Tips & Tricks for Better Studying
Unlock new ways to study and organize your documents. Here are some articles to help you get the most out of MarginMaster and your study sessions.
Use The Free Tool NowThe most effective way to take notes on a PDF is to create a dedicated space for your thoughts, rather than scribbling over the content. Using a tool like MarginMaster to add a wide margin allows you to create a clean, organized area for summaries, questions, and key concepts. This is perfect for digital note-taking on a tablet with a stylus, as it keeps the original text clean and readable while giving you unlimited space for your annotations. It transforms passive reading into an active study session.
University-level learning requires active engagement with the material. A proven method is to adapt your documents for a system like the Cornell Note-Taking Method. By adding a wide margin to your lecture slides or readings, you create distinct zones: a main area for notes, and the margin for cues, questions, and a summary. This structured approach forces you to process the information, identify key ideas, and review material efficiently, which dramatically improves memory retention and understanding.
If you prefer physical notes, preparing your PDF for printing is key. Our 'Print' mode is designed for this. It shrinks the existing content and centers it on the page, creating clean, white margins on all sides. This acts as a 'bleed' or safe area, ensuring that when you print on A4 or Letter-sized paper, no content is cut off and you have plenty of room for handwritten notes. It's the best way to create printable study guides from any PDF.
Resizing a PDF for better note-taking involves one of two approaches, both handled by our tool. 'Digital' mode expands the overall canvas size of the PDF, adding new, blank space to the side without altering the original content's size—ideal for screen use. 'Print' mode, conversely, shrinks the content within the existing page dimensions. Both methods result in a resized PDF that is perfectly set up for adding annotations, either on your tablet or on paper.
Yes, and it's a common need for students and researchers. Our tool's 'Print' mode is specifically for this purpose. It intelligently shrinks the content and fits it onto the same page size (e.g., A4) but with your desired margins added. This gives you clean, empty space for handwritten notes around the text, which is perfect for creating study materials, reviewing drafts, or marking up documents without sacrificing readability.
Cramped lecture slides are a common problem. The best solution is to add a single, wide margin to one side of the slides. Using our tool, you can upload your slide deck, select 'left' or 'right' side, and choose a custom margin size. This creates a vertical column for your notes next to each slide, turning a one-way presentation into an interactive and effective study document for your tablet or computer.