Can't copy text of locked PDF comments in PDF viewer

jessriedel

When PDFs are imported into Zotero with existing comments, the comments can't be edited. However, it's also impossible to select the text of the comment so I can copy it, which seems like a flaw. (I guess you can drag the whole comment into a text field and it will paste the text there, but this is pretty clunky.)

Thanks.

(Zotero MacOS 5.0.97-beta.27+861d5787d)

dstillman

You can just click the annotation and use Cmd-C/Ctrl-C or Edit → Copy, which will copy the comment and highlighted text to the clipboard. This works both in the PDF itself and in the annotations sidebar.

The problem with making the comment text selectable directly is that the annotation itself has to be draggable, and making the text selectable would prevent you from being able to click anywhere to drag. We could consider it, but it's a trade-off.

I guess you can drag the whole comment into a text field and it will paste the text there, but this is pretty clunky.

Maybe this is what you mean, but you can also add the annotation to a Zotero note (via dragging or one of the context menu options), and from there either copy the text or insert it into a word processor document using the word processor plugin. That's the primary workflow for the new PDF reader and note editor.

(I'm not sure why we're using Comment: "Highlighted text" when copying to the clipboard and "Highlighted text" Comment when inserted into a note. The clipboard behavior might be a holdover from earlier behavior in notes.)

jessriedel

Ahh, ok. I didn't realize the Ctrl-C command would work there. Thanks.

> The problem with making the comment text selectable directly is that the annotation itself has to be draggable, and making the text selectable would prevent you from being able to click anywhere to drag. We could consider it, but it's a trade-off.

Just to be clear, "comment" here is a subset of "annotation" right? Because I think you can still drag comments by click-and-dragging the comment's horizontal bar which has the page number and is *above* the actual text of the comment. Indeed, I can click to select text in the Zotero-format comments and I can also click-and-drag that bar to copy the text into a note.

That said, it's true that this would create less screen area for clicking on during the click-and-drag action on native-PDF-format comments.

dstillman

Indeed, I can click to select text in the Zotero-format comments and I can also click-and-drag that bar to copy the text into a note.

That's true — that might be sufficient justification to keep the text selectable for read-only annotations and just rely on the bar for dragging. @martynas_b might have thoughts on this.

martynas_b

I guess it's not worth to have different behavior between read-only and non-read-only annotations. Partially because annotation is selected on mouse down. And partially because of overlapping read-only and non-read-only annotations.

Instead, we can just add "Copy" option to annotation context menu.

Additionally, by holding SHIFT any text under any annotation can be selected, and then right-click -> Copy.