Turn a PDF into flashcards
Upload lecture slides, a textbook chapter, or your own notes. Penwell finds the key ideas and makes them into flashcards and a short quiz.
Free: 5 notebooks a month. No card. PDF, DOCX, Markdown, or text up to 10 MB.
What the cards look like
Two example cards from a biology chapter. Yours come from your own file.
What does a mitochondrion do?
It turns glucose and oxygen into ATP, the energy the cell uses.
What is the difference between mitosis and meiosis?
Mitosis makes two identical cells for growth. Meiosis makes four cells with half the chromosomes, for reproduction.
How it works
- 1
Upload your PDF
Drag in lecture slides, a textbook chapter, or your own notes. Up to 10 MB.
- 2
Create the notebook
Penwell reads the text and turns the key ideas into notes and flashcards.
- 3
Study the cards
Flip through them, take the quiz, and fix any card that is off.
Making flashcards that work
- Answer out loud before you flip the card. Thinking you know it is not the same as saying it.
- Keep cards short. One idea per card is easier to remember than a paragraph.
- Go through the cards you missed again later the same day, then again tomorrow.
- Delete cards that test trivia. Your time is better spent on the ideas your exam asks about.
What to expect
The cards are only as good as the text in your PDF. Slides with a few words per page, tables, and diagrams give fewer cards, because the meaning is in the picture and not the words. A scan with no selectable text cannot be read. Skim the cards before an exam and fix anything that looks wrong.
Questions
Is the PDF to flashcards tool free?
Yes, to start. Every account gets 5 notebooks a month free, no card needed. Pro is $1.49 a month for unlimited notebooks and exports without a watermark.
What files can I upload?
PDF, DOCX, Markdown, and plain text, up to 10 MB. You can preview a PDF or DOCX before you spend a conversion. You can also paste text, or use a web link or a YouTube video.
Does it work on lecture slides and textbook chapters?
Yes. Slides with real text and chapters with clear headings give the best cards. Long files work too, but a single chapter at a time gives tighter cards than a whole book.
What about scanned PDFs?
If the PDF is a photo of a page with no selectable text, there is nothing to read, and the cards will be thin or empty. Try selecting a line of text in your PDF first. If you can select it, it will work.
Can I edit the cards?
Yes. Treat the cards as a first draft. Fix the wording, remove cards you do not need, and add your own. Cards you rewrite are easier to remember.
Do I also get a quiz?
Yes. The same notebook gives you a short quiz, so you can test yourself in a different way than flipping cards.
Make flashcards from your next PDF
Takes under a minute. No card.