area PDF annotations are not synced with the server

efferre

I am using zotero 7.0.9. I have noticed that the server synchronization of pdf annotations doesn't work with the area type annotations, i.e. on another client the image is missing. Is that wanted behaviour?

dstillman

Can you say more? Are you looking in the Zotero PDF reader on the other device? They're certainly synced in general. See the last step on Changes Not Syncing for what we'd need to say more.

efferre

I am using the embedded Zotero PDF reader. The PDF file is not synced because on the first client I have only added as a link. I have created the annotation with the Windows client by dragging a rectangle around some area of the PDF. This is how the annotations look:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u15259947/lyzdk5rnv0v6entnsh65.png
Then I have installed the client on a Linux machine (same version) and synced to the same account. This is what I see

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u15259947/ukec4utm0c0hj21up8yb.png

From what I can understand it seems that the area annotations need the file to extract the image just-in-time, is this correct?

dstillman

You have to actually be syncing files for image annotations to sync. From your online account, it looks like you've at least uploaded them. Check your file-sync configuration on the other computer.

dstillman

Er, sorry, I was thinking of images in notes, not image annotations. Yes, you need the file to be accessible on both computers for those to show up. It's possible to do that with linked files as long as you set it up correctly, but that's not something we can help with.

efferre

Ok, I understand. IMHO this implementation is confusing because highlighted text annotations don't need the file while image annotations do. I guess you save only sort of vector information for the annotation. What about the other types of annotations?

Now I am reading the documentation to use properly external linking of files (https://www.zotero.org/support/sync)

Right now I have set the software to sync attachments using Zotero (no webdav) and to download files at sync time. Of course the PDF file is only linked so it is not transferred. Maybe the image annotations should be considered as attachments and then synced too if the file is only linked.

dstillman

Yes, it just syncs the bounding box coordinates. It doesn't make sense to have it sync an actual image for every single image annotation. Linked files aren't a configuration we particularly recommend anyway, and the vast majority of people who use them already sync those files outside of Zotero.