Apps
The PDF Reader, Notes, Reading List, Dictionary, Notepad and Equation Editor.
Apps guides
- Apps
Add Equations
Write an equation in Helperbird, add it to a PDF or Notepad, and edit it later. Use your keyboard or the on-screen math keyboard.
- Apps
Adding a Saved Note
Learn how to use My Notes in the Helperbird Notepad to search the notes and highlights you saved while reading, and drop one into what you are writing.
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Annotate and Export PDFs
A complete walkthrough of annotating a PDF in Helperbird. Add text boxes, draw, take notes, then export the finished PDF with every annotation baked in.
- Apps
Change Your Reading View
Choose a font, text size, spacing, width and theme in Helperbird reading apps. Find each app’s controls and reset the view without deleting your saved work.
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Copying a Document
Learn how to duplicate a document in the Helperbird Notepad so you can edit a copy while keeping the original untouched.
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Copying an Equation
Learn how to copy an equation out of Helperbird's Equation Editor as LaTeX, as MathML or as an image, and which format to pick for where you are pasting.
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Deleting a Document
Learn how to delete a document you no longer need from the Helperbird Notepad, and what to check before you do.
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Describe Pictures in a PDF
Add a description to pictures pasted into Helperbird PDFs, mark decorative images correctly, and resolve missing-description prompts before downloading work.
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Dictating an Equation
Learn how to speak a maths equation into Helperbird's Equation Editor instead of typing it, and what the Listening and Hearing messages mean.
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Dictionary
Look up a word, hear it aloud and choose how its definition appears in Helperbird Dictionary.
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Downloading Your Work
Learn how to download your Helperbird Notepad writing as a Word file, a Markdown file, a Google Doc or a plain text file.
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Drawing with the Keyboard
Learn how to add, move, resize and delete shapes on a PDF in Helperbird using only the keyboard, without needing a mouse or a steady hand.
- Apps
Equation Editor
Learn what every button in Helperbird's Equation Editor toolbar does, what the Menu button holds, the limits worth knowing, and the guide for each job.
- Apps
Hearing a Word Aloud
Learn how to use the speaker buttons in the Helperbird Dictionary to hear a word pronounced, or to hear an example sentence read aloud.
- Apps
Hearing an Equation
Learn how to have Helperbird read a maths equation out loud, so you can check it says what you meant rather than trying to read the symbols.
- Apps
Helperbird Notepad
Learn about the Helperbird Notepad's writing tools, autosave, captured notes, reading list, and Word, Markdown, and text downloads.
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Listen to Your NotePad Document
Listen to your NotePad document, pause when you need to and choose a comfortable reading speed.
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Look Up from the Toolbar
Learn how to select a word on any page and look up its meaning straight from Helperbird's floating toolbar, without leaving what you are reading.
- Apps
Looking Up a Word
Learn how to search for a word in the Helperbird Dictionary and read its definitions and example sentences, grouped by part of speech.
- Apps
Manage Notes & Highlights
Create, edit, search and export saved notes and highlights from the Highlights & Notes card in Helperbird NotePad.
- Apps
Opening a Saved Document
Learn how to find and reopen a document you saved earlier in the Helperbird Notepad using the View button.
- Apps
Opening a Saved Page
Learn how to open a page you saved to your Helperbird Reading list, and how to read it with Helperbird's reading tools once you are there.
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Opening a Word on Wikipedia
Learn how to jump from a word in the Helperbird Dictionary to its Wikipedia page, for when a short definition is not enough.
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Opening the Dictionary
Open Dictionary from Helperbird, or look up a word directly from a webpage.
- Apps
Opening the Equation Editor
Learn how to open Helperbird's Equation Editor from the extension popup, so you can write, hear and copy maths equations in your browser.
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Opening the Notepad
Learn how to open the Helperbird Notepad from the extension popup in four steps, so you have a clean, distraction-free place to write inside your browser.
- Apps
Opening the PDF Reader
Get a PDF into Helperbird. Open the reader from the popup, load a file from your computer, use the message on a PDF page, and fix a file that will not open.
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Opening Your Reading List
Learn how to open the Helperbird Reading list from the extension popup in three steps, and what you see on the list page before you have saved anything.
- Apps
Paste onto a PDF
Paste copied text, links or images onto a PDF page in Helperbird. Move and resize the new boxes, keep editing your notes, and download a copy with your changes.
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PDF Annotations
Learn how to add text boxes and annotations to any PDF using Helperbird's PDF Reader. Write notes, format text, add comments, and download your annotated PDF.
- Apps
PDF Drawing Tools
Learn how to draw on PDFs with Helperbird's pen, shape, arrow, and line tools. A step-by-step guide to marking up any PDF document.
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PDF Reader on iPhone, iPad, and Mac
Open, read aloud, annotate, translate, and export PDFs in the free Helperbird app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
- Apps
PDF Search and Zoom
Search the current PDF page, move between matches and adjust zoom in Helperbird. Use Fit width or Fit page to read comfortably. These PDF tools are all free.
- Apps
Reading a PDF
Read a PDF that is already open in Helperbird. Turn the pages, listen to any page with the text to speech player, and take notes in the panel beside it.
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Reading List
Learn the difference between Helperbird's two reading list rows, how your saved pages are grouped on the list page, and which guide covers each job here.
- Apps
Removing a Page
Learn how to remove a page from your Helperbird Reading list once you have finished with it, using the Remove button beside each saved page.
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Save and Download PDFs
Download a PDF you marked up in Helperbird, and find out exactly which of your text boxes, drawings, notes and highlights end up in the downloaded file.
- Apps
Saving a Page
Learn how to save the web page you are reading to your Helperbird Reading list, so you can come back to it later.
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Saving as an Image
Learn how to save a maths equation from Helperbird as an image file, and when a picture is the right choice rather than copying the maths itself.
- Apps
Saving Your Work
Learn how to save your writing in the Helperbird Notepad, where it is stored, and what to do if a long document will not save.
- Apps
Searching Your List
Learn how to search your Helperbird Reading list to find a saved page quickly once the list has grown too long to scan.
- Apps
Share and Export PDFs
Send a PDF you marked up in Helperbird to a teacher, a class or a colleague. Download it first, then share the file through Drive, Classroom, email or your LMS.
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Similar and Opposite Words
Learn how to use the Similar words and Opposite words lists in the Helperbird Dictionary, and how clicking one looks that word up straight away.
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Smaller PDF Text Boxes
Make text and text boxes smaller in Helperbird's PDF Reader. Follow the screenshots to resize and move your answers into the spaces on a worksheet.
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Speed Reading
Read one word at a time in Reading Mode or PDF Reader. Play, pause, move between sentences and adjust your pace with the same simple controls in both readers.
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Speed Reading Shortcuts
Use Space, arrow keys and Home to control Speed Reading in Reading Mode and PDF Reader. Play, pause, move between sentences and change speed with the keyboard.
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Starting a New Document
Learn how to start a fresh document in the Helperbird Notepad without losing the one you were already working on.
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Text Boxes with the Keyboard
Learn how to position, resize and delete a text box on a PDF in Helperbird using only the keyboard, without dragging anything with a mouse.
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The PDF Tools Menu
The Tools menu in the Helperbird PDF Reader. Reach Immersive Reader, Translate, Summarize and Screenshot Reader on your document without leaving the tab.
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Translate PDFs
Translate the current PDF page, compare the original and translation, and use Helperbird's reading tools on the translated text.
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Using the PDF Reader
The Helperbird PDF Reader in one page. What it is, what the toolbar buttons do, what the reader cannot do, and which guide covers each job.
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Word and Character Count
See how many words and characters you have written in the Helperbird Notepad. The Text stats window also shows sentences, reading time and speaking time.
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Writing an Equation
Learn how to write a maths equation in Helperbird's Equation Editor, either by typing the LaTeX yourself or by picking symbols from the math keyboard.
- Apps
Writing and Formatting
Learn how to write in the Helperbird Notepad and use the formatting toolbar for headings, bold, lists, color, links and images.
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