Thank you for being a Shortform subscriber! Whether you’re new to the app or have been using it for a while, this guide will walk you through the key features that make Shortform a powerful tool for learning and personal growth. All of the following features and functions apply to using Shortform via the mobile app or in a web browser.
We hope this guide answers your questions—but, if you need more help, we’d love to hear from you. You can reach out to our support team in the app or by email.
Table of contents
Get Started
We work hard to make Shortform easy to use—but, if you ever get stuck, we’re here to help. We also want to make sure you’re getting the most out of all our features and options.
Download the App
It’s easy to use Shortform in a browser on desktop — or on a mobile device in a browser or on our app:
Start Learning
You’re here to learn, grow, and gain new perspectives. Let’s dive in!
The Discover Tab: Find Something Good to Read
The app’s homepage—and the first item on the Shortform menu—is Discover. At the top of the Discover tab, you’ll find an insightful quote from one of the books in our library. (Once you’ve started reading, the first thing you’ll see here are your current reads so you can quickly get back into them.)
Here’s what else you’ll find in the Discover tab:
- Recommended: Check out the titles we think you’ll love!
- New Releases: We add new guides every week. Find the latest ones here!
- Popular Books: See what other Shortform readers are enjoying!
- Collections: Check out our curated collections of book guides (e.g., “Secrets of Successful Companies” and “Parenting 101”).
- Book of the Day: Discover something new every day with our Book of the Day selection.
- Articles: Shortform has exclusive articles about trending topics and matters relevant to everyday life (e.g., “How Private Is Your Genetic Data?”).
Quickly find what you’re looking for:
Search for titles or keywords with the search bar in the main menu.
The Books Tab: Find a Book Guide to Read
Naturally, you’ll find Books on the Shortform menu! At the top of the Books tab, you’ll see the various categories of book guides we have in our library.
Below the categories, you’ll find all of our book guides. By default, these are sorted to display the latest additions at the top. You can sort them by popularity, alphabetically, or by what we recommend most.
The Articles Tab: Find an Article to Read
You’ll also find Articles on the Shortform menu. At the top of the Articles page, browse our articles by category.
Below the categories, you’ll find all of our articles. By default, these are sorted to display the latest additions at the top. You can also sort them by popularity or alphabetically.
The Podcast Tab: Find a Podcast Episode Guide to Read
As a subscriber, you have early access to our new podcast episode guides! On the Podcasts tab, you’ll find guides to the latest episodes of the podcasts you’ve checked out in the app. The podcasts we cover are below that. They’re sorted by podcasts you’re following on Shortform first, followed by all the podcasts we cover, in alphabetical order.
Stuck? Contact our support team!
Turn Dark Mode On or Off
Turn dark mode on or off in one of two places:
- Tap your profile icon (top right), and toggle Dark mode on or off.
- On the reading page, tap the sun/moon icon in the menu.
Change Language
Shortform is available in four different languages! Our current options are English, Español, Deutsch, and Português Brasileiro. To change the language that displays on the app for you, tap the profile icon (top right). Then, tap the Language dropdown menu, and choose a language.
Build Your Library
Your Shortform library has four sections: Books, Articles, Podcasts, and Lists. Let’s take a tour.
Your Books section has three shelves:
- Reading Now—Each book guide you’re currently reading appears here.
- Favorites—Each book guide you’ve marked as a Favorite appears here. To mark a guide as a Favorite, tap the bookmark icon on the book card, and select Add to Favorites. Or, on the reading page, simply tap the star-shaped Add to Favorites icon.
- Finished—Each book guide you’ve finished appears here. To mark a guide as Finished, tap the three-dot menu on the book card, and then tap Move to Finished.
Your Articles section has two shelves:
- Favorites—Each article you’ve marked as a Favorite appears here. To mark an article as a Favorite, tap the bookmark icon on the article card. Or, on the reading page, simply tap the star-shaped Add to Favorites icon.
- Viewed—Each article you’ve opened appears here.
Your Podcasts section has three shelves:
- Reading Now—Each podcast episode guide you’re currently reading appears here.
- Favorites—Each podcast episode guide you’ve marked as a Favorite will appear here. To mark a guide as a Favorite, tap the bookmark icon on the podcast card. Or, on the reading page, simply tap the star-shaped Add to Favorites icon.
- Finished—Each podcast episode guide you’ve finished appears here. To mark a guide as Finished, tap the three dot menu on the book card, and then tap Move to Finished.
Add Items to Your Want to Read List & Custom Lists
To add an item to a list, tap the bookmark icon on the item’s card or on the guide’s preview screen.
You have the option to either Add to Want to Read or Add to List. If you choose Add to List, a pop-up will prompt you to add to an existing list or create a new list, which can be accessed later from the Lists tab in My Library.
You also can create a custom list right from the Lists tab using the + Create List button.
Stuck? Contact our support team!
Read a Guide or Article
You’ve picked out a guide or article, and now you’re ready to learn! Here, we’ll show you how to use the features in the guide/article menu so you can make the most of every read.
Change the Reading Settings
While in a guide or article, the “A” icon allows you to change the way the text looks on your screen:
- Font size: Make the font bigger or smaller.
- Font family: Choose from three different fonts.
- Line height: Adjust how far apart the lines are.
- Margins: Change the margin size to fit your preference.
There’s also an option to reset the changes you’ve made back to the default settings.
Navigate the Table of Contents
Inside guides and podcast episode guides, the second icon is the table of contents:
- 1-Page Summary: Some of our guides include a shorter, comprehensive overview of the book before diving into more detail. Each podcast episode guide includes a summary at the top, which is then followed by the full guide.
- Full Guide: Some book guides expand beyond the 1-page summary and are broken up into multiple chapters. Tap the drop-down arrow to see what’s in the full guide.
- Highlights and Notes: Find the highlights and notes you’ve made throughout this guide. On the reading page, highlighted text is shaded in yellow.
- Bookmarks: Any bookmarks you’ve added to this guide appear here. On the reading page, bookmarked text is shaded in blue.
- Discussion: Start your own discussion about this guide, or add your voice to conversations already in progress!
Listen to a Book Guide or Article
You can listen to any book guide or article! Just tap the headphones icon in the guide/article menu, and the audio player will appear. You can adjust the volume, go backward or forward 15 seconds, and change the audio speed.
Use Shortform Offline
You can use Shortform offline in a few ways.
Start viewing or listening to an item when you’re online. The app will cache what you’re reading and make it available to view or listen to when you’re offline.
Download the audio of a book guide. From the reading page, tap the table of contents icon in the guide menu. At the bottom, tap the icon to download the audio. Tap it again to remove the download.
Download the PDF version of a guide to print or read offline, or export a guide to your Kindle, where you can read it offline once you’ve downloaded it to your device. When you’re on the preview screen of a book guide, tap the Download & Export icon.
Here, you have two options:
- Download as PDF
- Send to my Kindle device
Find complete instructions on the Download Summary screen. Full subscribers can access up to 70 new PDF downloads every seven days.
Highlight Text
Find a passage you think is worth returning to? Select the text, and a menu will appear. Tap the highlighter icon to highlight the text. To remove the highlight, hover over the highlighted text and tap the highlighter icon.
To see everything you’ve highlighted in a book or podcast guide, tap the table of contents icon in the guide menu and select Highlights and Notes. On the reading page, highlighted text is shaded in yellow.
To see everything you’ve highlighted across all book guides, tap the profile icon (top right) and select Highlights. From this screen, you also can export your book highlights and notes to Readwise or Notion.
Bookmark a Location
To add a bookmark, select a bit of text. This text becomes the “title” of the bookmark, so select the text that will help you recall what this bookmark is about. Once you’ve selected text, a menu will appear. Tap the bookmark icon. To remove the bookmark, tap it again.
To see all of your bookmarks in a book or podcast guide, tap the table of contents icon in the guide menu. Then, tap Bookmarks. Tap any bookmark to go to that location. Bookmarked text is in shaded in blue.
To see all of your bookmarks across all book guides, tap the profile icon (top right) and select Highlights. All of your book highlights, notes, and bookmarks will display. These are visible only to you.
Add Notes
To add a note, select a bit of text within a guide. A menu will appear. Tap the icon that looks like a sticky note, and write your note. You can edit or delete notes you’ve made. You also can add a note to any text you’ve highlighted.
To see all of your notes in a book or podcast guide, tap the table of contents icon in the guide menu. Then, tap Highlights and Notes.
To see all of your notes across all book guides, tap the profile icon (top right), and select Highlights. All of your book highlights, notes, and bookmarks will display. From this screen, you also can export your highlights and notes to Readwise or Notion.
Copy Text to Share
To copy text in a guide or article, select it. When the menu appears, tap the copy icon.
Discuss What You’re Reading With Other Shortform Readers
When you’re on the reading page of a book or podcast episode guide, tap the table of contents icon in the guide menu, and then tap Discussion (at the bottom of the table of contents). If a Shortform user has already started a discussion for this guide, it appears here. Tap it to read the comments and add your own. You also have the option to start a new conversation that others can see and participate in.
At the end of each article, you can read comments from other readers and add your own.
You can choose to be notified about new discussions and new comments. Learn how.
Complete Exercises
Another way to create a discussion is to answer the exercise questions directly in the guide. If you enter your responses in the guide, they become a public discussion that others can see and comment on. (Each completed exercise equals one discussion.)
Continue Reading What You’ve Started
Book guides: There are two ways to get back into the book guides you’re reading:
- In the Discover tab, you’ll see at least some of the guides you’ve started. Tap a book to continue reading. If you don’t see the book you’re looking for, tap the View all button to go to your Reading Now page.
- Go to My Library > Books. At the top of the screen, in the Reading Now area, you’ll see at least some of the guides you’ve started. Tap a book to continue reading. If you don’t see the book you’re looking for, tap the View all button to go to your Reading Now page.
Articles: If you want to return to an article you opened, go to My Library > Articles, and check the Viewed area. By default, the articles you viewed most recently are displayed first. But you can sort them by “latest” (meaning the articles we’ve most recently published), by most popular, or alphabetically.
Podcast guides: Go to My Library > Podcasts. At the top of the screen, in the Reading Now area, you’ll see at least some of the podcast episode guides you’ve started. Tap an episode to continue reading. If you don’t see the episode you’re looking for, tap the View all button to go to your Reading Now page.
Stuck? Contact our support team!
Manage Your Subscription & Account
Easily change or cancel your subscription in the Billing section of the Shortform app. You also can change your payment method.
You’ll be charged initially at the end of your free trial unless you cancel before it ends. Then, you’ll be charged each subsequent month or year, depending on your plan.
Switch to an Annual or Monthly Plan
When you subscribe to Shortform, you choose an annual or monthly plan (annual subscribers save 32%!). You can change your plan at any time. To manage your subscription, tap the profile icon (top right) and select Billing.
Change Your Payment Method
Change your payment method by tapping Edit in the Payment Information box on the Billing screen.
Cancel Your Subscription
To cancel your paid plan, visit Billing. At the bottom of the screen, tap Click here to cancel.
- When you cancel during a free trial, you lose access to Shortform content. You can restart the trial at any point before the original end date of the trial period. The end date remains the same.
- When you cancel after purchasing a subscription, you keep access to Shortform content until the end of your billing period (the date appears on the Billing screen). There are no refunds or credits for partial subscription periods. You can reactivate a paid plan at any time.
Delete Your Account
You can delete your account on the Settings screen. Your account and your data will be permanently deleted. As an alternative, you may keep your account but cancel your paid plan. This essentially puts you on a free plan:
- You keep access to our free guides (How to Win Friends and Influence People and Deep Work).
- You may resubscribe to a paid plan at a later time without losing your data—and pick up where you left off!
Manage Notifications
Notifications are sent to your email. By default, notifications are turned off. You can choose to receive three types of notifications:
- New summary announcements: Stay on top of our new releases by toggling this on in Settings.
- New discussion: In a book or podcast episode guide, tap the table of contents icon in the guide menu. Then tap Discussion, and toggle on Notify me of new discussions for this book.
- New comment:
- In a book or podcast episode guide, tap the table of contents icon in the guide menu. Then tap Discussion, and select a specific discussion. Just below the comments, toggle on Notify me of new comments in this discussion.
- At the end of an article, toggle on Notify me of new comments in this discussion.
Summarize a Webpage or Video
The Shortform browser extension (exclusively for Chrome and Chrome-based browsers such as Edge, Brave, and Opera) summarizes any webpage or YouTube video in just one click. In true Shortform style, we also provide some context, counterarguments, links to learn more, and links to related Shortform content.
Chrome extensions are available only on desktop. Simply download the extension to get started. Adjust your extension settings as desired, and look for the yellow Shortform icon. If you choose to pin the extension to the Chrome toolbar, it will appear there. If it’s not pinned, here’s where to look for it:
- Webpage—On the right side of the webpage. You can move the icon by clicking on the six dots beside the icon and dragging it up or down.
- YouTube—Just to the left of the Like button below the video
FAQs
→ How can I contact support if my question isn’t answered in this support document?
Reach out to our support team in the app or by email.
→ How do I report a bug within the app or website?
Please let the support team know.
→ What’s a Shortform guide? What’s the difference between a guide and a summary?
A summary tells you, in brief, what a book says. A Shortform guide is a comprehensive summary plus:
Exercises that make the key lessons stick and help you move you forward personally or professionally.
Smart analysis that connects the book’s ideas to concepts in other books and discusses key updates since the book was published.
A spectrum of viewpoints that help you understand ideas thoroughly and make up your own mind.
→ Can I suggest books for Shortform to cover?
Yes! Once you request a book, it will be added to our shortlist of books to consider. The more often the book is requested, the sooner we’ll publish our guide.
→ What payment methods can I use?
Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Apple Pay, and Google Pay
Thank you for using Shortform!
