CorviSummarize a PDF on a Mac and ask it questions, by voice
Last updated: 2026-10-31
To summarize a PDF on a Mac, open it in Preview, Acrobat or your browser, press Command-A to select all the text, and tap Corvi's Fn key. You hear the key points of the selected text aloud in a few sentences, in your language. Double-tap Fn to ask questions such as "What are the payment terms?" or "What did the study find?".
Why PDFs are hard to get through
PDFs are where long documents live: annual reports, research papers, contracts, manuals, tenders, lecture notes. They are made for printing, not for skimming on a screen. Headings are small, tables break across pages, and the one paragraph you need is often on page 37. Reading a 40-page report properly takes well over an hour; deciding whether you need to read it at all should take a minute.
Ways to summarize a PDF on a Mac
| Option | How | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Read it yourself | Scroll, skim headings | Slow; easy to miss the important part |
| Upload to a chatbot | Drag the file into ChatGPT or Claude | Uploads the whole file; you read the answer |
| A PDF app's AI feature | Built into some PDF readers | Only in that app, often paid separately |
| Corvi | Select all, tap Fn | Spoken summary from any PDF app, questions by voice |
How to do it with Corvi
- Open the PDF in Preview, Adobe Acrobat, Chrome, Safari or another viewer.
- Press Command-A to select all the text. Selected text always comes first, so Corvi reads the whole selection rather than just the visible page.
- Tap Fn. You hear what the document is about and its main points in a few sentences.
- Double-tap Fn and ask: "What are the deadlines?", "What does section 4 require from us?", "What were the limitations of the study?"
- For one section only, select that section instead and tap Fn.
Without a selection, Corvi reads the main content of the window, and if the app exposes no text, the text in a screenshot of the window: in practice, the page you are looking at.
Scanned PDFs
A scanned PDF is a picture of text. If your PDF app can't select the text, Corvi falls back to reading the visible page from a screenshot. For a long scanned document, run text recognition (OCR) first; Preview and Acrobat can do this for many files.
Stop typing. Stop reading. Talk and listen.
Free to download, no card needed. Setup takes a minute; if you don't like it, drag it to the Trash.
Download free for MacTypical uses
- Students: hear the abstract and findings of a paper before deciding to read it in full. See Corvi for students.
- Managers: get the gist of a board report or a supplier proposal between meetings.
- Contracts: ask where the cancellation, renewal and liability clauses are. Corvi isn't legal advice; read the clauses that matter yourself.
- Other languages: an English or German PDF is summarized in your language.
Frequently asked questions
Does Corvi upload my PDF file?
No file is uploaded. When you press the key, the selected text goes over an encrypted connection to the AI service that summarizes it, and Corvi's servers don't keep it.
How long can the PDF be?
Long documents work: very long text is sampled across its whole length so the summary covers all of it. For precise questions about one part, select that part.
Does it work in Adobe Acrobat?
Yes, and in Preview, Chrome, Safari, Edge and other PDF viewers on a Mac.
Is it free?
Corvi is free to download and use on the free plan, with no card needed.