Extract PDF notes

AlbertoM1
Hi there,
When attaching a pdf file to a new element, Zotero extracts automatically all in-file pdf annotations (e.g. Adobe acrobat highlighted sentences) as annotations impossible to delete.

How to avoid this automatic extraction?
  • dstillman
    What's the actual problem? Zotero shows embedded annotations like any other PDF reader. If you want those to be editable, go to File → Import Annotations to transfer them from the PDF file into Zotero itself, where they'll be editable.
  • AlbertoM1
    Hi. I am referring to when pdf is still closed. Zotero shows annotations taken with Adobe in the list among annotations taken with Zotero. This is a mess. All Underlining and highlighting previously done on Adobe become notes. Unacceptable. I need Zotero to show only annotation
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u17619333/e6wxd4jhki0mzxtjf09w.png
  • AlbertoM1
    I need Zotero to show only annotations (notes, nor highlithing) done with Zotero as Mendeley does
  • dstillman
    Why wouldn't Zotero show you the existing annotations in the file? If you don't want your previous work for some reason, use File → Import Annotations from the reader and delete them before annotating with Zotero.
  • AlbertoM1
    I want to keep my previous work. What I dont want is my highlightings to be considered among Zotero notes. I dont want 106 notes listed for every Underlining and highlighting previously done on Adobe. I dont understand what are you suggesting: File + import and then? See my screenshot
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u17619333/a61g1gaihq9kl9hfygal.png
  • dstillman
    They're not notes. They're standard PDF annotations that Zotero is showing you, as any PDF reader would.

    File → Import Annotations is in the reader. Open the PDF first.
  • AlbertoM1
    edited yesterday at 9:46pm
    Ok I try
  • dstillman
    edited yesterday at 9:47pm
    Again, this is in the Zotero reader — in a reader tab, not the main library tab. You have to open the PDF and then look in the File menu.
  • AlbertoM1
    Ok. Sorry. Done. Now?
  • AlbertoM1
    Do I have to manually delete 110 annotations? A part from the time wasted in this way, the solution is not acceptable. It will remove annotations. Have you ever used Mendeley? Mendeley keeps all annotation done on the pdf with Adobe but when you add a note with Mendeley or highlight something, in the Mendeley list of notes it will show on the right of the file only that single note or only the notes created with Mendeley. Plus, if you click on the note it will open the pdf file exactly at that page.
  • dstillman
    edited today at 4:27am
    I think you may be misunderstanding something here. Your screenshot shows the Annotations section of the item pane. The whole point is to show you the annotations you've made on the PDF — which includes highlights, underlines, note annotations, ink annotations, etc. That's going to show annotations you made in Zotero as well as other PDF readers, because they're all annotations. It would make no sense to show highlights created in Zotero but not show highlights made in Acrobat — people would complain, rightly, that Zotero couldn't display standard PDF annotations.

    If you just want to take notes — not annotations — about the document, you can create Zotero notes on the parent item, either from the library tab or by opening the Notes pane in the reader. Zotero notes aren't annotations and don't appear in the section you showed.

    If you don't want to see the list of PDF annotations in the item pane, you can just collapse that section.

    If for some reason you want to actually remove the annotations you created in another PDF reader, you can use File → Import Annotations from the reader, open the Annotations tab of the left sidebar, select all annotations, and delete them.
  • AlbertoM1
    edited today at 7:21am
    we reached some point here. You mean that I can create a note on page 5 of my pdf (with pdf opened) and it will be listed in a different list (with pdf closed) with respect to annotations?
    It can still be acceptable. How to do this please? I do not see any option to do this nor see any area of the right menu dedicated specifically to notes
  • dstillman
    edited today at 8:08am
    No, notes are just notes. They're child items of the parent item. There's a Notes button in the side navigation bar in the reader that will open up an editor on the right.

    Annotations — of all the kinds I listed above, including highlights, underlines, and location-specific note annotations — are annotations on the PDF, and those are going to appear in the Annotations tab of the reader sidebar and the Annotations section of the item pane in the library view, no matter where they were created. Again, it would make absolutely no sense for a highlight that you create in Acrobat and a highlight you create in Zotero not to appear in the same list of annotations. Zotero has a built-in PDF reader. It supports many standard annotation types. You create them the same way as in other PDF tools. They happen to not be stored in the file while using Zotero, but that's a technical implementation detail — if you export the PDF, they'll all be embedded in the file as standard PDF annotations. I don't know why you have this idea that PDF annotations created in Zotero and PDF annotations created in another tool are somehow fundamentally different, but there's just no basis for that, and it's not what the vast majority of users would expect. This isn't going to change.
  • AlbertoM1
    A part from what you think is correct or not, which I totally disagree (as all users I think, since Mendeley works in this way sonce ages, separating pdf in-file notes (not highlightings) created with Mendeley (put in a separate list) from the one created with Adobe (not listed by Mendeley). I am just speaking of the top player in the market used by millions of users...), the conclusion is that I cannot create any note (not highlightings) to page 5 that will be listed separately from Adobe notes?
  • dstillman
    They're not "Adobe notes". They are PDF annotations, created and read by any PDF reader, including Zotero. It's a specific technical thing, and the fact you don't understand that and keep insisting that there's some difference means you kind of have trust us when we tell you that what you're suggesting would not make sense. Mendeley failing to support PDF annotations in a standards-compliant way is just an example of their app being shoddy, not something to emulate.
  • AlbertoM1
    I think you are messing up things.
    Simple questions, simple answers, no escape:
    1) can I create a note to page 5 with Zotero that is listed separately from highlightings in the right menu of Zotero? YES or NO
    2) can I create a note to page 5 that when I click on it (in the right menu of Zotero) will open the pdf directly at that page? YES or NO
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