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Search online

By · Updated Nov 18, 2025

Search for articles and books directly from Paperpile. The online search connects to multiple databases to help you find and add references to your library quickly.

Paperpile's built-in online search allows you to find new references without leaving your library. You can search for articles, books, and preprints and add them directly to your collection.

The circled Add menu open with “Search online… — Search articles or books online” highlighted, between “Create new…” and “Paste…”, each option showing its keyboard shortcut.

To search for publications online:

  • Click Add on the top left and select Search online, or
  • Press Plus sign (+) to search online, or
  • To switch from library search to online search, in the search box, click the slider button and select Search online from the menu.

The online search panel opens where you can enter your search terms.

The Search online panel with an Articles selector and a “Search online or paste URL” box, above an empty state reading “Search articles — Title, Authors, URL, DOI, PMID, arXiv ID…”, with “Pop out” and Close controls.

You can search using:

  • Title: Enter the full or partial title of a reference.
  • Authors: Search by author names.
  • URL: Paste a link to the reference.
  • ISBN: Enter an International Standard Book Number.
  • DOI: Enter a Digital Object Identifier.
  • PMID: Enter a PubMed ID.
  • PMC ID: Enter a PubMed Central ID.
  • arXiv ID: Enter an arXiv identifier.
  • PII: Enter a Publisher Item Identifier (often found in URLs like sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S...).

Search results

Online search results for “promoter mutations” with the search terms highlighted in three article titles, one showing a tick for already being in the library and the others a plus button to add them.

Search results appear in a list similar to your library view. For each result, you can:

  • View the abstract by clicking the abstract button or pressing A.
  • See reference details by clicking the three-dot button or pressing I.
  • See the blue Website and PubMed links by hovering over a result.

Add references to your library

Click the plus button next to a result to add it to your library.

If the reference is already in your library, you'll see a check button instead. Click the check button to jump to that reference in your library.

Press Esc to clear search results.

 

Click Pop out under the search box to open online search in a separate panel next to the reference list. This lets you search online and browse your library at the same time.

Click the close button (ｘ) to close the Search online panel.

Search for articles or books

The online search box with its left-hand dropdown open on Articles (ticked) and Books.

Use the dropdown list at the left of the online search box to switch between searching for articles and books.

Advanced search options

The online search box with advanced options open, offering “Quick lookup · Authors, Journals” and “Exclude from search”, above a “Search a field” list of the title:, author: and year: prefixes.

To refine your online search results, click the slider button to use advanced search options:

  • Quick lookup: Press @in the search box to filter by author or journal using Quick lookup.
  • Exclude from search: Add a minus sign before terms you want to exclude. For example, cancer -lung finds cancer research excluding lung cancer.
  • Search a field: You can target your search to a specific field using a prefix:
    • Title: Search in titles only (for example, title:CRISPR)
    • Author: Search by author name (for example, author:Smith)
    • Year: Search by publication year (for example, year:2024)

Tip: You can combine field searches for more precise results. For example, entering author:Franklin year:1953 in the search box finds references by Franklin from 1953.