Underleaf
Copilot that turns handwritten notes, screenshots, and PDFs into clean LaTeX code, with in-editor writing and citation tools for academics.
Community:
Product Overview
What is Underleaf?
Underleaf is a writing assistant built specifically for LaTeX and academic documents. Instead of manually typing equations, tables, or entire papers, users can photograph handwritten notes, paste a screenshot, or upload a PDF and get accurate, compilable LaTeX back within seconds, with recognition accuracy the team reports above 95%. Beyond conversion, Underleaf layers AI editing on top of the writing process itself: it rewrites and tightens academic prose, suggests grammar fixes, and surfaces relevant citations from arXiv without breaking the writer's flow. The product ships as a browser side panel and a Chrome extension that overlays directly onto Overleaf, Google Docs, and arXiv, plus a standalone web app with more than 20 specialized tools for tasks like PDF-to-LaTeX, table generation, and format conversion between LaTeX, Typst, and Markdown. It is used by over 50,000 academics across 100+ institutions, including Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, and Harvard.
Key Features
Handwriting & Screenshot OCR
Captures equations, tables, or handwritten notes from any webpage or photo and returns accurate, ready-to-use LaTeX code.
PDF and arXiv Conversion
Converts full academic PDFs or arXiv papers into clean LaTeX source while preserving equations, figures, and document structure.
In-Editor AI Writing Assistant
Adds a toolbar to Overleaf and other editors for one-click rewriting, grammar correction, and shifting text to a more academic tone.
Citation Finder
Searches arXiv semantically based on your paragraph content and inserts properly formatted, up-to-date citations with BibTeX export.
Compiled Live Preview
Renders LaTeX on a real compiler inside the panel so users can check typeset output before copying it as text or a crisp image.
Extended Academic Toolkit
Bundles 20+ additional tools such as TikZ diagram generation, table builders, thesis/abstract generators, and LaTeX-Typst-Markdown converters.
Use Cases
- Research Paper Drafting : Researchers convert handwritten derivations and figures into LaTeX while using AI editing to polish prose for journal submission.
- Lecture Note Digitization : Students and professors turn photographed whiteboard notes or slides into typeset LaTeX study materials in seconds.
- Journal & Conference Formatting : Authors reformat manuscripts to match specific templates like IEEE, Springer, Elsevier, Nature, NeurIPS, or ACL.
- Literature Review Support : Writers paste draft paragraphs to instantly surface relevant arXiv citations and export them as BibTeX entries.
- Course Material Creation : Instructors generate syllabi, problem sets, and academic CVs directly in LaTeX using structured templates.
- Overleaf Workflow Enhancement : Teams already writing in Overleaf add AI editing, equation generation, and citation search directly inside their existing editor.
FAQs
Underleaf Alternatives
Wrtn.ai
AI-powered intelligent writing assistant specialized in Korean language content generation with multi-format support and real-time AI search.
Jenni AI
AI-powered research and writing assistant designed to streamline academic reading, writing, organizing, and citation management.
Aithor
AI-powered writing assistant designed to streamline research, drafting, and citation for academic and professional content creation.
editGPT
AI-powered writing assistant for proofreading, editing, and content refinement with customizable prompts and multi-language support.
HyperWrite AI
AI-powered writing assistant offering personalized content generation, editing, and research tools to enhance writing productivity.
Thesify
AI-powered academic writing assistant designed to enhance writing quality while ensuring academic integrity.
Writefull
AI-powered writing assistant tailored for academic and technical writing, offering language feedback, rewriting tools, and LaTeX support.
InstaText
Advanced editing assistant that enhances clarity, readability, and style while preserving the author's unique voice.

