Of course, it would already be incredibly helpful to have a global command that triggers a global export of all markups into the corresponding PDFs. And then it's a major pain to get all the annotations baked into all the affected PDFs. And it's not untypical for me that I add a couple of annotations to a dozen or more PDFs that are scattered across different subcollections. And that means that all the markups that only exist in the central database are gone unless I manually export them into the PDF prior to using any external tool. For example, I am linking / bookmarking directly to the PDF files that sit on my harddrive, from other pieces of software. Problem is the heterogeneity of the tools that are used and are part of my workflow. I am aware of the workarounds, but they are incredibly error prone. Sooner or later, I always end up with some part of the annotations baked into the PDF and some part in the Zotero database, depending on who as done which annotations on which device. Regarding the annotations: it's still utter chaos. That certainly helps and takes care of the first issue. The app is actively developed and new features are added regularly.Ĭool, thanks a bunch! I wasn't aware of the "long-push left context menu" option. I personally like what I have for reading recent journal articles, and do not need more. With regards to missing features for the pdf reader, it would be more constructive to mention what they are. I haven't found a way to use them without duplicating many things, but others make use of it just fine.ģ. Then email/share that pdf file.įor working with collaborators, Zotero suggests using Zotero groups, which keeps everything within Zotero. On the desktop app, open the pdf and choose File -> Save As. You can export a pdf that includes all the annotations in the standard pdf format, and send that to your colleagues. I also remember seeing in the Forums that the devs are planning to implement a sync option that turns on all attachment downloading all the time.Ģ. You can long-push the collections on the left pane and get the context menu, which includes Download Attachments. Some of those abilities already exist in some form:ġ. Or, at a minimum: allow Zotero's PDF viewer to embed the markup in the standard format directly in the PDF - and then also improve the internal PDF viewer's markup capabilities. So, in summary, I have two feature requests:ġ) Provide for the possibility to synchronize the PDFs directly to the iPad, in order to allow for offline work.Ģ) Facilitate the use of external tools for marking up PDFs (e.g. So, this should be a user's choice, depending on his/her workflow.Īnd, let's face it, the internal PDF viewer of Zotero is only rudimentary when it comes to the tools that it provides for working with a PDF. But at the same time, this setup is cumbersome for collaborating with people outside the Zotero ecosystem and for using different tools for working with the PDF. I am aware that the whole idea of keeping the markup in a central database is to facilitate working within the Zotero ecosystem. I can't count the times that I marked up a file in Zotero on an iPad and then shared the PDF file from my harddrive with a colleague - only to get the complaint that none of my comments are visible in the PDF. This makes sharing a marked-up PDF with somebody working outside the Zotero ecosystem problematic and error-prone. on long-distance flights or sea voyages).Īnd secondly, the use of a non-standard way to handle PDF markup is problematic. That makes the app useless if one works in an environment without internet access (e.g. Although I am in principle quite happy with the iOS version of Zotero, there are two (three) issues that limit its usability.įirst, the app doesn't download the PDFs directly but only the metadata and then provides links to the PDF itself.
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