Scratchpad
These guides cover the full workspace included in the Pro trial. Compare Free, Starter and Pro for ongoing access; Assist and iPad Companion require Pro.
The Scratchpad holds passages clipped as you read, with links back to their sources, plus standalone note cards. Arrange them on canvases to work through an issue or prepare for a witness. The full Scratchpad, including canvases and capture tools, requires Starter or Pro. Free keeps saved excerpts readable.
Clipping as you read
In the Brief's PDF reader, drag a box over the passage you want. The selection toolbar shows the captured text: click Scratchpad or press S while the selection is open. The document stays open and the passage stays marked in colour. The card keeps the quote, document, page and selected region, so Open source returns to that spot.
Transcripts clip too: select a passage and Send to scratchpad — the card carries the quote with a proper transcript citation, in your chosen citation format. And for a thought that has no source yet, New note makes a standalone card.
One honest limit: a capture stores text, not a picture. Dragging over a photograph or a scanned page with no text still makes a card, seeded with a note for you to fill in.
The canvas
The Canvas view is the pinboard. Its default canvas, initially named Canvas 1, gathers all your excerpts automatically. Create more canvases from the tab strip: each starts empty, perhaps one canvas per issue or witness. Add existing cards through Add to canvas in a card's More actions menu. New captures received while a named canvas is open in Canvas view also appear there, as well as on the default canvas. The same excerpt can sit on several canvases. Remove from this canvas removes a placement from a named canvas while keeping the excerpt and its other placements.
Drag a card by the grip bar along its top. Drag the background to pan, or hold Space while dragging over the canvas. Use Ctrl+scroll on Windows or ⌘+scroll on Mac to zoom, or use the zoom buttons. Zoom to fit frames all cards. Positions are saved as you go.
The list
The List view searches all excerpts across quotes, notes, document names and tags. Filter by document or colour, then choose Pinned first, Newest excerpted, Oldest excerpted or Document name (A–Z). Pinning affects the list order when Pinned first is selected. Filters do not rearrange your canvases.
Working the cards
- Colour and tag — five colours (the last one you pick becomes the colour of your next capture), plus a short tag and a note on any card. One colour for concessions, one for credit — whatever scheme you already use.
- Copy with citation — puts “the quoted passage” (Document title, p N) on the clipboard, ready for a submission.
- Add to chronology — opens a new event with the excerpt already attached as its evidence. You complete and save the event yourself; nothing joins the chronology on its own.
- Send the source out — Send doc to LiquidText opens the source PDF in LiquidText when available; on Windows, a failed LiquidText hand-off falls back to your default PDF app. Send doc to DEVONthink requires DEVONthink on Mac. Reader link (LiquidText / DEVONthink)… stores a link copied from either app; it does not import that app's workspace.
Deleting an excerpt is the one permanent act — it asks first, and it removes the card from every canvas along with its mark on the source page.
On a second screen
Right-click Scratchpad in the sidebar and choose Open in new window, or use the reader's Scratchpad button. Read in the main window with a canvas beside it to see new clips arrive on that canvas. If the Scratchpad window is showing List instead, new clips join the list and default canvas without being added to a named canvas.
Clipping and arranging cards happens locally. Opening an external source link or handing a document to another app follows that destination's behaviour. With the Pro iPad Companion enabled and paired, you can also read the Scratchpad and capture passages on the iPad.