage, Tutor Tokens, and Vector Search
Free Shelf is fully usable at 100 MB and 50k AI tokens monthly. Premium expands limits for heavy PDF libraries and daily Tutor workflows — with coupons, referrals, and optional monthly/yearly UPI Autopay.
3 min read
Read articlenotebooksketchdoc editor
Sketch Notebooks and Rich Text Doc Pages on Shelf
Beyond PDF uploads: draw on A4 sheets, type structured notes, or import existing documents — all live beside PDFs in your collections.
3 min read
Read articlereadertabssplit view
Reader Workspace: Tabs, Split View, and Collapsible Panels
Open several PDFs at once, compare sources in a two-pane split, hide panels for focus, and restore tabs plus scroll position when you return.
3 min read
Read articledashboardstreakachievements
Dashboard, Reading Streaks, and Study Achievements
The dashboard greets you, shows continue reading, next planner items, recent collections, and eight achievement tiles — without overwhelming empty states.
3 min read
Read articleplannercalendartasks
Plan Your Study Week on Shelf's Calendar
Create one planner item with notes and links, place it in a time slot, and keep overdue work visible in To plan.
4 min read
Read articletutorsummariesmind maps
Summaries, Revision Notes, and Mind Maps From Your PDFs
Ask Tutor to summarize a page, extract revision bullets, or render a mind map. Outputs are structured Markdown you can read, copy, or save.
3 min read
Read articletutorchatlibrary
Library-Wide Tutor Chat With Scope and Syllabus Docs
The /study-ai workspace is multi-turn chat with RAG over your uploads. Filter scope to a notebook, topic, or page, and optionally inject relevancy documents.
4 min read
Read articletutorpdfhighlights
Ask Tutor From Any Page or Highlight in Your Library
Highlight a paragraph or open Ask AI on the whole page. Answers cite your material when relevant, handle off-document questions, and can act on planner and quiz.
4 min read
Read articlepdfhighlightsreader
Read PDFs with Highlights, Ink, and Notes on Shelf
Shelf treats every uploaded PDF as a first-class document: color highlights, pen markup, text selection, and notes that stay attached to the page.
4 min read
Read articlelibrarycollectionsorganization
Build a Personal Study Library with Collections and Topics
Shelf is built around your material: collections act like notebooks, topics group related pages, and root-level pages sit beside collections for quick access.
5 min read
Read articleReady to try Shelf?
Browse free curriculum or sign in to build your own library.