DNDReader

Look it up without losing your place.

DNDReader is a small, open-source PDF reader. Select a word, choose Find meaning, and search results open in a panel beside the page. Close the panel and you are exactly where you were.

Choose your download Version 0.3.0 for Ubuntu, Windows and Android

Open source (Apache-2.0). No account to create. Looking things up needs an internet connection.

Reading well

A perspicacious reader notices what the author left unsaid, and returns to the page with more than they came with.

Every lookup used to mean leaving the page: a new tab, a search, and a long walk back to the paragraph you were in.

Search results

Illustration only. In the app, this panel shows a search results page beside your document.

How it works

The name is the idea: DND stands for Do Not Disturb. Looking something up shouldn't disturb your reading.

  1. Select

    Select a word, phrase or passage in the PDF. On a phone, press and hold, then drag the handles.

  2. Find meaning

    Choose Find meaning. Search results open in a panel inside the reader: beside the page, or as a sheet from the bottom on a phone.

  3. Close and carry on

    Close the panel (press Esc, or Back on Android). The page hasn't moved. You are exactly where you were.

On a computer, Ctrl+E does the same as choosing Find meaning. More on how it works.

What it is, and what it doesn't promise

What you get

  • A PDF reader: scroll, zoom, jump to a page, the document's contents, full screen, and light and dark themes.
  • Search results inside the reader, so you never switch windows or tabs.
  • Your place kept: closing the panel leaves the page exactly where it was.
  • Open source, with no account, no telemetry and no server of ours.

What it doesn't promise

  • Google decides what the panel shows. An AI Overview sometimes appears and often doesn't. DNDReader does not promise one.
  • You can't sign in to Google in the panel. Google blocks sign-in inside embedded browsers, so results are signed out and not personalised.
  • A consent screen can appear in the panel, and occasionally a CAPTCHA. You deal with it there, as you would in any browser.
  • Looking something up needs an internet connection. Reading a PDF does not.
  • Text-based PDFs only. A scanned page has no text to select, and there is no OCR.

Download

Version 0.3.0, published 19 October 2026. Each page shows what has and hasn't been tested on that platform.

  • Ubuntu

    For Ubuntu 26.04 on 64-bit Intel or AMD computers. It's large because it carries its own browser engine for the search panel.

    Download for Ubuntu 342 MB Install steps

  • Windows

    For Windows 10 (version 1809) or newer. The installer isn't signed, so Windows will warn you; the page explains what to check.

    Download for Windows 15.6 MB Install steps

  • Android

    For Android 8.0 or newer. You install it from a file rather than a store, so Android asks for your permission before it installs it.

    Download for Android 24.9 MB Install steps

What stays on your device

The text you select is sent to Google as a search when you choose Find meaning, exactly as if you had typed it into a search box. Your PDF is never uploaded. There is no telemetry, analytics or crash reporting, and no server of ours.

Loading Google Search involves Google's own cookies, as in any browser. What happens to them differs by platform, so it is listed separately:

Ubuntu
The search panel's cookies and storage are held in memory only and discarded when DNDReader quits.
Windows
Windows can't keep the panel's data in memory, so it uses a temporary folder that is cleared and deleted when you quit. During a session that data is on disk, and after a crash a leftover folder can remain until the next launch removes it.
Android
Android can't keep the panel's data in memory either, so it lives in the app's private storage while the app runs, where other apps can't read it. That storage is deleted the next time the app starts. It is not gone the moment you swipe the app away.

Open source, one release so far

DNDReader is a solo project by Ankit Srivastava, licensed under Apache-2.0. There is one published release so far, version 0.3.0. It is not a company and has no user numbers to quote. Each download page says exactly how far that platform has been tested.

Read the source · Read the licence · Report a problem