Monstera Help

Getting started

• Use the start screenThe first screen shows Open PDF, six shortcut cards, your recent files and links to Settings, About and the Help centre.
• Open a PDFOpen a PDF from your computer with the Open button, a keyboard shortcut, or by dropping it on the window.
• Open a password-protected PDFWhen a PDF needs a password, Monstera asks for it before showing the document.
• Open a PDF from a web addressDownload a PDF from an https link, save it, and open it.
• Open and save PDFs in OneDrive or Google DriveSign in to OneDrive or Google Drive, open a PDF from it, and save your changes back.
• Reopen a recent fileFile › Recent lists the ten files you opened most recently, and the start screen shows the latest four, with a small picture of each first page.
• Work with several documents in tabsEach open document has a tab in the title bar; switch, close and open more from there.
• Choose a layout: Ribbon, Studio or FocusSwitch between showing every tool, a compact strip, or just the document.
• Find any tool by namePress Ctrl+K and type what you want to do to find any tool in Monstera.
• Use right-click menusRight-click a page, an annotation, selected text or a tab for the tools that apply to it.
• Use the Float barA small bar over the pages keeps zoom, selection and a few everyday tools close at hand.
• Read the status barThe bar at the bottom shows the tool in hand, the page, the zoom, whether the document is saved, and its size.
• Use the document panelThe panel on the left shows Pages, Bookmarks, Comments, Forms, Layers, Search and Accessibility for the open document.
• Use the properties panelThe panel on the right holds the Properties, AI assistant and Spelling tabs.
• Get help with what you are doingPress F1 for the Help centre, open on the article for the tool you are using, and let Show me point at the button.
• System requirementsThe Windows version, disk space and memory Monstera needs, and what each optional feature needs on top.

Viewing and moving around

• Move between pagesScroll, jump to a page, use page thumbnails, drag with the hand, let the pages scroll by themselves, and go back to where you were.
• Zoom in, zoom out and fit the pageMake pages larger or smaller, or fit them to the width or height of the window.
• Show pages one at a time or side by sideChoose whether pages scroll one after another, show one at a time, or sit in facing pairs like an open book.
• See two pages of a document at onceSplit view shows two pages of the same document side by side, each chosen on its own.
• Magnify part of a page with the loupeThe loupe is a magnifier that follows the pointer over the page.
• Show rulers and a gridRulers along the page and a grid over it help you line things up and measure.
• Read with dim pagesDim pages draws the pages themselves dark, for reading in a dim room.
• Use bookmarks and linksThe Bookmarks tab shows the document's outline and the links on the page you are reading.
• Show and hide layersTurn a document's layers on and off from the Layers tab.
• Find words in a documentSearch the page or the whole document, with match case, whole word and pattern options.
• Select and copy textUse the Select text tool to highlight words on a page and copy them.
• Fix a page that looks wrongIf a page looks wrong on screen, try drawing pages with Monstera's other renderer.

Saving, printing and sharing

• Save your changesSave writes your changes back to the file you opened.
• Save a copy under another nameWrite the document as it is now to a new file, leaving the open document where it is.
• Save automaticallyTurn on autosave to save documents with unsaved changes every 1, 2, 5, 10 or 30 minutes.
• Undo and redo changesStep back through your changes with Undo, and forward again with Redo.
• Close a document that has unsaved changesWhen you close a tab or quit with unsaved changes, Monstera asks whether to save them.
• Print a documentChoose the pages and a print quality, then pick the printer and copies in the Windows print window.
• Email or share a documentSend the document to your mail app or another app through the Windows Share window.
• Make a smaller copy of a PDFSave a copy with smaller pictures, after checking how much smaller it will be.
• Reopen documents after a crashIf Monstera closed unexpectedly, the start screen offers to reopen the documents that were open.

Editing text and content

• Edit text on the pageChange the words already on a page where they are, add new words to the page, and format them.
• Find and replace textReplace a word or phrase everywhere in the document from the Search tab.
• Move, resize, recolour or remove things on a pagePick any text, shape or picture on the page and move it, resize it, recolour it or remove it, right where it is.
• Type text onto a pageUse the Typewriter to add plain text to a page with no box around it, for example to fill in a form that has no fields.
• Place a picture or stamp on a pageDraw a box and put a picture in it, such as a logo or your own stamp, on one page or every page.
• Check spellingGo through the document a word at a time, see each word on the page, and replace it, ignore it or add it to your dictionary.
• Count words and charactersSee how many pages, words, characters and lines the document contains.
• Translate a pageTranslate the text on a page with your AI provider and write the translation back in place.
• Edit a page in another appSend the page you are on to another PDF app, edit it there, and put it back.

Organising pages

• See and select all pages in OrganizeThe Organize section shows every page as a card that you can select, reorder, rotate and delete.
• Merge PDFs into oneAdd all the pages of other documents to this one, in the order you set, at the start, at the end, or after a page.
• Split a document into several PDFsMake one file per page, or one file per range of pages, in a folder you choose.
• Extract pages to a new PDFCopy chosen pages into a new PDF file, leaving this document as it is.
• Insert blank pagesAdd one or more empty pages before or after a page you choose.
• Add pictures as new pagesTurn one or more JPEG or PNG pictures into new pages, where you choose in the document.
• Insert pages from another PDFPut pages of another document into this one, before or after the page you choose.
• Delete pagesRemove one page, the pages you selected, or a list of pages you type.
• Change the order of pagesDrag pages to a new place, or move a page up or down one place at a time.
• Rotate pagesTurn pages a quarter, half or three-quarter turn.
• Swap two pagesExchange the page you are reading with another page in one step.
• Duplicate a pageMake a copy of the page you are on, placed right after it.
• Replace pagesSwap the pages you choose for pages of another document.
• Crop pagesTrim the margins of one page or every page.
• Resize pagesChange pages to A4, Letter or another size, scaling their content to fit.
• Delete duplicate pagesList pages that are exact copies of each other and delete the extra copies.
• Add headers and footersAdd text at the top or bottom of pages, including page numbers.
• Add Bates numbersStamp consecutive identifying numbers, with an optional prefix and suffix, on pages.
• Add a watermarkWrite faint, angled text such as DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL across pages.
• Add a page backgroundGive pages a soft colour behind their content, like tinted paper.
• Add a table of contentsBuild a table of contents page from the document's bookmarks and put it at the front.
• Add page transitions for presentingSet how a page appears when the PDF is shown full screen as a presentation.
• Import a page as a layerLay a page of another document over this page as a layer you can show and hide.
• Add and read barcodes and QR codesPlace a QR code or other barcode on a page, or read the barcodes already on a page.

Comments and markup

• Highlight, underline or strike through textMark words on a page with a highlight, an underline or a line through them.
• Add a note (sticky note)Place a small note icon on a page with a comment inside it.
• Add a text boxDraw a box on a page and type text into it.
• Format text in a text boxChange the font, size, colour, bold, italic, underline, alignment, line spacing, padding and fill of a text box or typed text, and resize the box from any side.
• Add a calloutAdd a text box with a line pointing at the thing you are talking about.
• Mark where text should be insertedPlace an insertion mark (caret) to show where something is missing.
• Draw freehandDraw on a page with the mouse, pen or finger.
• Draw rectangles, ellipses, lines and arrowsAdd simple shapes to point at or frame parts of a page.
• Draw polygons, connected lines and cloudsDraw many-sided shapes, lines with several bends, and revision clouds.
• Add a stampStamp a page with APPROVED, DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL and the other built-in stamps, or a picture you keep.
• Measure distance, area and perimeterMeasure lengths and areas on drawings, using a scale you set.
• Add a link to a web page or another pageMake an area of a page into a link to a website, an email address, or a page in the document.
• Snapshot part of a pageSave a rectangle of a page as a PNG picture.
• Select, move, resize and delete annotationsPick up comments and shapes to move, resize, copy, paste or delete them.
• Change how annotations lookSet the colour, opacity, line width, font size, author and blend of new or selected annotations.
• Erase annotationsClick a comment, mark or shape to remove it.
• See all comments in a documentThe Comments tab lists every comment and mark, by page, and jumps to each one.
• Edit a comment or reply to itChange the words of a comment, or answer it with a reply.
• Export or import commentsSave a document's comments to an XFDF, FDF or JSON file, or add comments from such a file.

Forms

• FormsFill in a PDF form on the page, or make one by placing fields, finding them on a flat page, and setting what each one does.
• Fill in a formFill a PDF form's text boxes, tick boxes, options, dropdowns and lists on the page or from the Forms tab.
• Create form fieldsAdd text fields, tick boxes, radio buttons, dropdowns, list boxes, buttons, signature fields and date fields to a page.
• Change a form fieldRename, restyle, format, calculate, align, copy and set the tab order of the fields you have drawn.
• Find fields on a flat formLet Monstera suggest where the blanks are on a printed-style form, and turn the ones you keep into fields.
• Delete a form fieldRemove a field from a form, from the page or from the Fields list.
• Flatten a formDraw what is written in every field onto the page and remove the form, so it can no longer be changed.
• Export or import form dataSave the values in a form to a JSON, XFDF or FDF file, or fill a form from one.

Scans, OCR and handwriting

• Convert a scanTurn a scanned or handwritten document into a searchable PDF, a Word file or an Excel workbook.
• Make scanned pages searchable (OCR)Recognise the text in scanned pages so you can search, select and copy it.
• Save a searchable copy of a scanRecognise every scanned page and save the result as a new searchable PDF.
• Recognise scanned pages when exportingHave text, Word and PDF/A exports read scanned pages first, so the exported file carries their words.
• Recognise text in part of a pageDraw a box on a scanned page to read the text in just that area.
• Read handwriting with Azure or ClaudeDraw a box around handwriting and have Azure Document Intelligence or Claude read it.
• Clean up scanned pagesMake scans clearer by evening out their light and dark tones.
• Straighten crooked scanned pagesTurn slightly crooked scans upright automatically.
• Crop photographed pages to the paperTurn a photo of a sheet of paper, taken at an angle, into a flat page that is just the sheet.
• Make a PDF with your cameraTake pictures with your webcam and turn them into a PDF.

Redaction, security and signing

• Redact (permanently remove) contentMark text or areas for redaction, check the marks, then remove what is under them for good.
• Find and redact wordsMark every place a word or phrase appears for redaction, then check and apply.
• Sanitize a documentRemove scripts, attached files, actions that send or fetch data, and optionally flatten fields and comments.
• Set a password and permissionsLock a document with a password, choose what readers may do, or remove the protection.
• Add your signatureDraw, type or upload your signature, then click where it goes on the page.
• Sign a document digitallySign with your certificate file (.p12 or .pfx), optionally certifying it and adding a timestamp.
• Add a visible signatureDraw a box, then type, draw or use a picture of your signature, and sign with your certificate.
• Check a document's signaturesSee who signed, when their certificate was valid, and whether the document has changed since.
• Send a document for signing with DocuSignSend the document to DocuSign so it emails your signers, then save the signed copy back.

Comparing and accessibility

• Find the differences between two documentsCompare two documents in Side by Side and see every change in text, layout, annotations and pictures, marked on both pages.
• Compare two documents side by sideSide by Side shows two open documents next to each other, each with its own list, zoom and scrolling.
• Run an accessibility checkCheck whether a document works for people who use a screen reader, see what to fix, and see each problem on the page.
• See a page's reading orderList the items on the page you are on in the order a screen reader reads them, and see each one on the page.

The AI assistant

• Set up the AI assistantChoose a provider, paste your key, and let Monstera check it before saving, or skip.
• Get and add keys for AI and online reading servicesHow to get an Azure or Anthropic (Claude) key, where to paste it in Monstera, and where to read each provider's own prices.
• Ask the AI assistant about a documentChat with an AI provider of your choice about the page, the whole document, selected text or the comments.
• Ask AI about selected text or a commentRight-click selected text to ask, explain, summarise or translate it, or have AI draft a reply to a comment.
• Read a table or chart with AISend a picture of the page to the AI assistant so it can read tables, charts and layouts.
• Summarise a document's comments with AIHave the AI assistant sum up what reviewers asked for, pointed out and left open.

Creating and converting

• Make a PDF from picturesCombine JPEG and PNG pictures into a new PDF, one picture per page.
• Make a PDF from a Word, Excel or PowerPoint fileTurn a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file, new or old format, into a new PDF.
• Make a PDF from a Markdown fileTurn a Markdown (.md) text file into a new PDF, or add it as pages to the open document.
• Make a PDF table from a CSV fileTurn a CSV spreadsheet file into a PDF with a table.
• Export to WordSave the document as a Word file that flows like a normal document, keeps the page layout, or holds just the words.
• Export tables to ExcelFind the tables in a document, check and correct them, and save them to an Excel workbook.
• Export to PowerPointSave pages as slides in a PowerPoint file, with text you can edit or an exact picture of each page.
• Save pages as picturesExport pages as PNG, JPEG or WebP pictures, one file per page, at the resolution you choose.
• Save the text as a text fileExport the document's words to a .txt file, plain or keeping the page layout.
• Save an archival copy (PDF/A)Save a copy of the document in the PDF/A format used for long-term archiving.

Settings and about

• Change Monstera's settingsOpen Settings to change appearance, viewing, editing defaults, saving, OCR, AI keys, integrations and privacy.
• Change the theme and accent colourChoose a light or dark window, follow Windows, and pick an accent colour.
• See and change keyboard shortcutsPress Ctrl+/ for the list of every command and its keys, and give any command the keys you want.
• If something goes wrongWhat Monstera's problem messages mean, how to try again, and where to find the diagnostics log.
• Check Monstera's componentsSee the tools Monstera uses to read, convert and recognise documents, and check that their files are intact.
• See the version and licencesThe About window says what Monstera is, shows its version, and links to its source code and licences.
• Support Monstera with a donationOpen Monstera's donation page in your browser.
• Rate MonsteraLeave a rating in the Microsoft Store, and control the occasional reminder.