Upgrade StorageImport Annotations doesn't work for freehand markup and text notes
When importing existing annotations of a PDF within the Zotero PDF viewer, only highlights, underlines, etc. are converted, whereas freehand markup or text notes (text boxes) are not.
Steps to reproduce:
- Open a PDF outside of Zotero (Acrobat, macOS Preview, any iPad PDF reader)
- Add a freehand (pencil) note and a highlight
- Save
- Import to Zotero
- Open in Zotero in the PDF viewer
- Choose "Import Annotations ..." from the File menu
Expected result:
Freehand, text notes, as well as highlights etc. (i.e., any and all annotations) should be converted to Zotero annotations (i.e., show up under annotations, be selectable, and should no longer show up when opening the PDF outside of Zotero).
Actual result:
Highlights are converted to Zotero annotations (i.e., they show up under annotations, are selectable, and no longer show up when opening the PDF outside of Zotero).
Freehand and text notes are not converted (i.e., they are not selectable and continue to be visible when opening the PDF outside of Zotero).
Since the Zotero PDF viewer itself offers freehand markup, it doesn't look like it's a limitation of Zotero, and just an issue with the import function. I tried with Acrobat, macOS Preview, and other PDF readers, but all of the annotations created by them behave in the same way. Opened in Acrobat they all show up as in the "Comments" pane as "Pencil" or "Stamp" (depending on which tool created them).
If there is any workaround to convert them to a Zotero-readable format prior to importing to Zotero I'd also be appreciative of some guidance.
Steps to reproduce:
- Open a PDF outside of Zotero (Acrobat, macOS Preview, any iPad PDF reader)
- Add a freehand (pencil) note and a highlight
- Save
- Import to Zotero
- Open in Zotero in the PDF viewer
- Choose "Import Annotations ..." from the File menu
Expected result:
Freehand, text notes, as well as highlights etc. (i.e., any and all annotations) should be converted to Zotero annotations (i.e., show up under annotations, be selectable, and should no longer show up when opening the PDF outside of Zotero).
Actual result:
Highlights are converted to Zotero annotations (i.e., they show up under annotations, are selectable, and no longer show up when opening the PDF outside of Zotero).
Freehand and text notes are not converted (i.e., they are not selectable and continue to be visible when opening the PDF outside of Zotero).
Since the Zotero PDF viewer itself offers freehand markup, it doesn't look like it's a limitation of Zotero, and just an issue with the import function. I tried with Acrobat, macOS Preview, and other PDF readers, but all of the annotations created by them behave in the same way. Opened in Acrobat they all show up as in the "Comments" pane as "Pencil" or "Stamp" (depending on which tool created them).
If there is any workaround to convert them to a Zotero-readable format prior to importing to Zotero I'd also be appreciative of some guidance.
Is there perhaps a way to convert them into a format Zotero can read prior to import?
I'm just looking for a one-time solution as I'm trying to import my entire library into Zotero. (Thus also this question.) I'd love to find a way to convert everything so I don't have to recreate thousands of freehand annotations in all of my PDFs ... any suggestions much appreciated!