NoaLingua Feature
Keep the document exactly as it looks, and still click every word
The Viewer opens a PDF looking exactly like the original — columns, tables, figures and typography untouched — because it draws the page to a canvas rather than rebuilding it as HTML. A transparent, precisely aligned text layer sits on top, giving every word its own clickable box.
How to use it
Step by step
- 1
Open a PDF and press “Open in NoaLingua”
The button sits in the bottom-right corner of Chrome’s PDF view.
- 2
Read the document as it was designed
Nothing is reflowed. Zoom and fit-width work as normal, and pages render and release as you scroll so a long document stays responsive.
- 3
Click, hover or highlight any word
Words are coloured by how well you know them, and clicking opens the same card you get from a subtitle.
Mechanism
Why it behaves this way
Canvas plus a transparent text layer
pdf.js draws each page to a canvas exactly as the file specifies. Over that, NoaLingua positions a text layer whose glyph boxes line up with the drawn pixels, then gives each word in that layer its own element.
The result is that what you see is genuinely the document, while what you interact with is genuinely text. Neither is a compromise of the other.
Why a card from a document looks slightly different
A card saved here records the document’s name rather than a video title, and marks its platform as web rather than youtube — so a card can never claim to come from a video it did not come from. Everything else about it is identical.
Limitations
Common questions
Why not just reflow the PDF into a web page?
Because that is what breaks academic papers, anything with columns, and anything with tables or figures. If the layout did not matter you would use the Reader instead — the Viewer exists precisely for documents where it does.
Can I use both modes on the same document?
Yes. They are two buttons on the same PDF, and both save into the same deck.
Read next
PDF viewer is on the free plan. So is everything else.
Free, with every feature. No account, nothing to cancel, and your deck stays on your machine.
Add to Chrome — Free Add to Chrome The Chrome Web Store still lists this as LinguaCue — same extension, rename in progress.- Free, and not a trial Every feature on the free plan — both PDF modes, shadowing, all 30 practice formats.
- No account, no email Nothing to sign up for and nothing to cancel. There is no login screen at all.
- Two dropdowns to set up Pick what you are learning and what you want translations in. That is the whole setup.
- Your words stay yours Export to Anki, CSV, a spreadsheet or a full JSON profile — free on every plan.