Copying annotations *without* links

Calorion

This may well be some sort of error on my part or issue with my setup, but when I select an annotation and hit Command-C, the resulting text includes some “zotero://” links, to the entry and the document. I was thinking that that was the result of some plugin I had, but it persists when all plugins are turned off—but *not* when Zotero is restarted in troubleshooting mode.

Is this a built-in feature of Zotero? If so, is there a way to turn it off (preferably temporarily, like with a modifier key)? If not…what’s doing this?

dstillman

Turn off "Include Zotero links" in the Export pane of the settings.

Calorion

I…okay, that works, but it’s *seriously* confusing. From that pane I would conclude that this feature is only for *notes,* not annotations, and that it only happens when you hit Command-Shift-C, not Command-C. But when you do Command-Shift-C, it does something else entirely—it copies the citation, not the annotation.

That’s…really weird.

dstillman

We can clarify some of the text there, but it's the "Note" format because it's the same format you get when you use Quick Copy to copy notes, which can contain annotations. Annotations are effectively converted to notes — using note templates — before they're copied to the clipboard.

Cmd-Shift-C is copying the parent item (which you can see as Edit → Copy Bibliography).

Calorion

Yeah, but it explicitly says “You can copy selected items to the clipboard by pressing Cmd+Shift+C,” which is definitely not what happens with annotations. The interface should be consistent. Frankly I don’t understand why nothing happens when you press Cmd-C when a note is selected.

dstillman

There's just some historical baggage here.

Cmd-Shift-C dates to when Zotero was a Firefox extension and couldn't use Cmd-C. These days, it should probably just be Cmd-C for Copy Citation and Cmd-Shift-C for Copy Bibliography.

That would conflict with Cmd-C copying annotations in the reader, but it would probably make more sense for Cmd-C/Cmd-Shift-C to just apply to the parent item when no annotation was selected.

An upcoming version will also make annotation/note Quick Copy use the citation format you've selected in the Quick Copy settings, and we'll be adding a separate setting and shortcut for export (since otherwise there might not be a bibliography format for use when copying annotations and notes).