📖 User Guide · Version 1.1.5
GKS Write — Complete Guide
Everything you need to manage references, write manuscripts with AI, and collaborate with co-authors — all inside Firefox.
1. Installation
1
Open Firefox and install GKS Write from Firefox Add-ons (or the provided
.xpi file).2
Click Add to Firefox → confirm the permission prompt.
3
The GKS Write icon appears in your toolbar. Click it to open the sidebar.
Firefox toolbar — GKS Write icon
2. AI Setup — Choose Your Option
Open the sidebar → click ⚙️ Settings in the top right corner. You will see three options:
Settings panel — AI Setup options
Option A — Bring your own free AI key (recommended)
- Click Option A — the API key fields appear
- Visit Google AI Studio (aistudio.google.com/app/apikey) or Groq Console (console.groq.com/keys) — both free
- Click Create API Key on either site and copy the key
- Choose the matching provider from the dropdown
- Paste your key and click Save
💡 Both Gemini and Groq offer generous free tiers — enough for regular manuscript writing without any cost.
Option B — No API key
If you don't want to set up a key, just select Option B. GKS Write routes your AI requests through its own backend with a limited free quota — good for trying the tool out.
Option C — Pro license
If you purchased Pro, paste your license key (format PRO-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX) and click Activate. The badge in the top-right of Settings changes to ⭐ PRO immediately.
3. Capturing References — One Click
GKS Write works like Zotero — visit any paper page and capture it instantly.
Capturing a reference from PubMed
1
Visit any paper on PubMed, Europe PMC, ScienceDirect, Springer, Wiley, Nature, BMJ, NEJM, JAMA, The Lancet, and most journal sites
2
Click the GKS Write toolbar icon
3
If detected, all fields are filled automatically — title, authors (abbreviated Vancouver style), journal, year, volume, issue, pages, DOI, PMID
4
Click 💾 Save to Library
📌 If a DOI is found but the title is missing, GKS Write automatically looks it up via Crossref and fills everything in.
4. DOI Lookup
If a page can't be auto-detected (e.g. an unsupported site), GKS Write offers manual DOI lookup.
1
Click the toolbar icon — if nothing is detected, the "Choose how to add this paper" screen appears
2
Click Add by DOI
3
Paste the DOI (e.g.
10.1093/stcltm/szad094)4
Click Look up — Crossref returns the full reference automatically
5
Review the fields, then click Save
5. Manual Entry & PDF Import
Manual entry
Click Add Manually on the "Choose how to add" screen and fill in: Title, Authors, Journal, Year, Volume(Issue), Pages, DOI.
PDF import
Click Upload PDF, choose a PDF file from your computer. GKS Write extracts the DOI from the PDF metadata and looks it up via Crossref to fill all fields automatically.
6. The Write Tab — Generate a Manuscript
Write tab — 5 steps
- Select references — tick which saved references AI may cite
- Document setup — describe your topic, paste target journal name, pick document type (Research Article, Review, Case Report, Thesis Chapter, Grant Proposal etc.) and citation style (Vancouver, APA, Harvard, MLA, Nature, AMA...)
- Structure — tick the sections you want generated
- Figures & tables — optionally upload images to reference later
- AI settings — confirm your AI is configured (see Section 2)
Click 🚀 Generate Manuscript. The AI writes the full draft and switches you to the Editor tab automatically, with citations already inserted from your selected references.
7. The Editor Toolbar
Editor toolbar — all buttons
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| ↩ Undo / ↪ Redo | Standard undo/redo (Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y). Also works for tracked collaborator changes. |
| 📎 Cite | Opens the reference picker — insert one or more citations at the cursor |
| 🔢 Update Order | Renumbers all citations sequentially based on order of appearance in the text |
| ✓ Spell | Runs a spell/grammar check on the manuscript |
| ✏️ Update | Select any text, click this — AI rewrites/expands/edits the selection. A snapshot is saved before the change. |
| 🕓 History | Browse and restore previous versions saved automatically before each AI edit |
| 🖼 Insert Figure | Insert an uploaded figure/table at the cursor |
| 👥 Collab | Create a collaboration pack to send to a co-author (Section 12) |
| 🔀 Merge | Load a returned collaborator pack for review, or add another collaborator's pack |
| TXT / DOC / PDF | Export the manuscript in these formats (DOC opens in Word/LibreOffice) |
| 📦 Pack | Save your full session (manuscript + references) as a .gkspack file |
8. Inserting Citations — Single or Multiple
Insert Reference dialog — selecting multiple references
Inserting one or more citations
1
Place your cursor where the citation should appear
2
Click 📎 Cite
3
Search and click a reference — it highlights and stays selected
4
Search again for another reference — your first selection is remembered
5
Click 📎 Insert — all selected references are inserted together, e.g.
[6,7,14]💡 Citation numbering continues correctly even after closing and reopening a
.gkspack — if your last session ended at [10], the next citation starts at [11].Renumbering citations
If you reorder paragraphs and citation numbers are out of sequence, click 🔢 Update Order to renumber everything based on order of appearance.
9. Viewing Citation Details
Click any citation number in the manuscript (e.g. [6,14,7]) to see full details for every reference in that citation.
Citation tooltip — multiple references
- Each reference shows title, authors, journal, volume/issue/pages, DOI, PMID
- 🔗 Open paper opens the DOI link in a new tab
- ↓ Go to reference list scrolls to the reference list at the bottom of the editor and highlights all matching entries in teal for 2.5 seconds
- Click anywhere outside the tooltip to close it
10. Version History
Every time you click ✏️ Update, GKS Write automatically saves a snapshot of your manuscript before the AI makes changes.
1
Click 🕓 History
2
Browse the list of saved versions, each labelled with the instruction that triggered it
3
Click any version to preview it
4
Click Restore to revert the editor to that version
⚠️ Restoring a version replaces your current editor content. Export your current work first with 📦 Pack if you want to keep both.
11. .gkspack Files — Save & Restore Sessions
A .gkspack file is a complete snapshot of your work: manuscript content, document settings, citation style, and your entire reference library.
Saving
Click 📦 Pack in the editor toolbar. A file named gks-session.gkspack downloads.
Restoring
- Drag the
.gkspackfile anywhere onto the editor area, or - Use the 📂 Open Pack button in the Library tab header
Your manuscript, references, and citation numbering are all restored exactly as you left them.
| Plan | .gkspack downloads | Devices |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 30 per month | 1 device |
| Pro ⭐ | Unlimited | Unlimited |
📌 Without a
.gkspack backup, your library and manuscript cannot be transferred to another device. Free users get 30 downloads/month — about one per day.12. Collaboration — Sending to a Co-Author
Collaboration setup dialog
1
Open your manuscript in the Editor tab
2
Click 👥 Collab
3
Enter the collaborator's name (e.g. "Dr. Smith")
4
Pick a colour for their edits
5
Click 📦 Create Collab Pack — downloads
collab-dr-smith.gkspack6
Email this file to Dr. Smith
13. Collaboration — Editing as a Collaborator
1
Dr. Smith installs GKS Write (free) and opens
collab-dr-smith.gkspack (drag into editor or 📂 Open Pack)2
A welcome modal appears: "You are a collaborator — your edits recorded in Blue"
3
Clicks Start Editing → — status bar shows "✏️ Track Changes ON — Dr. Smith"
4
Edits the manuscript normally
Tracked changes — additions and deletions in collaborator's colour
5
Text added appears with their colour background + underline; text deleted appears with strikethrough (still visible, not removed)
6
Citations inserted while editing also appear in their colour
7
↩ Undo / ↪ Redo work normally even with tracked changes
8
When done, click 📦 Pack — downloads
collab-dr-smith-edited.gkspack9
Email this file back to the author
14. Collaboration — Reviewing Changes
Review bar and accept/reject
1
Open
collab-dr-smith-edited.gkspack — the file Dr. Smith sent back2
A review bar appears: "● Reviewing Dr. Smith's changes — 12 changes to review"
3
Click any coloured text → flashes green → accepted (text stays, colour removed)
4
Right-click any coloured text → flashes red → rejected (addition removed / deletion restored)
5
Or use ✅ Accept All / ❌ Reject All for everything at once
6
Click Done when finished, then 📦 Pack to save the clean manuscript
15. Merging Multiple Collaborators
If you sent the manuscript to two or more co-authors, you can review all of their changes together.
1
Open the first collaborator's edited pack normally — review bar shows their colour
2
Click 🔀 Merge and select the second collaborator's edited pack
3
Their changes appear in their own colour. Review bar updates: "● ● Reviewing 2 collaborators' changes"
4
Click 🔀 Merge again to add a third collaborator if needed
When two collaborators edit the same paragraph
Conflict — both versions shown side by side
- Click anywhere in a version's block → that whole version is accepted (clean text, no colours), the other version disappears
- Right-click a version → that version is discarded. If only one version remains, it is automatically accepted
- You can also click individual coloured words/letters inside a version if you want finer control
⚠️ Only packs returned by a collaborator (containing tracked changes) can be used with 🔀 Merge. A regular
gks-session.gkspack cannot be merged — it has no tracked changes.16. Free vs Pro
| Feature | Free | Pro ⭐ |
|---|---|---|
| Reference library & capture | ✅ | ✅ |
| AI manuscript writing | ✅ (own key or limited) | ✅ Priority |
| Citation styles (Vancouver, APA, Harvard, MLA...) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Collaboration & track changes | ✅ | ✅ |
| .gkspack downloads | 30/month | Unlimited |
| Devices | 1 | Unlimited |
| API key required | Optional | Not needed |
See Pricing for current plans and to activate a license key.
17. Frequently Asked Questions
Why does it say "Could not read this page automatically"?
This appears on pages GKS Write cannot recognise as a journal article (e.g. search results pages, Google Scholar listing pages, non-academic sites). Open the actual paper's page, or use Add by DOI if you know the DOI.
My citation only shows one reference even though I inserted [6,14,7]
Click directly on the citation number — the tooltip shows ALL references in that citation with full details for each, not just the first one. If you're on an older version, update to 1.1.5 or later.
After reopening a .gkspack, new citations start from [1] again
This is fixed in current versions — GKS Write scans the existing citations in the manuscript when a pack is loaded and continues numbering from where you left off (e.g. starts at [11] if [1]-[10] already exist).
🔀 Merge says "This is not a collaboration pack"
You selected the wrong file. Only packs returned by a collaborator after editing (e.g.
collab-dr-smith-edited.gkspack) contain tracked changes and can be merged. The original pack you sent, or your own regular gks-session.gkspack, cannot be merged.I can't select multiple files when clicking 🔀 Merge
You don't need to select multiple files at once. Click 🔀 Merge, pick the first collaborator's pack. Once it's loaded, click 🔀 Merge again and pick the second collaborator's pack. Repeat for each additional collaborator.
Undo/Redo doesn't work while editing a collaboration pack
GKS Write maintains a separate undo/redo history for tracked-changes mode so collaborator edits can always be undone with Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y or the ↩ Undo / ↪ Redo buttons, independent of the browser's native undo.
Do I need my own AI API key?
No — Option B in Settings lets you use GKS Write without any key on the free plan with limited access. Option A (your own free Gemini or Groq key) gives unrestricted use at no cost. Option C (Pro) removes the need for a key entirely.
Where are my references and manuscript stored?
Everything is stored locally in your browser. Nothing is uploaded to GKS Write's servers except AI requests when using Option B or C (Pro), which are processed and not retained. See our Privacy Policy.
The "DOC" download opens as HTML — is that correct?
Yes. The file is HTML formatted but saved with a
.doc extension, which Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs all open directly with full formatting (headings, citations, tables) preserved.Can I use GKS Write on Chrome, Edge, or Firefox Android?
Currently GKS Write is built for Firefox Desktop only. Firefox for Android does not support the sidebar feature this extension relies on. A Chrome/Edge version would require a separate Manifest V3 build.
How do I increase my .gkspack download limit?
Free accounts get 30 downloads per month on one device. Upgrading to Pro (Option C in Settings) removes this limit entirely and allows unlimited devices. See Pricing.
🚀
Ready to start writing smarter?
Install GKS Write for free and start saving references, generating manuscripts with AI, and collaborating with your co-authors — all inside Firefox.
⬇ Click To Download GKS Write NowFree to install · Firefox Add-ons store
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