PDF → flashcards
Turn a PDF into flashcards
Drop in a chapter, a lecture deck or a scan of your own handwriting. Stydra reads it, works out what's actually testable in it, and writes flashcards you can start revising from about a minute later. Free to try, and the demo doesn't ask for an account.
Uploading a file — PDF, slides, Word, or photos of pages — needs a free account, no card. The demo takes pasted text and needs no account at all.
How it works
- 01
Upload the PDF
Drag it in, or pick it from your files. Text PDFs are read directly. Scans and photographed pages go through vision instead, so a PDF of your handwritten notes works the same as a typed one — you don't have to know which kind you have. PowerPoint (.pptx) and Word (.docx) files work here too, as do photos of up to five pages at once.
- 02
Stydra reads it and writes the pack
Cards appear as they're generated rather than after a spinner, so you can see the shape of the pack immediately. Each card tests one idea, and questions are spread across the whole document instead of clustering in the first few pages — the usual failure mode of PDF-to-flashcard tools.
- 03
Edit anything, then start revising
Every card, step and definition is editable in place. Fix a wording you don't like, delete one you don't need, then go straight into the deck. What you rate as hard comes back sooner; what you know gets pushed out.
What you get
- Flashcards written from the document, one idea per card
- A step-by-step study guide of the chapter, in order
- Key terms and definitions pulled out separately
- A quiz, with an explanation of the misconception behind each wrong answer
- Spaced repetition scheduling, so the deck decides what you see next
- A share link, so a classmate can study the same pack for free
- An audio recap you can listen to on the way inMax plan
Everything without a tag is on the free plan. See pricing for what the paid ones cost.
Why flashcards beat re-reading the PDF
Re-reading a chapter feels productive because the text gets easier every pass — but that's the page getting familiar, not you getting able to recall it. Pulling an answer out of your own head is harder and less pleasant, and it's the thing that actually holds. That's the whole reason this tool converts a document into questions rather than into a prettier summary: a summary is something else to re-read.
Questions
Does it work on scanned or handwritten PDFs?
Yes. If a PDF has no extractable text — a scan, a photo of a page, handwriting — it's read with vision instead. Legibility matters more than neatness: if you can read it back, it usually can too.
How long can the PDF be?
Long documents are fine; very long ones are trimmed to what fits in a single pack, so a whole textbook is better split into chapters. One pack per chapter also makes for better revision than one enormous deck.
Is it free?
The demo needs no account and no card at all. A free account adds saving, spaced repetition and sharing, with three packs a month. Paid plans lift the cap.
Can I edit the cards it writes?
Yes — every card, guide step and definition is editable, and you can delete the ones you don't want. It's a starting deck, not a locked one.
What happens to my file?
It's used to generate your pack and isn't sold or used to train models. The privacy policy has the detail.
Try it on the chapter you're avoiding
Upload it and the cards are written in about a minute — a free account, no card. Or paste a few paragraphs into the demo first, which needs no account at all.
See pricing for what the paid plans add.