some more specifics would help. What would you like to do?
Also look through the forums at what other people have alreay requested:
http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/6055/how-to-reference-a-location-within-a-snapshot-from-a-note/
for example
For example, I would like to be able to annotate (high light paragraphs and add notes) on multiple documents and websites, and then be able to keep a database of the highlightings and annotations as I would the notes and citations. This would be an invaluable tool for qualitative research.
I'd like to agree with TheCyberProf. When I first started looking at Zotero, I had added some feature request comments seeking some annotation capability in Zotero. (e.g. here , and here). It appears that it is difficult to do technically (ie., according to this discussion).
Ideally, it would be great to be able to add comments directly to selected text within a PDF or other document, and to be able to tag the text, or tag the annotation. It would help if those annotations were to appear as sticky notes on the PDF, and also as notes in the Zotero interface, and if they were searchable and indexable. If annotations are listed as Zotero notes, it would be ideal if there were a link embedded in the note one could click on in order to display that section of the text (the highlighted portion to which the annotation is linked) in the browser.
It would also be great if it were possible to create hierarchies of tags, ie., a category "woody plants", a sub category "evergreens" and a sub-sub-category including "spruce" "pine" "hemlock" etc. When searching for a specific tag, each instance within a document would be visible in the search, perhaps with a few lines of surrounding text (above and below), for context. Searching for that tag across all documents would allow you to group together all the authors in your collection who are addressing a specific theoretical concern, even if only tangentially.
The problem with tags as they now are used in Zotero and all similar programs is that tags at the level of the document are too broad. Tagging Moby Dick with "whale" or "fear of death" is not as useful as finding specific instances within the text where these tags apply. If it were then possible to search for all instances where both occur, or where one occurs in the absence of the other, Zotero would be a far more useful tool.
This is particularly the case for historical documents, such as, for instance, a group of telegrams found in an archive. If each document had its own entry in zotero, and if custom fields could be added for sender, date sent, recipient, etc., and if Zotero eventually provides more ability to customize sorting (ie., by allowing custom sorts according to user determined hierarchies, with columns representing standard as well as newly added custom fields), it would then be possible to sort by date, or by sender and then date sent, and one could identify and trace a conversation, and demonstrate its relationship to a historical trend or theoretical concern that one is interested in.
I was just checking out the new improvements to notes in Zotero (the rich text editing), and realized that part of the approach I'd outlined above is actually sort of in place already. Zotero does allow tagging of notes! Sorry for not realizing that.
If it were possible for notes to refer specifically to selected portions of a document (ie, if it were possible when viewing a document in the browser to select text and then right click to "attach a zotero note to this content"), that would be great. The note itself could then contain a link that would open that particular view of the document... If Zotero would also allow notes to be indexed and searchable, we'd be pretty far along.
As usual, zotero is more advanced than I'd realized. That's good.
Upgrade Storage
Also look through the forums at what other people have alreay requested:
http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/6055/how-to-reference-a-location-within-a-snapshot-from-a-note/
for example
Ideally, it would be great to be able to add comments directly to selected text within a PDF or other document, and to be able to tag the text, or tag the annotation. It would help if those annotations were to appear as sticky notes on the PDF, and also as notes in the Zotero interface, and if they were searchable and indexable. If annotations are listed as Zotero notes, it would be ideal if there were a link embedded in the note one could click on in order to display that section of the text (the highlighted portion to which the annotation is linked) in the browser.
It would also be great if it were possible to create hierarchies of tags, ie., a category "woody plants", a sub category "evergreens" and a sub-sub-category including "spruce" "pine" "hemlock" etc. When searching for a specific tag, each instance within a document would be visible in the search, perhaps with a few lines of surrounding text (above and below), for context. Searching for that tag across all documents would allow you to group together all the authors in your collection who are addressing a specific theoretical concern, even if only tangentially.
The problem with tags as they now are used in Zotero and all similar programs is that tags at the level of the document are too broad. Tagging Moby Dick with "whale" or "fear of death" is not as useful as finding specific instances within the text where these tags apply. If it were then possible to search for all instances where both occur, or where one occurs in the absence of the other, Zotero would be a far more useful tool.
This is particularly the case for historical documents, such as, for instance, a group of telegrams found in an archive. If each document had its own entry in zotero, and if custom fields could be added for sender, date sent, recipient, etc., and if Zotero eventually provides more ability to customize sorting (ie., by allowing custom sorts according to user determined hierarchies, with columns representing standard as well as newly added custom fields), it would then be possible to sort by date, or by sender and then date sent, and one could identify and trace a conversation, and demonstrate its relationship to a historical trend or theoretical concern that one is interested in.
If it were possible for notes to refer specifically to selected portions of a document (ie, if it were possible when viewing a document in the browser to select text and then right click to "attach a zotero note to this content"), that would be great. The note itself could then contain a link that would open that particular view of the document... If Zotero would also allow notes to be indexed and searchable, we'd be pretty far along.
As usual, zotero is more advanced than I'd realized. That's good.