📖 PDF & EPUB Book Reader
Read books without leaving your editor.
PDF & EPUB Book Reader lets you open PDFs and EPUBs inside VS Code — with a workspace library, search, highlights, reading themes, and Markdown notes beside your book so research stays next to your code.
Requirements
- VS Code
1.85.0or newer (also works in Cursor and other compatible editors) - A folder open in the workspace (so the library can find your books)
- Local
.pdfor.epubfiles — nothing is uploaded to the cloud
What It Does
Open any PDF or EPUB and read it in a dedicated reader, with progress saved so you can pick up where you left off.
- Continuous scroll with smooth page loading
- Sidebar: thumbnails, outline, and your highlights
- Search in the document (
Ctrl+F/Cmd+F) - Select text to highlight or add a note
- Zoom presets, buttons, and Ctrl/Cmd+scroll
- Export highlights and notes to Markdown
EPUB
- Themes: Default, Sepia, Dark, High contrast
- Font family, size, and line spacing
- Paginated or continuous scroll
- Chapter search, bookmarks (
Ctrl+D/Cmd+D), and resume - Highlights and notes with sidebar navigation
- Export highlights, notes, and bookmarks to Markdown
Library & notes
- Activity bar library: recent books + everything in your workspace
- Open with Notes — book on one side, Markdown notes on the other
- Start Reading Session — one or two books plus notes
- Notes default to
{bookname}.notes.mdnext to the book (or link any.mdfile)
Quick start
1. Install PDF & EPUB Book Reader from the Marketplace
2. Open a folder that contains PDF or EPUB files
3. Click a .pdf or .epub — it opens in the reader
4. Optional: click the book icon in the activity bar to browse your library
5. Right-click a book → Open with Notes for research mode
Settings
All options are in VS Code Settings under PDF & EPUB Book Reader (or search bookReader).
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Default Zoom | Initial zoom when opening a PDF (page-width, page-fit, fixed scales, etc.) |
EPUB
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Font Size | Default font size percentage |
| Theme | Default, Sepia, Dark, or High contrast |
| Font Family | Default typeface for the book |
| Line Height | Spacing between lines |
| Flow | Paginated or scrolled reading mode |
Notes
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Default Pattern | Notes filename beside the book (default {name}.notes.md) |
| Export Pattern | Standalone highlights export filename (default {name}.highlights.md) |
Keyboard shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+F / Cmd+F | Search in the current book |
Ctrl+Shift+E / Cmd+Shift+E | Export highlights and notes |
Ctrl+D / Cmd+D | Add EPUB bookmark |
← / → | Previous / next page |
Ctrl+scroll / Cmd+scroll | PDF zoom |
Privacy
Everything runs on your machine. Books are not uploaded. Highlights and reading progress stay in your editor’s local state; Markdown notes are normal files in your project that you control.
Thank You
Thank you for using PDF & EPUB Book Reader. It was built so you can study docs and ebooks without juggling another app beside your code. I hope it makes research a little smoother.
Suggestions & Feedback
Have an idea, found a bug, or want a reading feature improved? I'd love to hear from you:
All feedback is welcome — feature requests, UX improvements, platform-specific issues, or just a note to say it worked for you.
Enjoying PDF & EPUB Book Reader?
If this extension helps you, please consider leaving a ⭐ review on the Marketplace — it helps others discover it and keeps the project going. Thank you!