DunkelPDF - The Definitive PDF Reader for Data Science

DunkelPDF Reader brings calm, consistent PDF study tools into Visual Studio Code so you can comb through research papers, reports, and notebooks without leaving your workflow. Open a document and you will find a focused interface that keeps the page front and centre while giving you quick controls for themes, zoom, annotations, and exports back into Markdown notes.

Project status

Implemented today

• Custom VS Code reader. DunkelPDF registers a custom editor with toolbar controls for paging, zooming, theme changes, search, and bookmark styling so the viewer behaves like a first-class PDF surface inside the IDE.
• Persistent annotations. Notes, quotes, and bookmarks sync to companion .dk.md files and stay in lockstep across multiple panels, including the context menu actions exposed inside the webview.
• Notebook linking. Annotations can link directly to notebook files or cells, with create/edit/remove flows and resolver utilities for locating the right notebook resource.
• On-page navigation aids. The webview builds an outline tree, overlays search matches, and virtualises page rendering so that large documents stay responsive.
• Citation-aware links. Footnotes, citations, and section references receive labels and hover previews, and external links open safely through VS Code.
• Clipboard helpers. Toolbar and context menu entries copy pages, selections, or quotes straight to the system clipboard for quick reuse.

Work in progress / planned

• Richer annotation types. Freeform region highlights, sketches, and attachments are on the roadmap so annotations can capture more than text snippets.
• Annotation management tools. Filtering, tagging, and bulk operations are being explored to make large .dk.md files easier to triage.
• Collaboration & sync. Future builds aim to streamline sharing annotations across machines or teammates beyond the current local Markdown workflow.

Quick start

1. Open the Extensions view in VS Code (Ctrl + Shift + X / Cmd + Shift + X).
2. Search for Definitive PDF Reader for Data Science and click Install.
3. Open any .pdf file. When prompted, choose Definitive PDF Reader for Data Science as the editor (you can make it the default via Open With…).

Feature tour

Themes and focus modes

• Switch between Regular, Dark, and Sand themes straight from the toolbar to match lab lighting or late-night reading. Global commands such as Dunkel PDF: Use Regular Theme, …Dark Theme, and …Sand Theme remain available in the Command Palette to appl y a theme to every open viewer simultaneously.
• Use the zoom slider for quick scaling between 50 % and 200 %; the percentage readout updates in real time to keep your spatial awareness intact.

Bookmarking & annotation workflow

• Right-click anywhere on a page to open the annotation context menu. Choose Add note or Add quote to pin insights to the current page, Remove note or Remove quote to tidy them up, Toggle favourite to bookmark the page, or Copy page text to pull the underlying text into your clipboard when available.
• An annotation column appears beside any page with saved notes or quotes, letting you skim highlights while you read. Everything is written to a Markdown companion file (<document>.dk.md) next to your PDF so the research trail stays portable, searchable, a nd editable.
• The bookmark button in the toolbar mirrors the context-menu favourite toggle, making it easy to mark key figures or tables as you work.

Search overlay

• The search toolbar (toolbar__search* handlers in media/viewer.js) opens with familiar shortcuts so you can step through mat ches, highlight all occurrences, and jump directly to the most relevant paragraph without losing your place.

Outline navigator

• Outline helpers (outline* utilities) build a live table of contents from PDF metadata so you can hop between sections, appendi ces, or methodology notes without scrolling through every page.

Virtualization for large PDFs

• Behind the scenes, the virtualizationState logic streams pages in and out of view, keeping navigation smooth even when you lo ad multi-hundred-page theses or regulation binders.

Link and footnote previews

• Link activation taps into handleAnnotationActivation to open external references safely in your browser, while extractFootno teTooltip produces hover previews so you can peek at citations without breaking concentration.

Copy to clipboard support

• Use the toolbar controls or context menu to copy the current page, highlighted text, or quote snippets directly to your clipbo ard for quick transfer into notebooks, issues, or chat threads.

Image demos

Add screenshots below to showcase different workflows:

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Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.85.0 or newer
• No additional dependencies needed

Need help?

Open an issue in the repository or contact the publisher through the VS Code Marketplace listing. Feedback on accessibility, read ability, or new feature ideas is always welcome.

License

Definitive PDF Reader for Data Science is released under the MIT License.