Check every quotation against its source.
Verbatim finds the quotations in your manuscript and compares each one, word by word, with the PDF or EPUB it comes from. It catches the changed word, the dropped “not”, the wrong page and the quotation from the wrong book, before a reviewer does.
The wording differs from the source.
Manuscript
Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is supreme
Source
Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.
Found in Mill 1859 – On Liberty, p. 11 · cited as “Mill 1859, 11”
- ✓ Exact · Mill 1859, 10
- ▲ Word left out without an ellipsis: “always” · Du Bois 1903, 4
- ● Wrong page: found on p. 4, cited as p. 14 · Mill 1859
From the sample essay that comes with the app
What it catches
Every quotation gets a verdict, with the difference highlighted and the passage shown in its source.
Changed words
A word swapped, added or dropped. A lost “not”, a changed number or “likely” for “unlikely” is marked as possibly changing the meaning.
Silent omissions
Words left out without an ellipsis, shown exactly where they went missing.
Wrong page
The passage is on page 121, and you cited page 112. Verbatim reads the printed page numbers, not the PDF’s.
Wrong source
The quotation is from a different book than the one cited, perhaps one that was open next to it.
Quoted secondhand
The source is itself quoting someone else, so the citation should probably say “quoted in”.
Not in the source at all
A paraphrase that has drifted into quotation marks, or a quotation whose source isn’t in your folder.
What it doesn’t flag: omissions marked with an ellipsis, changes in [brackets], a capital letter changed at the start, end punctuation, and typography such as curly quotes, dashes, ligatures and line breaks.
How it works
Two things to choose, then a list of what needs your attention.
Choose your manuscript
A Word document, Markdown, RTF or plain text. Footnotes, endnotes, block quotations, Ibid. and author–date citations are all read.
Add your sources
A folder of PDFs and EPUBs, even one with many works you didn’t cite, or a Zotero library or collection. Each citation is matched to its file by author and year.
Review and fix
Go through what needs attention, see each passage in its source, and copy the source’s wording. Or save a copy of your Word file with a comment on each quotation to fix.
Reads sources the way they really are
Real page numbers
Printed page numbers from journal articles and books, with running heads and page numbers taken out of the text.
Messy PDFs
Words hyphenated across lines, lost “fi” and “fl” ligatures, and footnotes in the middle of a quotation that runs over a page.
Scanned pages
Pages without text are read with the Mac’s own text recognition, on your Mac.
EPUBs
With the print edition’s page numbers, when the EPUB has them.
Zotero
Point Verbatim at your Zotero folder and pick a collection. Citations are matched by each item’s authors and year, whatever the files are called.
Your drafts
Mark a quotation as reviewed and it stays out of the way next time. Check again after editing, and Verbatim keeps your place.
No AI, nothing uploaded
Verbatim compares text, word by word, on your Mac. The same manuscript and sources always give the same result, and every verdict comes with the evidence. The app has no network access at all.
- No AI and no guessing
- No network connections, ever
- No account, no sign-in
- No analytics, tracking or ads
- Reads only the files you choose
- Sandboxed, native Mac app
Free to try
Verbatim is free to download. The free version checks every quotation and shows full results for the first 20 of any manuscript. A one-time purchase unlocks the results for all of them, and the exports. No subscription.
The app also comes with a short sample essay, quoting Mill, Du Bois and Wollstonecraft with a few planted mistakes, so you can see what it does before using it on your own work.
Requirements
- A Mac with macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
- Your manuscript as a Word (.docx), Markdown, RTF, OpenDocument or plain-text file.
- Your sources as PDFs, EPUBs, web pages or text files, or in a Zotero library.
Questions? See Support & FAQ.
