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I Tried Many Canvas Apps For Paper Reading

Note-Taking Spatial Canvas Apps

I have been wanting to explore paper reading apps that work on a spatial canvas like structure. I do want them to work with Apple Pencil because I feel the most comfortable writing with papers, so heptabase is not on the list. I am not looking for paper annotation apps like Highlights, more for excerpting regions of paper into a canvas I can drag those “components” around in. The main thing I am looking for that isn’t a usual part of most canvas apps like tldraw or concepts, is the ability to locate the “snippet” or excerpt back in the pdf.

The main app that does this is Muse, but (a) it is an expensive (fairly priced subscription) for just paper reading, and (b) I would pay that much if you could share the boards on web, but you need the Muse app, unfortunately.

So, I tried other apps, and I am going to try BoardNotes for a bit, because that kinda checks the boxes of snippets, canvas, Apple Pencil, and pdf locator. GUGA on the other hand is collaborative, has snippets, has a great canvas, works well with Apple Pencil, but does not have pdf locator unless the specific pdf is already open. Neither of them have a macOS app like Muse does, or have publicly shareable boards, but they both are pretty cheap, a one-time purchase. Kosmik 2.0 seems to have public universes as a thing even for free plans, and there is an extract option, that doesn’t remember pdf location, but remembers the pdf the extraction came from. Or maybe I should stop trying to find something and just use Muse or Liquid Text (though I am unsure how it compares with MarginNote).

Some apps that I tested
You can open multiple “pages” in XNote
You can open multiple “pages” in XNote
And you can create excerpts for ONE pdf in XNote , but not multiple ones that can be combined onto a board
And you can create excerpts for ONE pdf in XNote, but not multiple ones that can be combined onto a board
Board Notes on the other hand works with multiple pdfs on the page and has pdf locator option even when pdf is not specifically opened.
Board Notes on the other hand works with multiple pdfs on the page and has pdf locator option even when pdf is not specifically opened.
Interface of liquid text is a bit dated, but it works across multiple devices (especially, it works on mac), you can create connections, ink stuff, but it is a paid app, and I am unsure if it is any better than Muse then.
Interface of liquid text is a bit dated, but it works across multiple devices (especially, it works on mac), you can create connections, ink stuff, but it is a paid app, and I am unsure if it is any better than Muse then.


BigPaper on the other hand imports pdf as a series of images that you can draw on etc, but it is not the snippets structure that I was looking for
BigPaper on the other hand imports pdf as a series of images that you can draw on etc, but it is not the snippets structure that I was looking for


Highlights might be good for pdf data labeling, because it has an option to extract just the “annotated” content but it is not what I am looking for
Highlights might be good for pdf data labeling, because it has an option to extract just the “annotated” content but it is not what I am looking for
For GUGA though, you need to have the pdf open in side view before the locator option works
For GUGA though, you need to have the pdf open in side view before the locator option works
Kosmik has a web app and a mac app, it doesn’t work really well on the ipad but that is fine, I think? It does have public universes though releasing in Feb 24, so maybe it is worth a shot?
Kosmik has a web app and a mac app, it doesn’t work really well on the ipad but that is fine, I think? It does have public universes though releasing in Feb 24, so maybe it is worth a shot?