Concept
Papers without a PDF
What "No PDF" means, why AI leaves these papers out, and how CurTask adds a free PDF for you when one exists.
Not every paper you find comes with a PDF. Many are behind a paywall, or you simply want to note a paper now and get the file later. CurTask lets you save such a paper with its details only: title, authors, year, journal and DOI.
How a paper ends up without a PDF
- You import a result from Discover marked No PDF · add it later.
- You import a reference or a citing paper from a paper's Connections tab and no free PDF is available. See Follow a paper's references and citing papers.
How to spot them
In your Global Library, the Status of a paper without a PDF reads No PDF, with a crossed-out file icon. Above the list, a note says how many papers have no PDF; choose Show them to list only those, and Show all papers to go back. You can also use the Missing PDF filter.
What works, and what waits
A paper without a PDF is a full member of your library and your projects:
- you can tag it, star it, write notes on it and fix its details;
- you can follow its references and citing papers from its DOI;
- you can cite it in your writing.
But there is no text to read, so the AI can't read or analyse it. It is left out of literature matrices, coding and evidence until you add its PDF. In a matrix, its row says No PDF: add it to fill this row.
When you start an AI job on several papers, the ones without a PDF are listed as Left out: no PDF and cost nothing.
Free PDFs are added for you
When you save a paper without its PDF, CurTask looks for a free, legal (open-access) copy. If it finds one, it adds it for you in the background, reads it, and the No PDF mark disappears.
Adding the PDF yourself
When you get the PDF, for example from your university library, open the paper and drop it into This paper's PDF. CurTask checks that the PDF really is that paper before attaching it. See Add a PDF to a paper later.