A PDF reader for studying on your Mac
Margin is a PDF reader specifically designed for dense technical texts where every sentence matters.
Apple silicon · M1 or newer
Finding your place
Your notes show up on a mini-map of the textbook for you to jump right back in.
Dot products
Direction and angles
Applications
Click a line to explore. Choose a dot to revisit a note.
Scratchpads
Hard topics are just many little topics chained together. Scratchpads let you collect scattered notes into a cohesive picture.
This is interactive, try it out!
I can follow the calculation. Here’s how I’ll remember it.
Note from p. 12Dot product: multiply the matching pairs, then add.
So (1, 2) · (3, 4) becomes 1 × 3 + 2 × 4 = 11.
Note from p. 18What does the dot product tell me about these vectors?
Next: draw these two vectors and compare their directions.
My explanation
A dot product gives me one number. I know how to calculate it; now I want to understand what it means.
What I’ll try next
I’ll draw two perpendicular vectors and work out their dot product. Then I’ll compare that with two vectors pointing the same way.
My prediction: changing the directions will change the result.
Editable example. Your changes stay in this demo and reset when you reload. Use the toolbar to format text. Select a linked note to remove it; Undo restores it.
Dot product: multiply the matching pairs, then add.
What does the dot product tell me about these vectors?
Draw, connect, explore — with Excalidraw.
Collect notes from different pages. Add your own thinking around them.
Use Mac shortcuts and trackpad gestures. Keep books open in tabs or separate windows.
Your PDF stays in its original location. Margin saves your notes and scratchpads on your Mac.
Read, write, and sketch without an internet connection or a Margin account.
Margin for Mac
Try every feature free for 14 days. Take notes in your own PDFs before you decide.
No credit card. No automatic charge.
Apple silicon · M1 or newer
Margin opens PDFs from your Mac. PDFs with selectable text work best for placing notes precisely. Scanned pages and complex layouts may offer fewer places to add notes. It supports documents up to 2,000 pages and 300 MB.
Margin runs on Apple silicon Macs (M1 or newer). The current release does not support Intel Macs.
Your notes and scratchpads are saved locally in the Margin workspace on your Mac. Your PDF stays at its original location. Keep that file available and back up your workspace to keep your study work safe.
No subscription and no Margin account. Try Margin free for 14 days, then buy it for $39 USD once if you want to keep using it. Reading and writing work offline. You’ll need an internet connection to download the app, purchase, and activate or periodically verify your license.
Your 14-day trial starts when you first open Margin. Try all the features with your own PDFs, without an account or credit card. There is no automatic charge. After the trial, buy a $39 USD license to keep using Margin. Your work is kept, and you can still export it if you choose not to buy.
Resources
Free textbooks, shared by independent authors and universities. These links take you to their websites.
With thanks to the people who make learning more accessible.
Explore all resourcesBuild an intuition for vectors, matrices, and least squares.
stanford.eduFree PDF
See how computers manage programs, memory, and files.
wisc.eduFree chapter PDFs
Explore recursion, graph algorithms, and ways to solve problems.
illinois.eduFree PDF
Work through concurrency puzzles, with hints along the way.
greenteapress.comFree PDF
Browse free, openly licensed textbooks across many subjects.
open.umn.eduFree textbook library
Bring your next book. Make room for your thinking.
$39 one-time payment. 14-day free trial.