Workflow

Your research,
your way.

Lattice is not a closed ecosystem. It is a precision layer between your PDFs and your writing — lightweight enough to fit into any research setup.

Workflow 01

PDF → Annotations → Markdown

Import a paper, read and annotate in your PDF app, return to Lattice to extract your highlights, and export a structured Markdown note — complete with figure images.

Workflow 02

DOI → Metadata → Shortcut → Notes

Enter a DOI, auto-fill a complete metadata record, add tags and notes, then trigger a Shortcut to push a formatted citation card directly into Obsidian, Bear, or any notes app.

Workflow 01

From PDF
to structured note.

Read anywhere. Annotate however you like. Let Lattice turn those highlights into an exportable, searchable record.

01

Import your PDF

Drag a PDF from Finder, use the file picker, or enter a DOI to fetch the paper first and attach the file later. Lattice immediately scans the document for DOI and arXiv identifiers, then queries academic databases to fill in title, authors, year, abstract, and journal.

Duplicate detection — Skip, Replace, or apply to all in a batch

Drag multiple PDFs in at once for batch import

Import a PDF and auto-fetch metadata from DOI
02

Read & annotate — your way

Open the linked PDF in whatever reader you already use — PDF Expert, Skim, Apple Preview, or anything else. Lattice does not bundle a PDF reader. That is intentional. Your reading habits stay yours.

Press Space in Lattice for Quick Look without opening the reader

Press Enter to open directly in your default PDF app

Open the linked PDF in your preferred reader
03

Extract annotations

Return to Lattice. Your annotations are already there — extracted from the PDF and displayed in the Annotations tab of the inspector. Highlights, underlines, text notes, and for box or circle annotations, a cropped image of the marked region.

Extraction happens automatically when you open or preview the PDF

Region images — figures, tables, diagrams — travel with the export

Annotation extraction — highlights and region images in the inspector
04

Export to Markdown or TextBundle

Export using your custom template. Lattice writes a .md file when you only need text, or a .textbundle when annotation images should travel alongside the note. Drop the result into Obsidian, Bear, Craft, or any Markdown-based tool.

Customise the template once — every export follows it

TextBundle keeps images inside a self-contained package

Batch-export multiple papers in a single action

Export to Markdown or TextBundle with custom templates
Workflow 02

From DOI
to your notes app.

The metadata-first path — add papers by DOI, build your record, then push a formatted citation card to any notes app with one Shortcut.

01

Add via DOI or BibTeX

Enter a DOI to fetch a complete metadata record — or import a .bib file from Zotero, Mendeley, or any BibTeX-compatible tool. Lattice pulls title, authors, year, journal, abstract, volume, issue, pages, and generates a citekey.

Multiple metadata services queried in parallel for best coverage

Attach a PDF later — or work purely with the metadata record

Pick a paper from the Lattice library via Shortcut
02

Organise and annotate

Assign the paper to Collections and Tags, set a star rating, and add your own freeform notes. The inspector gives you full access to every metadata field — all editable inline, all saved locally.

Collections: "Machine Learning", "To Read", "Writing"

Tags with colors: "empirical", "important", "idea"

Ratings, notes, and full metadata editing in one inspector

Organise with collections, tags, and notes in the inspector
03

Trigger a Shortcut

Run your Lattice Shortcut from anywhere on macOS. A picker appears — choose the paper — and Lattice renders a formatted note using your template. The result is returned to the Shortcut for pasting, sharing, or routing into any app.

Assign a global keyboard shortcut to trigger it from any app

Include or exclude annotations with a single toggle

Returns plain text — composable with any other Shortcut action

Apple Shortcuts integration — pick a paper, get formatted Markdown
04

Land in your notes app

The formatted note appears in Obsidian, Bear, Notion, Craft, or any app your Shortcut routes to. Lattice is not trying to replace your note-taking setup — it is built to connect your paper library to it, cleanly.

Works with every app that accepts clipboard text or Shortcut output

Your template controls exactly which fields appear and in what format

A clean, organised library ready for any workflow
Philosophy

The library manager
that cooperates.

Your PDF reader, notes app, and writing tool all remain exactly as you chose them. Lattice stays small, stays native, and stays out of the way.

Native
Swift on macOS —
not a web app in a window
Linked
PDFs stay where
they are — no copies
Open
Markdown, BibTeX,
Shortcuts, clipboard
Focused
Does a few things
extremely well
Get started

Ready when you are.

Free on the Mac App Store. Or join the TestFlight beta for early access to upcoming features.

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