BindLens

Your documents, bound into books.

Choose a folder. Every PDF, Word file, spreadsheet and photo in it becomes one book you can read, mark and search. Your files stay where they are, and nothing leaves your computer.

No account No cloud Windows 10 and 11
Watch

BindLens in two minutes

Every chapter of the app, recorded from BindLens itself (the names in it are made up). With sound.

How it works

Three steps, no setup

Add a folder

It becomes a book: all its documents one after another, in order. Folders inside it become chapters. Nothing is copied or moved.

Read and mark

Highlight, underline, write, draw, stamp or tick. Your marks are saved inside the original PDF, and every one of them can be taken off again.

Pull out what you need

Contacts, expiry dates, invoices and tables come out as a report in seconds. Save it as PDF, Word or Excel, or print it.

See it

BindLens, as it is

Home in BindLens: the books of the library standing in a wooden bookcase, one of them pulled out a little.
Home. Continue where you were, see what needs you, and find your books - on a turning circle, in a bookcase, a filing cabinet, lockers or a classroom's cubbies.
Home as a filing cabinet: one drawer for each book, one drawer open. Home as a row of school lockers, one door open. Home with the books on a slowly turning circle and soft moving colours behind.
A book open in BindLens: a training record with a highlighted date, an underlined line and a sticky note.
Mark your PDFs. Highlight, underline, write, add notes and stamps - saved inside the original file.
Reading mode: the page in the middle, the book's contents on the left, a calendar and clock on the right.
Read calmly. The page, the book's contents in its own colours, the date and the time.
A folder of photos shown as a gallery of framed pictures.
Photos and videos. A folder of pictures opens as a gallery; videos play inside BindLens.
The PIN screen: a ring binder with a small padlock and a number pad, over moving colours.
A PIN, if you want one. The binder opens with the right code.

Real screenshots of BindLens 1.0 with an example library (the names and dates are made up).

Features

Everything in the folder, in one place

Every kind of file

PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and photos in one book. With Microsoft Office or LibreOffice installed, Office pages show exactly as they look.

Marks inside your PDFs

Highlighter, pen, text, sticky notes, shapes, stamps, ticks and crosses. One file, no copies. Undo anything, any time.

Reports in seconds

Contacts, expiry dates, invoices and money, tables as they are, a person across all files, charts that say what they show.

What needs you

Vetting, training, certificates and deadlines found in your documents, with a reminder before they run out. Add them to Outlook or Google Calendar.

Find anything

Ctrl+K finds document names, words inside them and actions. Scanned pages are read too, so you can search them.

Calm reading

A quiet reading mode with the contents beside the page. A folder of photos opens as a gallery and plays as a slideshow; videos play inside, big or in a corner.

Print and scan

Print straight to your printer, with no PDF program needed. Scan from a scanner, the camera or phone photos, straightened and cleaned.

A PIN if you want one

Lock BindLens, or a single book, with a four-digit PIN on a shared computer. Correct a scanned page right on the scan, too.

Make it yours

Themes, colours and backgrounds, a frame of slowly flowing colour round the window, and your books at Home on a turning circle, in a bookcase or a filing cabinet.

Reports

Expiry dates, before they expire

BindLens reads the dates in your certificates, vetting letters and training records, and lists what is about to run out. Double-click a row to open its page. Names, emails and phones are found by what each column holds, whatever its title says.

Expiry datesStaff files · 24 documents
PersonWhatExpiresStatus
Aoife ByrneChild protection training28 Sep 2026Expired
Mary RyanGarda vetting3 Nov 2026In 23 days
Seán DoyleFirst Aid certificate14 Nov 2026In 34 days
Niamh KellyManual handling2 Jun 2027OK
Example names and dates.

Nothing leaves your computer.

For childcare services, clinics, offices and anyone who keeps other people's documents. BindLens has no account, no cloud and no AI. It works on your computer, with your files where they are.

  • Your documents, marks, notes and settings stay on your computer.
  • BindLens collects nothing about you and sends nothing anywhere.
  • It uses the internet only when you ask: a photo for the background, a calendar link you add, or the data to read scans.
  • Every change it makes to your folders is written down, so you can check it.
Made for

Anyone with folders of documents

Childcare and schools

Staff files, vetting, training certificates, policies and inspections, with the dates that need you.

Small offices

Invoices, contracts, forms and letters: read, sign, stamp and pull the numbers out.

Students

Notes and readings as one book, highlights on a summary sheet and cards to review.

At home

Bills, manuals, warranties and photos, each folder a book you can find things in.

Questions

Good to know

Does BindLens change my files?

Only when you mark a PDF: your marks are saved inside that PDF. Nothing is copied, moved or renamed unless you ask, every mark can be taken off again, and Help › What BindLens changed in my folders lists every change.

Do I need the internet?

No. BindLens works offline. It goes online only when you ask for a photo, add a calendar link or ask it to read scanned pages for the first time.

Which computers does it run on?

Windows 10 and Windows 11. On Mac and Linux it can be run from its source code with Python.

A blue window appears when I install it. What do I click?

Click More info, then Run anyway. See How to install.

Where are my settings kept?

On your computer, in your user folder (%APPDATA%\BindLens). They stay when you update BindLens.

Is BindLens open source?

Yes. BindLens is free software under the GNU Affero General Public License v3, and its source code comes with the program. The name BindLens and its logo are not part of that licence.

Install

How to install

  1. Download

    Click Download for Windows and save BindLens.Setup.exe.

  2. Open it

    Double-click BindLens.Setup.exe in your Downloads.

  3. Click More info

    If a blue window appears.

  4. Click Run anyway

    The installer opens.

  5. Install and open

    Click Install, then open BindLens from its icon on the desktop.

The blue Windows window, with More info marked in gold.
3 Click More info
The blue Windows window after More info, with Run anyway marked in gold.
4 Click Run anyway

BindLens for Windows

Version 1.0 · Windows 10 and 11 · free · one installer, no administrator rights needed.

How to install, step by step

Source code · All versions

Download BindLens 1.0

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