How it works
From any source to a map you actually trust.
You give us a document. We give you back a navigable mind map and a chat you can ask anything — with every answer grounded in the exact words from your source. Here's what happens between “upload” and “ready.”
Stage 1
We read it for you
Clean text out of any format — page-aware, timestamp-aware, ready to navigate.
PaperMind opens your document and extracts the words. For PDFs and books, every sentence keeps its page number. For YouTube and podcasts, every line keeps its timestamp.
Headers, footers, page numbers and ads are stripped. What you keep is the substance — the actual sentences the author wrote or said.
- Six source kinds, one consistent output
- Page numbers and timestamps preserved
- Boilerplate and chrome removed
Stage 2
We make it searchable
Every passage indexed so the assistant can find the exact line you ask about — even when you don't use the same words the author did.
The text is broken into bite-size passages and indexed two different ways — by meaning (so ‘limits to growth’ finds passages about ‘scaling constraints’) and by keyword (so exact phrases still hit fast).
When you ask a question later, both indexes vote on the most relevant passages. You get answers grounded in the right part of the document, not a blurry summary of the whole thing.
- Semantic search — finds ideas, not just keywords
- Keyword search — exact phrases still work
- Both combine for the best answers
Stage 3
We map the ideas
A two-pass process builds the structure of the document — section by section, then a unified whole.
First pass: we look at each section on its own and pull out the key ideas, sub-ideas, and the evidence for each.
Second pass: we merge those section maps into a single hierarchical tree. Duplicates collapse. Related concepts cluster. The skeleton of the argument emerges.
The whole tree is shaped for clarity — coverage over depth, signal over noise. You can see a 500-page book in one screen.
- Section-by-section first, then a unified whole
- Coverage over depth — see the breadth at a glance
- Hierarchical and zoomable
Stage 4
We verify every claim
Before any quote goes into your mind map, we check it character-by-character against your source. If it can't be verified, it gets dropped.
This is the part nobody else does. Other tools paraphrase, summarize, or hallucinate quotes that sound right but aren't in the original. We don't.
Every quote in a node is a verbatim substring of your source. Click the citation, see the exact passage on the exact page or at the exact timestamp. Trust by construction, not by promise.
- Verbatim quotes only
- Substring-verified before shipping
- Click any citation to jump to the source
Stage 5
You explore, chat, and share
The map is interactive. The chat is grounded. Your work is portable.
Click any node to read its supporting passage. Zoom into a branch. Collapse what you don't care about.
Ask anything in plain English. Answers stream back in real time, with footnote-style citations you can click. Wrong about something? Ask follow-ups until you're not.
Share a public link with one click. Download the map as Markdown. Export the full transcript with page or timestamp markers. Your insight, your file.
- Interactive zoomable map with click-to-source
- Streaming chat with inline citations
- Public share links, Markdown export, transcript download
Why this matters
Built around the way understanding actually works.
Linear reading hides structure. Chatbots hallucinate. Summaries flatten nuance. We built each step of the PaperMind process to dodge one of those failure modes.
Your data stays yours
Documents you upload are stored in your private account. Nothing is shared, sold, or used to train any model.
Zero hallucinations
Every quote is verified word-for-word against your source. If we can't ground a claim, we drop the claim — never invent one.
Six formats, one flow
PDFs, EPUB books, Word docs, YouTube videos, podcast episodes, web articles — every kind treated the same way once it's in.
Fast enough to be useful
Most documents become a navigable mind map in under 90 seconds. Long books and 2-hour podcasts still finish in single-digit minutes.
The fastest way to see it is to try it.
Three sources free. No credit card. Upload a paper, paste a YouTube link, or share a podcast URL — your first mind map renders in under 90 seconds.