Upgrade StorageSuggestions for a new built-in Zotero PDF reader
Hi there,
I am so excited about your new built-in PDF reader. I have installed a beta version of Zotero, and I am enjoying it already.
I would like to suggest two features, if you haven't planned them yet:
1) Ability to quickly see the overview of the whole document as in Mac's View and PDF Expert;
2) Ability to split the screen horisontally to be able to see references and notes, as in PDF Expert, AND/OR a quick pop up link to the-just-seen-page, as in PDF Expert to quickly travel from the text to references and back, AND/OR another clever way to quickly see references and notes at the end of the document.
I hope it helps. Thank you very much again for introducing a PDF reader.
I am so excited about your new built-in PDF reader. I have installed a beta version of Zotero, and I am enjoying it already.
I would like to suggest two features, if you haven't planned them yet:
1) Ability to quickly see the overview of the whole document as in Mac's View and PDF Expert;
2) Ability to split the screen horisontally to be able to see references and notes, as in PDF Expert, AND/OR a quick pop up link to the-just-seen-page, as in PDF Expert to quickly travel from the text to references and back, AND/OR another clever way to quickly see references and notes at the end of the document.
I hope it helps. Thank you very much again for introducing a PDF reader.
This discussion has been closed.
By 1) I mean the view of all the thumbnails. Not sure how it's properly called, sorry.
Anyway, a new smart way of checking the references would be much more useful, yet, I don't know whether it is possible at all. On a more general note, I think research gets creative when it gets non-linear. Being able to jump from one part of the electronic document to another without much thinking would be a blast.
https://helpx.adobe.com/content/dam/help/en/acrobat/using/manipulating-deleting-renumbering-pdf-pages/_jcr_content/main-pars/procesure_4/proc_par/step_0/step_par/image/Page-thumbnail.png
Currently, I open articles in Zotero's pdf reader; then right click on the item, open the folder where the file is stored; open this file with my default pdf reader (which is PDF Expert). I use a large screen, so I am able to put Zotero on the right side and PDF Expert on the left side. I then click Cmd+down to jump on the last page of the document and voilà, I am seeing references.
So the idea I've got is to introduce a split screen option within Zotero's pdf reader, that would do exactly what I described, but, for instance, in one click (right click on the item in the library, 'open in a split screen'.
Just an idea.
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On a different note, I am still enjoying Zotero's pdf reader very much. I can clearly see that it increased my productivity. The only problems I see so far are:
- There are neither underline option, nor drawing tools in the pdf reader;
- Notes are very slow and make the whole Zotero freeze for some time;
- It would be helpful to be able to close the 'add note' pop up window that emerges over the Word document when the 'add note' button is pushed (I've tried erasing '{citation}' but it did not help so I had to insert the shortest note into my Word document and then erase the text).
I hope this feedback is helpful.
It would be cool if a note with references, once copied into a Word document, contained enough metadata to produce the bibliography section. Now, if I insert a note into a Word document containing quotations and references, it is impossible to generate a bibliography section from this only. Let me know if what I am saying is obscure.
What I have in mind is something similar to the Memo Manager in MAXQDA where you can see all the memos of the project (or some of them).
This would be incredibly helpful in literature review writing when you first read and annotate files, write notes, and then look at the notes only and write a meta note which is basically your literature review.
I have another suggestion for the Notes. It happens quite often that after I insert a quote with a citation, I try to put the cursor right after the closing bracket with the mouse, but I simply cannot. Instead, the whole citation gets highlighted/selected, and if I press any key, it gets deleted and replaced by this key.
What I do is I place a cursor on the preceding line and then move it down with the keyboard's arrows.
It would be nice to be able to place the cursor after the citation with the mouse.
So, building on my earlier suggestion to have a Note Manager where only notes could be open for review, I am suggesting to introduce tags for quotes — identical to codes in QDA software.
How much easier it would be to write literature reviews if one could:
1. Go through the documents and code them with word tags (just like the new reader already allows one to do with colours!)
2. Retrieve the quotes tagged by the same codes — already with quotation marks and citations (as new Zotero already does when Notes from Annotations are generated!)
This way, I could read my documents, tag their PDF content with tags, introduce new tags for emerging themes, write new thoughts in standalone notes, then retrieve quotes with citations under selected tags in new notes, come up with more genius ideas, write them right in these new notes, amongst quotes, and voilá — that is basically your literature review. One perhaps just needs to remove some quotes to give more space to one's own text, but keeping the citations, copy-paste to a Word document, in a draft file of the article or book.
Sorry for the lengthy message. I hope you can understand what I am saying.
The problem is that I do not see how I can retrieve tagged segments.
Now, only the opposite is possible: to highlight a small fragment first and then to paint over it, which is of course nice.
Now, regardless of where the cursor is, the 'Add to Note' command posts the text at the bottom of the note.
It would be cool to have a shortcut combination for switching between the reader pane and the database pane, or to be able to open the document in the Zotero PDF reader, but in a separate window — all for the same reason as I stated above.
Also, it would be nice to be able to change the font colour in the notes, not only highlighting it (thanks for introducing it though!)
Thanks for all the great improvements to the reader!
While in the horizontal scrolling view (which is awesome!), it would be so nice to be able to jump somehow from the bottom of the page I read to the top of the next page without needing to scroll and adjust the next page manually.
In PDF Expert, they have a pop-up navigation panel that only becomes visible when one moves the mouse to the left-bottom corner and only if one has previously jumped from one page to another through a hyperlink. Something like this would be nice to move forward here.
Alternatively, perhaps it could be something analogous to the Cmd [ or ] combination that makes one jump back and forward when one has clicked on an internal hyperlink.
Could you also introduce shortcuts for going to the first and the last page, please?
Following-up on the shortcuts idea to move inside the doc @auster
- enable bookmarking the doc and move from one to another with a button; alternatively, a button "move to the next item" whether it is a note, a highlight or a bookmark. This is directly inspired from okular pdf reader features. Could be left-righ and up-down arrows icons, doubled for jumping from the first and the last.
Smoothing highlight to note:
- when highlight is finished, focus on the "add comment" field in the left panel; so it feels also like a note taking. Indeed, some highlighting workflows make you want to take note without having to click again. Comments emerges in your mind during the highlight. (Which is different from "I have a comment in mind and I will click to add a comment button". The latter being a different. In my case happens at the end of a reading section in general, I add note to sum it up or resume)
- alternatively:
when text is selected, display an add note icon besides the colors for highlight icons.
And when you click, you are put in the comment field section. When you are done the text is highlighted and commented. This implies to set a color default If i am correct. Could be yellow or a parameter the user set...
Highlight to tag
- similar to above, when text is selected, add a tag icon beside colors icons. When clicked, open the field and put the cursor on editing this field.
- maybe also implies a default color set
Find your highlights back using colours criteria:
"show me only my blue highlights please"
- display the colors icons on top of the left panel; when click, display the highlights associated to the selected color.
Usecase has to do with color coding: one color for quick marking during quick first read, another for second read, third color for quotes only, last for reflexive coment. And a last color for personal reformulation. See for example citavi workflow.
- alternative would be to use tagging, see above.
Many thanks!
I would only point out re their 'smoothing highlight to note section' that sometimes you just want to highlight, so their second, alternative, option, would be fantastic. But tfavre is also absolutely right: sometimes commenting is your priority over highlighting.
And, yes, yes, and yes — displaying the highlights of one colour only (as well as displaying the selected inter-text tags) would be a blast! That would basically bring the QDA software functionality to Zotero, giving the users so much more power for creativity!
It would be nice though if one could switch between highlighted annotations and annotations with coloured fonts.
The reason I am asking for this is that the highlighted annotations make the text a bit too thick and sometimes difficult to perceive quickly, while the text with coloured fonts is easy to grasp.
It would also be nice to have comments more visible somehow. In its present state, they blur with the quotations.