Export flatten comment for Zotero

Hey all,

I have very much enjoyed Zotero 7's PDF reader. But there is one feature that I really want that I can't find, which is to flatten comments. I know that with File > Export PDF, I can export my PDF with annotations.

However, with specific text highlight or underline, you can also add comments under the annotations.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u8275573/j8go6o3ce7njz7oqg634.png

When I export my PDF with annotations, however, the comment gets 'embedded' within the highlight, and thus, to see the comment, I have to hover over the highlight with my mouse

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u8275573/yb8vitmwgj8p597he45s.png

My question is whether there is a feature that can flatten this comment box out to the side, such that the comment is permanently visible in the PDF. Of course, the PDF will not have embedded highlights after this. But I am fine with. Something akin to the example from Kami's "Flatten annotation" export below would be perfect

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u8275573/ex68dq13ewqqir74dk4g.png

Thank you, and I really hope I can use Zotero!
  • There's no feature in Zotero to do that, and as far as I know that's not a standard feature of most PDF readers.

    Comments are exported as standard PDF annotation comments and will show up however your external reader renders annotation comments. Zotero obviously lets you view annotations in the sidebar, and most other PDF readers have something similar.

    If that's not sufficient, you'd want to try to find some tool to convert annotation comments to margin notes as text annotations.
  • Got it. Thank you! I think what I will do is still annotate on Kami, download a non-flatten/embedded annotation version, and put the PDF on Zotero. Zotero can still recognize embedded annotations, so I can still do all my notes & stuff (Plu,s if I need to have the flattened version, I will just have a separate copy)

    Thank you for the quick response, dstillman, you have been of great help to me and the rest of the community! (As I see your name everywhere)
Sign In or Register to comment.