iOS: Annotations not being saved by Zotero

vennelboy · 2026-01-16T12:32:59+00:00

For the last 2 days I have been losing my annotations on my PDF attachments after I close the file. I have tried a fresh install on my ipad, I have created a new PDF and uploaded but I keep getting the same issue. I am doing the same as I have done since I started using Zotero but only yesterday the comments will not save.

Any advice to fix this issue?

dstillman · 2026-01-16T12:57:47+00:00

We're looking into this. It looks like it's happening for some but not all PDFs.

We'll have an update soon.

vennelboy · 2026-01-16T13:10:28+00:00

Thank you

dstillman · 2026-01-16T19:02:33+00:00

OK, we've submitted a fixed version to Apple and requested an expedited review. Thanks for reporting this.

It looks like this was a bug introduced in an update a few days ago. If you 1) saved a PDF on iOS or saved it the desktop but didn't open it in the desktop reader, 2) opened it on iOS, and 3) created an annotation without first changing the page and closing/reopening the file, the annotations would silently be lost. If you opened the PDF on the desktop first or changed pages on iOS and closed/reopened the file, they would be saved.

We're really sorry for this. In addition to fixing the bug, we're adding some additional error handling to make sure errors like this don't result in annotations being silently lost.