📖 User Guide

Basic Workflow

NoteForge converts your class note PDFs (especially dark-background slides) into compact, print-friendly A4 pages.

1. Go to Stitch PDF from the dashboard or sidebar
2. Upload your PDF (drag & drop or click to browse)
3. Select page range (or click "All Pages")
4. Configure options (grid, invert, borders, etc.)
5. Click Generate — wait for processing
6. Preview the result and click Download

Selecting Pages

You don't have to process the entire PDF. Enter a "From" and "To" page number to process only what you need.

1. Enter start page in "From Page" field
2. Enter end page in "To Page" field (leave empty for last page)
3. Or click "All Pages" button to auto-detect and fill

Choose How Slides Are Arranged

Select how many slides fit on one A4 page. Available layouts:

1. 2×2 — 4 slides per page (default, best balance)
2. 2×1 — 2 slides per page (larger, more readable)
3. 3×2 — 6 slides per page (compact)
4. 3×3 — 9 slides per page (very compact, small text)
5. 1×2 — 2 slides stacked vertically
6. 1×4 — 4 slides stacked vertically

Save Ink While Printing

Most class note apps (like Notability, GoodNotes) use dark backgrounds. Printing dark pages wastes massive ink. Color inversion flips dark → light.

1. Toggle "Invert Colors" ON (enabled by default)
2. Black background becomes white, white text becomes black
3. Saves up to 80% ink cost

Fine-tune Readability

After inversion, some notes may look too faint or too harsh. Adjust these sliders to fix it.

1. Brightness (50%-150%) — increase if text looks too dark after inversion
2. Contrast (50%-200%) — increase if text looks washed out

Visual Separation Between Slides

Adds light gray separator lines between slides on the output page. Makes it easier to distinguish individual slides when printed.

1. Toggle "Border Lines" ON in Advanced Options
2. Lines appear between grid cells (horizontal + vertical)

Track Your Pages

Adds a small "1/20" style page number at the bottom-right of every output page.

1. Toggle "Page Numbers" ON in Advanced Options
2. Numbers appear as a subtle pill badge on each page

Add Your Name or Subject

Adds a light, diagonal repeating text watermark across every page. Useful to mark ownership or subject name.

1. Type your text in the "Watermark" field (e.g. your name, subject)
2. Leave empty for no watermark
3. Watermark is very light (barely visible) — won't interfere with reading

Switch Website Appearance

Toggle between dark and light mode for the website UI. This does NOT affect the output PDF.

1. Click the 🌙/☀️ button in the top-right navbar
2. Your preference is saved in the browser automatically

Power User Shortcuts

Speed up your workflow with these shortcuts (on the Stitch page):

1. Ctrl + U — Open file upload dialog
2. Ctrl + G — Generate stitched PDF
3. Esc — Cancel/close loading overlay

What You Should Know

1. Max file size: 50 MB per upload
2. Max pages per batch: 40 (process larger PDFs in parts)
3. Output format: A4 Landscape, 300 DPI PDF
4. Processing time: ~0.5 seconds per page
5. Data privacy: Files are processed and immediately deleted. Nothing is stored on the server.
6. Stats/History: Stored only in your browser (localStorage). Clearing browser data will reset it.

Use NoteForge Like a Native App

NoteForge is a Progressive Web App (PWA). You can install it on your device for quick access.

1. Chrome (Desktop): Click the install icon in the address bar → "Install"
2. Chrome (Android): Tap ⋮ menu → "Add to Home Screen"
3. Safari (iOS): Tap Share → "Add to Home Screen"