Syncing Your Library Offline
If you would like to have all of your future papers automatically downloaded to local storage, please make sure to download our desktop app as this setup is only possible through the desktop application.
When you launch the app click on the gearbox icon next to “My Papers”, mouse over “PDF Downloading” and select the “Available Offline” option. You will know the option has been selected when the text is greyed out.
Otherwise your papers will be kept in the cloud until you open them in the desktop app (this is the “On Demand” option, which is selected by default). You can change this setting whenever, and any papers that have not yet been downloaded to local storage will begin downloading.
The synchronization may take a while, depending on the size of your library, and if you need to close the app during the process, no worries – it will pick up where it stopped last time. To fully stop this process and make sure your papers are only downloaded when you access them in the app, simply change the setting back to the “On Demand” option and restart the app for changes to take effect.
You can select this option for any shared library as well.
FAQ
Q: I accidentally deleted my local Papers Library folder with all my PDFs. Do I have to download them one by one to get them back?
A: If you accidentally delete the local Papers Library folder on your computer with all of your PDFs, you can simply toggle your offline settings to “On Demand” and then back to “Available Offline” (see above) and the application will pull everything back down for you.
Q: If I delete a PDF from my local Papers Library folder does it delete it from the cloud?
A: If you delete any files from your local Papers Library folder it only deletes that copy – it will not delete it from the cloud. All of your annotations and PDFs are saved in the cloud. As soon as you access that paper again, the desktop app will download a new copy to the local Papers Library folder. Please note: even if you choose to have your library sync offline (via the “Available Offline” option), if you actively remove files from the local Papers Library folder, it won’t automatically replace them unless you engage with the paper within the application
Q: If I delete a paper from my Papers library (desktop or web), and I have that PDF synced offline in my Papers library folder locally, does it delete that local copy too?
A: If you delete a paper from your ReadCube library, be it in the web or desktop application, the paper will be deleted from the cloud as well as any devices you have the app installed on as soon as they sync with the cloud. We do not, however, remove the physical copy (PDF) from your desktop – you will need to delete that separately.
Q: Can I choose which PDFs can be synced offline or does it have to be my whole library?
A: If you choose the “Available Offline” option you will download the entire personal or shared library and it will auto download any new papers you add if you keep that option enabled. It is not possible to choose specific papers, lists or sublists within those libraries to download.
If you only want specific PDFs downloaded you can either choose the “On Demand” option, which only downloads papers you access within the app (the rest are kept in the cloud), or you can manually select all the papers which you want to download, right-click on any one of them and select the “Download from Cloud” option. Note: you will need to have the PDF of each selected paper in your library, otherwise it won’t be possible to download it (such papers will have a cloud icon).
