SLReviewFlow
GuideInstalling the PDF Sender

Guide · Full text

How to install the PDF Sender extension in Chrome or Edge

Publishers block servers but let your browser in. The SLReviewFlow PDF Sender sends the PDF you open through your own library access straight to its report in your literature review. Installing it takes a minute.

By , Research MindUpdated

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www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/…

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ReportPoint-of-sale tobacco display bans and smoking initiation

Ready to send the PDF open in this tab to your report.

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The PDF badge marks a tab opened from a report. Example report.

01What the extension does

SLReviewFlow can find open access copies of your reports by itself, but most publishers refuse downloads from a server, even when your library pays for the journal. They do let your own browser through once you sign in. The PDF Sender closes that gap: you open the article through your library as you normally would, click the extension, and the PDF lands in the report you started from, as a new main PDF version.

It saves the download, rename and upload for every report you retrieve by hand, and the PDF cannot end up under the wrong report.

02Before you start

  • Chrome or Microsoft Edge on a computer. Extensions do not run in the phone and tablet versions.
  • An SLReviewFlow account and a review that has reached Full text.
  • Optional but worth it: your library's proxy link, set once under Your routes on the Full text page, so articles open already signed in through your library.

03Install it in Chrome

  1. 1Open the SLReviewFlow PDF Sender page in the Chrome Web Store.
  2. 2Click Add to Chrome, then Add extension. Chrome lists what the extension may do; it asks for no access to sites until you click it.
  3. 3Click the Extensions button at the right of the address bar, then Pin next to SLReviewFlow PDF Sender, so its icon stays in the toolbar.
Chrome cannot install extensions in an Incognito or guest window; use a normal window. If you are signed in to Chrome with sync on, the extension installs on your other computers too.

04Install it in Microsoft Edge

Edge installs extensions from the Chrome Web Store once you allow extensions from other stores.

  1. 1Open the Chrome Web Store page in Edge.
  2. 2Click Get extension in the banner at the top, or Get on the page.
  3. 3If Edge asks whether to allow extensions from other stores, click Allow. Then click Add extension.
  4. 4Open the Extensions button in the toolbar and turn on Show in toolbar for SLReviewFlow PDF Sender.
On a work or university computer, your IT team may block extensions or extensions from other stores. Ask them to allow the ID pblmmdmloeidgbipmfgbhmelfibfclic, or save PDFs and upload them instead.

05Check that SLReviewFlow sees it

Open a review, go to Full text and look at Your routes at the top of the page. A tick beside Browser extension means the extension and SLReviewFlow can talk to each other.

Your routes:Library linkBrowser extensionChange

The top of the Full text page with the extension installed. Before, it reads “Browser extension not installed”.

06Send your first PDF

  1. 1Open a report in Full text and choose Get it through my browser under Get this PDF. The article opens in a new tab, through your library link when you have one.
  2. 2Sign in or solve any check in that tab yourself. You can click through to the PDF; the hand-off stays with the tab. The extension icon shows a PDF badge on it.
  3. 3On the article page or the PDF, click the extension. It names the report it will send to. Choose Send this PDF to the report.
  4. 4When it says the PDF was sent, go back to SLReviewFlow. The report refreshes and shows the PDF as its main PDF. SLReviewFlow checks the file exactly as it checks a PDF you upload.
If the PDF opens in a new tab, as View PDF does on ScienceDirect, that tab carries the hand-off too. Click the extension on the PDF tab.

07What it can and cannot read

  • It reads only the tab you click it on, and only when you click it. It has no permanent access to any site.
  • It sends one PDF and the site's host name (for example www.tandfonline.com), and only to the report that started the hand-off.
  • It never reads your passwords, cookies or browsing history, and it contains no analytics or tracking.
  • The one-time hand-off is kept in memory for that tab and is gone when the tab or browser closes.

The full details are in the PDF Sender privacy policy.

08Doing it in SLReviewFlow

Set up your routes to a PDF once, then retrieve report by report

  1. On the Full text page, open Your routes and paste your library's proxy link.
  2. Install the PDF Sender and check that Browser extension shows a tick.
  3. For each report without a PDF, choose Get it through my browser, sign in if asked, and click Send. Reports the extension cannot reach still take a saved PDF through Upload a PDF.
Start a reviewSee how it worksFree while in early access

09Troubleshooting

Full text still says the extension is not installed

Reload the Full text page after installing; it checks again whenever you come back to the tab. The extension only talks to slreviewflow.com, so open SLReviewFlow at that address. Check that the extension is switched on under chrome://extensions (or edge://extensions).

The extension found no PDF

Open the PDF itself (for example with View PDF or Download) and click the extension on the PDF. On ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore and JSTOR the article page does not link the file directly. If the site offers no PDF, save the file from the publisher and use Upload a PDF on the report instead.

It says the link is not valid or has expired

Each hand-off is good for one PDF and must start within 30 minutes. Go back to the report in SLReviewFlow and choose Get it through my browser again. If the upload itself was interrupted, Try again in the extension resumes it.

Does it work in Firefox, Safari or Brave?

Not in Firefox or Safari yet; save the PDF and upload it instead. Brave, Opera and Vivaldi can install extensions from the Chrome Web Store, but we test the extension in Chrome and Edge only.

Will it get me past a paywall?

No. It sends a PDF you can already open in your own browser, through your own library or subscription. If you cannot open the PDF, the extension cannot either.

10References

  1. Google. Install and manage extensions. Chrome Web Store Help. https://support.google.com/chrome_webstore/answer/2664769
  2. Microsoft. Add, turn off, or remove extensions in Microsoft Edge. Microsoft Support. https://support.microsoft.com/microsoft-edge/add-turn-off-or-remove-extensions-in-microsoft-edge-9c0ec68c-2fbc-2f2c-9ff0-bdc76f46b026
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