Upgrade StorageSuggestion to Improve Tagging and Annotation Search in Zotero iPad App
Dear Zotero Team,
My name is Jen, and I’m a Human Factors Engineer currently pursuing my Ph.D. As part of my research, I conduct literature reviews and qualitative coding of scientific texts, often on the go using the Zotero iPad app. I want to first thank you for making such a powerful and accessible tool for researchers.
I’m reaching out because I noticed a usability limitation in the iPad app that I believe many users, especially researchers, could benefit from addressing.
Currently, when I highlight a passage in a PDF and add a tag (e.g., “#methods”) in the annotation comment, that tag is not searchable at the annotation level. Even though the interface allows me to “tag” a highlight, there’s no easy way to view all tagged annotations across documents or even within a single document. The Tags tab in the library only surfaces the parent item (the PDF), not the individual lines or comments where the tag was used.
As someone with a background in human factors and usability testing, I see a strong opportunity to extend the iPad app’s existing sidebar—where “Thumbnails,” “Annotations,” and “Outline” currently live to include a fourth tab: Tags. This could list all user-applied tags within the PDF and allow users to jump directly to the tagged lines. This enhancement would significantly support workflows for researchers doing thematic analysis, systematic reviews, or any tag-based data collection.
If this capability already exists in a different form that I may have missed, I’d appreciate any guidance. Otherwise, I’d be happy to elaborate on use cases or contribute feedback from a usability perspective.
Thank you again for your continued support of the research community.
Warmly,
Jen
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u12434235/xr0vva0i3kly21dq9321.png
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u12434235/2ekhhbtz0hdrkx7hgx4x.png
My name is Jen, and I’m a Human Factors Engineer currently pursuing my Ph.D. As part of my research, I conduct literature reviews and qualitative coding of scientific texts, often on the go using the Zotero iPad app. I want to first thank you for making such a powerful and accessible tool for researchers.
I’m reaching out because I noticed a usability limitation in the iPad app that I believe many users, especially researchers, could benefit from addressing.
Currently, when I highlight a passage in a PDF and add a tag (e.g., “#methods”) in the annotation comment, that tag is not searchable at the annotation level. Even though the interface allows me to “tag” a highlight, there’s no easy way to view all tagged annotations across documents or even within a single document. The Tags tab in the library only surfaces the parent item (the PDF), not the individual lines or comments where the tag was used.
As someone with a background in human factors and usability testing, I see a strong opportunity to extend the iPad app’s existing sidebar—where “Thumbnails,” “Annotations,” and “Outline” currently live to include a fourth tab: Tags. This could list all user-applied tags within the PDF and allow users to jump directly to the tagged lines. This enhancement would significantly support workflows for researchers doing thematic analysis, systematic reviews, or any tag-based data collection.
If this capability already exists in a different form that I may have missed, I’d appreciate any guidance. Otherwise, I’d be happy to elaborate on use cases or contribute feedback from a usability perspective.
Thank you again for your continued support of the research community.
Warmly,
Jen
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u12434235/xr0vva0i3kly21dq9321.png
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u12434235/2ekhhbtz0hdrkx7hgx4x.png
https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/123884/available-for-beta-testing-annotations-in-the-items-list