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Short answer
Use CiteFlow when you already have research PDFs and want to read them, compare two documents, keep notes linked to source pages or prepare citation drafts in a local project. Check your required citation style and export first. It does not provide literature discovery, a shared cloud library or a formal review-screening workflow.
This guide covers CiteFlow. Check requirements and download options before you begin.
Before you start
- A clear research question and a few representative sources
- The citation style and writing application required for the work
- A clear choice about individual work, collaboration and whether automatic source-detail lookups are suitable for your material
Choose by the job
| Your task | Start with | Check before choosing |
|---|---|---|
| Keep a note tied to a passage | Keep PDF Quotes Linked to Their Source Pages | Check the quotation, its surrounding context and the page locator against the source. |
| Read two papers together | CiteFlow: two-document comparison | You still assess each paper's methods, results and limitations. |
| Prepare a bibliography draft | Create a Bibliography from PDF Sources on Windows | Correct missing or mistaken source details and check that a supported citation style fits your submission. |
| Find related wording in collected PDFs | Search Research PDFs by Meaning Without Uploading | This optional feature needs a model download and project index. Read the source page; rank is not proof that a claim is true. |
Start here
Name the task that is slowing you down
Separate finding papers, screening them, reading evidence and writing citations. Do not choose a PDF organizer expecting it to search every academic database or manage a formal review protocol.
Write down your non-negotiable requirements
Write down the citation style, export format and source-tracing requirements. Check CiteFlow's supported features and limits. Shared cloud libraries, live writing-app citation integration and formal review screening are outside this guide's workflow.
Try a three-source project
Import a text PDF, a scan and a paper with printed page numbers that differ from the PDF positions. Check metadata, retrieval, annotation and the path back to a quoted page.
Test the handoff
Export one note and prepare one bibliography entry. Check the source details and page locator in the output before committing the full project. An exported draft is not a live citation link inside your writing application.
Check your result
- The selected tool supports the research stage you need.
- Every retained quotation can be traced to its source and checked page.
- A supported citation style and the exported format meet your writing requirements.
- You have reviewed automatic source lookups, title translation and optional component downloads before importing sensitive sources.
- The exported file contains what you need and excludes private notes.
Source records, annotations and evidence notes
A source record describes a work: title, authors, year, publication and identifier such as a DOI. An annotation marks or comments on part of a document. An evidence note explains why a passage matters to your question and records its limitations.
Keep the author's words separate from your interpretation. A useful note includes the checked quotation, source record, printed page label when available, PDF position for navigation, and your own comment. Automatic metadata and OCR can be wrong, so check them against the document.
A citation draft formats saved information. It cannot correct a misidentified source or prove that the cited passage supports your claim.
Where CiteFlow fits
CiteFlow is a free Windows x64 workspace for PDFs you have already collected. It brings reading, two-document comparison, source-linked notes, exact search, optional local Semantic Search Beta, OCR and citation drafts into a local project. Source preparation runs in the background. Before generating a bibliography, review flagged source details against the original publication; automatically filled information is not a guarantee of accuracy.
It does not replace a literature discovery database, shared cloud library, full manuscript editor or formal systematic-review platform. Its five citation styles are APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 Author-Date, Chicago 18 Notes-Bibliography and IEEE. Check whether one matches your required submission style.
Osenpa publishes CiteFlow and this guide. This guide explains the app's workflow and limitations; it is not a benchmark of retrieval quality, research accuracy or security. Keep a separate record of review decisions when your project requires a formal protocol.
Exact search and meaning search answer different questions
Exact search is useful when you know a phrase, title or identifier. Meaning-based retrieval may find passages with related wording, but the highest-ranked result is only the closest among the returned candidates. Rank is not a probability that the passage is relevant, true or applicable.
CiteFlow's optional local models require a download and their own project index. E5 is the smaller option; BGE-M3 is larger. Compare known passages from your own material before assuming either model is a better fit. Image-only sources need OCR for text retrieval, and OCR errors can become search errors.
A search result is a route back to a source page. Read the surrounding population, method, result and limitation before retaining it as evidence.
Check data handling and export before committing
Separate local reading from synchronization, source preparation, component installation and online AI. In CiteFlow, reading and installed OCR or search run locally. Automatic source preparation can query a DOI or title online and retrieve matching publisher records. Title translation can also run automatically. Manual entry alone does not prevent these requests; review the Network & data disclosure before importing sensitive sources.
Test exports early. A readable Markdown handoff is a snapshot and does not necessarily contain source PDFs, the project database or a live link to later edits. Keep the project's proper backup separately from any text export.
Check one quotation, one page locator and one bibliography entry in the exported file. A journal's printed page 519 may be PDF position 3, and both values have a purpose. Remove private notes and verify the chosen citation style before sharing.
CiteFlow
View app detailsRelated guides
- Choose a Literature Review Workflow on Windows
- Organize Research PDFs and Notes on Windows
- Keep PDF Quotes Linked to Their Source Pages
- Search Research PDFs by Meaning Without Uploading
- Create a Bibliography from PDF Sources on Windows