Keep the quote.
Keep the source.

You can start with a source note

Open Apple Notes or a plain-text document and create one entry per useful passage. Give the entry a label such as S01, then record its title, author or organization, URL, and page or section when available. Paste the passage under “Exact excerpt” and put your interpretation under “My note.”

This manual method is enough for a short reading session. A clipboard app becomes useful when references arrive from several apps and you want to select or rearrange separate items. It does not replace a research notebook or a library of original documents.

This guide focuses on evidence and attribution. For the separate collect-and-export procedure, see how to prepare a Markdown materials pack.

01 · Record the evidenceSeparate the passage, the source and your reading

The passage: keep the author’s exact words in quotation marks. If you shorten a passage, mark omissions and check that the surrounding text does not reverse its meaning. Do not quietly merge words from different paragraphs into one quotation.

The source: record where you found it, with enough detail to return. A URL alone may be too broad for a long report; add the section or page. For a changing webpage, an access date helps you explain when you read it. Keep the original document or an appropriate reference separately.

Your reading: write why you saved it and what it might support. If an excerpt suggests a hypothesis, label that as your interpretation. Do not let a convenient paraphrase become a quotation in a later draft.

S01 — Report title
Source: organization, URL, section 3.2
Exact excerpt: “The passage as written.”
My note: This may help explain the deployment barrier.
Open question: Does the next section limit this claim?

The label and record above are a manual convention you choose, not an automatic FlowPocket citation feature.

02 · Keep context while collectingUse a card as a working record

In FlowPocket, paste an excerpt into a card or drag supported content in. Add a title such as “S01 — Deployment barrier” and put the source URL, location and your own comment into the note. If the URL is a separate link card, label it so you can connect it to the excerpt. Do not assume that every copy automatically captures its source.

Automatic saving is off by default. It requires the setting enabled, clipboard access allowed and FlowPocket active in the foreground. You can use Paste instead. Across your own Apple devices, Universal Clipboard can pass the current copied content, while each FlowPocket device library remains independent.

FlowPocket does not perform OCR or extract PDF text. Copy selectable text yourself or obtain it with another tool and check it. A saved PDF attachment is an original file, not proof that its text has been extracted or read.

FlowPocket requires iOS or iPadOS 26 or later; on Mac it runs as an iPad app on M1 or later with macOS 26 or later. Keep important source material in a separate archive.

03 · Define the questionSend a focused evidence set

Write the research question before choosing the final excerpts. Select the records needed to answer it, including relevant limitations or disagreement. A pile of only supporting quotations can hide the uncertainty you wanted the AI to help examine.

Keep the source labels stable when you prepare the collection. If a result refers to S03, you should be able to find the exact source without guessing which passage it used. Include the locator and your note with the excerpt rather than relying on the AI to reconstruct missing context.

FlowPocket Pro or Max can export selected cards as Markdown or a ZIP materials pack. Follow the export and hand-over steps rather than treating this research method as a second export tutorial. The app prepares the material locally and does not call AI or send it automatically.

Make “not enough evidence” a useful answer

Ask for an answer grounded in the supplied records. For example:

Use only the supplied records S01–S04.
Separate what the sources state from your interpretation.
Cite a source label for each factual claim.
Do not invent titles, authors, URLs or page numbers.
If the records do not support a claim, say so.
List contradictions and questions that need more evidence.

These instructions can make the result easier to audit, but they do not guarantee accurate attribution. If you want outside research too, request it as a separate step and verify any newly proposed source before adding it to your evidence set.

04 · Return to the originalsCheck the citation and the conclusion

1. Trace the label. Does S01 in the answer point to the record you supplied? A real-looking label is not enough.
2. Check the words. Does the quotation match the original? Is it attributed to the right person or document?
3. Read the surroundings. Does the next paragraph, a footnote or a limitation change the meaning?
4. Check the inference. Does the source support this conclusion, or has the answer turned an example into a general rule?
5. Resolve missing references. Remove an unsupported claim or obtain and read the missing source. Do not fill a citation gap with a plausible URL.

Only after these checks should you move the supported material into your draft. Keep your research notes and original references separately from the temporary clipboard shelf.

A collection tool, with human responsibility

FlowPocket helps when you repeatedly collect excerpts across apps and want to keep notes with individual cards. A note or document may be simpler for a small evidence set. If you need automatic bibliography generation, PDF text extraction, built-in AI analysis or a common card library across devices, this workflow does not provide those features.

Free holds up to 8 cards. Markdown and ZIP export require Pro or Max; consult the regional App Store for prices. The collection can make your checking easier, but neither the app nor a source label verifies the claim for you.

Frequently asked questions

The details before you begin