PERRLA/Product/PERRLA Online

PERRLA Online. The whole paper, in your browser.

Sign in, start a paper, and the title page, margins, spacing, and page numbers are already set. Cite as you write and the references page builds itself. When you're done, download a Word document or a PDF. Nothing to install, and no Word required.

Buy now Try PERRLA free for 7 days

The most complete PERRLA, and the one to start with. Your account also works in Word and Google Docs, with one shared library.

Type ( where the citation goes and pick the source. PERRLA writes the citation, and the references page keeps itself in order.

Room to write a long paper.

Your headings become an outline you can click through, the word count stays on screen, and your saves go back 30 days. The pages on screen are the pages that print.

  • Paged view. One-inch margins, double spacing, and page numbers set before you type a word. Zoom in to fix a citation, out to see the whole layout.
  • An outline that navigates. Your headings in a side panel, so a thirty-page paper is one click from any section.
  • Panels for the parts. Title Page, Text and Heading Style, References and Citations, Research Notes, and Outline, each where you need it.
  • Live word and page counts. Always visible, so the length requirement never surprises you at midnight.
  • Autosave with a local backup. Recent Paper Saves keeps a 30-day history, so a paragraph you deleted on Tuesday is still there on Thursday.
PERRLA OnlineThe editor
Formats
APA 7, MLA 9, and Turabian 9
Paper types
Research Paper, Discussion Post, Reference List, Annotated Bibliography
Cite
Type ( in APA or MLA, # in Turabian, and pick the source
Saves
Automatic, with a local backup and a 30-day restore history
Export
Word document or PDF. Single-page types also Copy paper to clipboard.
Runs in
Your web browser. Nothing to install.

Four kinds of paper. One library behind them.

Pick the type when you create the paper, and PERRLA sets up only the parts that type needs.

Paper types in PERRLA OnlinePick one

Research Paper. Title page, body, and references page, with the abstract, headings, tables, figures, and appendices when you need them. In the APA format, choose a student or professional paper.

The pages are formatted the way PERRLA does it in APA 7, from real articles.

Single-page types grow up. Start a Discussion Post, Reference List, or Annotated Bibliography and convert it to a full Research Paper later. Your references come along.

Look up a source, cite it, check the paper, and read your PDFs without leaving the editor.

Four jobs PERRLA Online does for you, each shown here on a real article.

Look up
Look up a source

10.1098/rspb.2014.0161

AuthorsSykes, B. C., +4 more

Year2014

TitleGenetic analysis of hair samples attributed to yeti, bigfoot and other anomalous primates

Paste the DOI and the form fills in from the published record.

Cite
Cite as you write

…many reported sightings may be black bears (Lozier et al., 2009).

In MLA, (Lozier et al. 1626). In Turabian, a footnote.

Pick the source at your cursor and the citation lands formatted for the paper you are in.

Check
Suggested Fixes

Citation typed by handConnect

Long quoteMake block quote

Title needs sentence caseEdit

One last read of the whole paper before you download. Most findings have a one-click fix.

Annotate
Reference Annotator

…this survey cannot refute the existence of anomalous primates, neither has it found any evidence in support. p. 3

Highlight the PDF inside PERRLA. The note keeps its page number for the citation.

Shown in the APA format, with two real articles.

Forty-seven source types

Each with a guided form: journal articles, books and chapters, web pages, government reports, interviews, videos, podcasts, scripture, dissertations, tests and scales, legal sources, and a nursing pack that includes DailyMed, StatPearls, UpToDate, and Cochrane.

It never guesses

Paste a DOI, an ISBN, or a link and PERRLA fills the form from the published record, attaching the open-access PDF when it finds one. If PERRLA can't find a source, it says so and leaves the form open. It never guesses an author or a year.

Dissertation-ready, down to the smallest detail.

The long-paper tools that usually mean fighting a word processor for a weekend.

Custom sections

Acknowledgments, Dedication, Disclaimer, and Signatures pages, or a blank section for anything else your program asks for. Add one from the outline and move it where it goes. The title page is yours to edit, too.

Contents and lists

A Table of Contents, List of Tables, and List of Figures, built from your headings and captions, with page numbers that update as you write.

Landscape pages and equations

Landscape pages for a wide table or figure, while the rest of the paper stays portrait. A LaTeX equation editor for the methods chapter.

Tables, figures, and appendices

Pre-formatted tables and figures with the number and caption where the format puts them. Appendices placed after the references page, where the format puts them.

How doctoral writers use PERRLA

One last read against the rules before you download.

Suggested Fixes reads the whole paper the way a careful grader would, then offers a Fix button for most of what it finds.

Most findings have a one-click fix, and many have Fix all. It never blocks your download, and it never changes a word you didn't ask it to. The same checks run in Word and Google Docs when you click I'm Finished.

While you write, style checks underline double spaces, a stray ampersand, and a number that should be a word. Right-click to see the rule, then fix it in one click or ignore it.

Neither of these is AI. They are rules people wrote from the manuals and tested against real papers.

Suggested FixesBefore you download
  • Citations typed by hand instead of inserted
  • A citation placed after the period
  • Direct quotes missing a page number
  • Quotes long enough to be block quotes
  • Contractions and ampersands in your prose
  • "et al." and e.g. and i.e. punctuation
  • Double spaces
  • References never cited
  • Reference titles that should be sentence case
  • Numbers that should be words, or words that should be numerals
  • Turabian footnote markers in the wrong place

Read your sources where you write.

Every reference can carry its PDF, your highlights, and your notes, and all of it is in the editor when you sit down to write.

Reference Annotator

Open a reference's PDF inside PERRLA, highlight, and pin notes to the exact passage. Notes become Research Notes you can drop into the paper, and the page number travels into the citation.

Collections

Nestable, color-coded folders for papers, references, and files. One item can live in more than one.

Zotero import

Connect once under Settings, Integrations, and your references, files, notes, highlights, tags, and collections come across.

.bib import

From any .bib file, or a zipped export with the PDFs included.

See the research library

Works with a keyboard and a screen reader.

PERRLA Online passed a WCAG 2.2 AA review in 2026. Its Accessibility Conformance Report (VPAT) is in our Help Center for anyone to download.

Standard
WCAG 2.2, Level AA
Reviewed
PERRLA Online, 2026
Word add-in
Report complete, October 2026. Download it.

Questions about PERRLA Online

What is PERRLA Online?
PERRLA Online is PERRLA's full editor in your web browser. It formats papers in APA 7, MLA 9, and Turabian 9: the title page, margins, spacing, page numbers, headings, citations, footnotes, and references page. You sign in at app.perrla.com, write, and download a Word document or PDF when you're done. There is nothing to install.
Do I need Microsoft Word to use PERRLA Online?
No. PERRLA Online is a complete writing tool on its own. Word only enters the picture if you choose to download your finished paper as a .docx file. You can download a PDF instead.
What does PERRLA Online have that Word and Google Docs don't?
The Outline panel, the Reference Annotator for marking up PDFs, Collections, the synced custom dictionary, and the dissertation tools: landscape pages, the LaTeX equation editor, and custom sections like Acknowledgments and Signatures. Your library is the same everywhere, so a source saved in PERRLA Online is in Word and Google Docs too.
Can I move a paper between PERRLA Online and Word?
Your library of references and notes is shared, so anything you save in one is in the other. Papers written in Word back up to your PERRLA account. The cleanest workflow is still one tool per paper: write it in PERRLA Online and download it to Word at the end, or start it in Word and stay there.
What happens if my laptop dies mid-paper?
PERRLA Online saves automatically as you write and keeps a local backup. Recent Paper Saves holds a 30-day history of those saves, so you can open the paper on any computer and restore an earlier version if you need one.

Your paper starts in the browser with the title page, margins, and page numbers already set.

Try PERRLA free for 7 days