Elyra
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Start here
Overview
Getting started
The workspace
Working with PDFs
Reading and navigating
Annotating
Comments
Organizing pages
Fill and sign
Saving and exporting
Keyboard shortcuts
Reference
Privacy and limitations
Troubleshooting
Changelog
Developing
Building
Architecture
Workspace format
Porting notes
Testing
Releasing
Contributing
Elyra
Elyra
Refr
Changelog

Changelog

All notable changes to Refr. Release notes for each version are also on the releases page.

[0.2.0] - 2026-09-27

Requires an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 13 or later.

Fixed

  • The recovery copy only exists while you have unsaved changes. Before, it was never removed, so Refr offered to restore it on every launch, even after you'd saved. Now:
    • It follows the most recently changed document with unsaved changes, and is deleted once nothing is unsaved: after you save, undo back to the saved state, or close without saving.
    • Quitting with the menu, ⌘Q or the close button writes a pending copy right away, so a change made in the last second before quitting isn't lost.
    • At launch, Refr asks Restore unsaved changes? with Restore or Discard. A restored copy opens as unsaved, so closing it asks first.
  • Workspaces keep coordinates exactly. Annotation positions could drift in the last decimal after a save and reload. They're now saved and loaded exactly.

Added

  • Complete documentation in docs/: a user guide (getting started, the workspace, annotating, comments, organizing pages, fill and sign, saving and exporting, shortcuts, privacy and limitations, troubleshooting) and a developer guide (building, architecture, the .pdfspace format, testing, releasing, porting notes, contributing).

Good to know

  • Cropping is not redaction, and a drawn signature is a visual mark, not a certificate-based digital signature.
  • OCR, encryption, password-protected PDFs and form filling aren't supported.
  • Exported annotation text uses the standard Helvetica font, which covers Western European characters.

[0.1.0] - 2026-09-27

The first release of Refr: a native, local-first PDF workspace for macOS, written in Rust with GPUI and PDFium. It is a port of PdfSpace. Requires an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 13 or later.

Added

  • Read and navigate: up to eight documents in tabs; continuous, single-page and two-page layouts; fit page and fit width; ⌘-scroll zooms around the pointer; thumbnails, bookmarks, full-text search, and text selection with copy.
  • Review and annotate: highlight, underline and strike out text; comments with replies and resolve; freehand ink, shapes, lines and arrows; stamps, check marks and inline text. Move, resize, recolor and delete, with undo.
  • Organize: drag thumbnails to reorder pages; rotate, duplicate, delete and insert blank pages; combine PDFs; crop; extract page ranges; split into single-page PDFs.
  • Fill and export: text, initials and drawn signatures; watermarks and page numbers. Export a PDF, a PNG of the current page or plain text, or save an editable .pdfspace workspace that is compatible with PdfSpace. A recovery copy is saved automatically.
  • Export keeps the original pages. Text in exported PDFs stays selectable and searchable. Annotations become page content, and comments become standard PDF comments.

Good to know

  • Cropping is not redaction, and a drawn signature is a visual mark, not a certificate-based digital signature.
  • OCR, encryption, password-protected PDFs and form filling aren't supported yet.
  • Exported annotation text uses the standard Helvetica font, which covers Western European characters.
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