OrbitNote

Free for all Western Students and Staff

What is Orbit Note?

OrbitNote is a web app, and the new name for the TextHelp PDF reader. OrbitNote is a PDF editor with tools that can help you access, edit and interact with your PDF documents. Features include text-to-speech so you can listen to content, text and voice comments so you can annotate your thoughts via typing or talking, translation tools and dictionary definitions, for comprehension support. Files stored in OneDrive will have comments and annotations saved automatically and can be shared with other University students and staff for easy collaborative work.

Explore the OrbitNote toolbar

OrbitNote toolbar

The choice is yours. You can:

Features include:

  • Text-to-speech - Reads your document aloud while you follow along with the dual colour highlighting.
  • Text - Type text directly onto your PDF.
  • Pushpin - Make notes or add instructions to your PDF assignment.
  • Freehand Drawing - Draw on your PDF to highlight important information.
  • Shapes Drawing - Add circles, rectangles and lines which you can customise the appearance of.
  • Text and Voice comments - Perfect for collaborating with others, or to make your own comments as you carry out your research.
  • Highlighters - Highlight text you want to capture, then quickly collect your highlights in a Word document - perfect for summarising your research and creating bibliographies.

Get Started!

OrbitNote is available to all Western Students and Staff and can be used on either Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge web browsers.

To access OrbitNote:

  1. Launch Chrome or Edge.
  2. Go to orbit.texthelp.com.
  3. When prompted to sign in, use your Western Sydney U account details.
  4. Install the required web extension, also available through the OrbitNote dashboard.

Now, you're good to go!

Watch the OrbitNote Getting started with Office365 video (above) for a walkthrough of setting up OrbitNote and a demonstration of the four ways you can open PDFs for use with the OrbitNote tools.

Four ways to open a PDF in OrbitNote

  1. Open a PDF from your computer using the Dashboard.
    (Note that any annotations won't be saved if you use this method).
  2. Open a PDF from your OneDrive using the Dashboard.
    (This method automatically saves any document annotations).
  3. Open a PDF directly from your OneDrive.
    (This method automatically saves any document annotations).
  4. Open a PDF from the Web.
    (Note that any annotations won't be saved if you use this method).

Further Resources

Watch the OrbitNote Fundamentals session, delivered for our students by Ben Dyer from TextHelp. Ben takes you through setting up OrbitNote, accessing files from your OneDrive account, and demonstrates the tools available while explaining how and why they can be of benefit to you! Please note, the video is behind University login, so please use your Western Sydney U account details to access it.

You can also take a look at OrbitNote’s online resources to make sure you're getting the most from OrbitNote at University.

Need help?