Upgrade StoragePDF freehand is slow compared to Firefox
Annotating PDFs is a great way for people like me to consume articles, while thinking them though. All saved in one location in Zotero :)
However, the annotation is slow and/or is "smoothed" at smaller sizes. This makes the UX for annotating painful. I can annotate the same file in Firefox without the delay.
Here is an example of the Pythagoras theorem in:
- Zotero 9.0.6 (64 bit) - https://streamable.com/4drsdo
- Firefox 153.0 (64-bit) - https://streamable.com/wy31ef
I would love to use the internal PDF viewer of Zotero to annotate my PDFs with a smooth non laggy experience. Can you guide me on how to resolve this issue?
Related items on the the Forum:
- https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/132602/laggy-drawing-with-freehand-tool-in-zotero-9 - I can also confirm @yusufmrtz 's observation that "I am experiencing a significant lag while drawing lines. The lines do not look smooth, and there is a noticeable delay between my input and the actual drawing on the screen." when using the PDF reader inside of Zotero, as opposed to Firefox. This can be seen in the video above. They use a Macbook (M2) while I am on Windows 11 so this seems to be a cross platform issue.
- https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/119694/best-pdf-tool-for-annotating-using-w-zotero - Unlike @bhoconnor , I do not have an issue with Zotero loosing my annotations (yet).
- https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/124295/android-beta-freehand-drawing-in-pdf-slows-down-occasionally-crashes-app - I have not had Zotero 9.x crash on me (yet) and is stable. I do share the slow freehand annotation mentioned in @jhimmelreich 's post.
- https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/126421/debug-id-d918391774-android-app-freehand-draw-slow-and-wrong-rendering - @rdiaz02 's post is about the freehand tool being slow, but on Android.
Related items on the zotero/zotero repo:
- https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/5724 - The slowdown happens, even without any pre-existing annotations for the record/PDF
- https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/2183 - Since Firefox uses PDF.js (and I have no issue with annotation in Firefox), I would assume that the integration would be related to the slowdown? Last comment is from 2022, so am unsure of how things have progressed since then.
- https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/2180 - Could the "slow navigation to specific annotation" be related to my issue?
However, the annotation is slow and/or is "smoothed" at smaller sizes. This makes the UX for annotating painful. I can annotate the same file in Firefox without the delay.
Here is an example of the Pythagoras theorem in:
- Zotero 9.0.6 (64 bit) - https://streamable.com/4drsdo
- Firefox 153.0 (64-bit) - https://streamable.com/wy31ef
I would love to use the internal PDF viewer of Zotero to annotate my PDFs with a smooth non laggy experience. Can you guide me on how to resolve this issue?
Related items on the the Forum:
- https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/132602/laggy-drawing-with-freehand-tool-in-zotero-9 - I can also confirm @yusufmrtz 's observation that "I am experiencing a significant lag while drawing lines. The lines do not look smooth, and there is a noticeable delay between my input and the actual drawing on the screen." when using the PDF reader inside of Zotero, as opposed to Firefox. This can be seen in the video above. They use a Macbook (M2) while I am on Windows 11 so this seems to be a cross platform issue.
- https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/119694/best-pdf-tool-for-annotating-using-w-zotero - Unlike @bhoconnor , I do not have an issue with Zotero loosing my annotations (yet).
- https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/124295/android-beta-freehand-drawing-in-pdf-slows-down-occasionally-crashes-app - I have not had Zotero 9.x crash on me (yet) and is stable. I do share the slow freehand annotation mentioned in @jhimmelreich 's post.
- https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/126421/debug-id-d918391774-android-app-freehand-draw-slow-and-wrong-rendering - @rdiaz02 's post is about the freehand tool being slow, but on Android.
Related items on the zotero/zotero repo:
- https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/5724 - The slowdown happens, even without any pre-existing annotations for the record/PDF
- https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/2183 - Since Firefox uses PDF.js (and I have no issue with annotation in Firefox), I would assume that the integration would be related to the slowdown? Last comment is from 2022, so am unsure of how things have progressed since then.
- https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/2180 - Could the "slow navigation to specific annotation" be related to my issue?
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u9021701/pbvikxf5f4wt87y4j0so.png
I just tried the zip version of the latest release - https://download.zotero.org/client/beta/10.0-beta.14+6fb30346e/Zotero-10.0-beta.14+6fb30346e_win-x64.zip
Indeed, freehand drawing is somewhat more responsive (although not as responsive as Firefox).
As a test, I drew 29 `x` in Zotero 10.0-beta.14+6fb30346e (64-bit). Out of the 29 x symbols, 7 symbols lagged (red circles). This meant that the blue line of the `x` did not follow the stylus. Note that this NEVER happens with Edge / FireFox.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u9021701/138yv8mwrs6wkyvy5445.png