iOS beta: Share from Safari, "Save to Zotero" grayed-out

daniel.ashbrook

Tried on this article and this one.

Steps:
1. Open web page in Safari
2. Select "share" icon
3. Tap "..." at end of app list, find and select Zotero
4. Dialog pops up, spends a few seconds filling fields; correctly detects title, shows "Full Text PDF"
5. "Save to Zotero" at top-right is greyed-out

I can hit "Cancel", can browse and change the collection and tags, but "Save to Zotero" never activates.

System info:
- Zotero 1.0 (169)
- iOS 14.8.1, iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (3rd generation)
- Debug ID: D143993796 (for first URL above)
- Screenshot for first URL (device/people list redacted)

Also tested on:
- Zotero 1.0 (169)
- iOS 14.6, iPhone Xs Max

dstillman

From the looks of it, and assuming this is only on ScienceDirect, the PDF isn't finishing saving, likely due to recent blocking that ScienceDirect started doing. We have a fix ready for the desktop app, but will need to see if we can do something similar on iOS.

In the meantime, the save should at least time out properly so you can continue to save without the PDF, so we'll make sure it does that.

erdoke

I can confirm this behavior, and it's applicable to ALL journal pages where the 'PDF' link leads to an online reader page and not directly to a PDF file. On top of ScienceDirect this is the outcome on Wiley, Science, etc. The Safari share extension keeps looking for the file forever, and the article cannot be saved even without a PDF.
Workaround: these articles can be saved via PubMed then the PDF added manually.

erdoke

E.g. this article can be saved without any lag on the desktop -- Save to Zotero (Atypon journals) https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abl8213
The iOS share extension just stops loading it and the Save to Zotero button remains grayed out for minutes.
Another, non-ScienceDirect example https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jev2.12173
Saves fine on desktop via Save to Zotero (Wiley Online Library), but fails with the same 'symptoms' as above on iOS.

I'm confident it's caused by the double link system going via the online reader in all these platforms as it looks like the apparent common denominator.

dstillman

Zotero doesn't just blindly follow the PDF link on the page and end up on the reader — it knows how to extract the PDF directly, or else it wouldn't work in the desktop app either. ScienceDirect just started intermittently doing some obnoxious anti-bot stuff that no other site does.

But we'll figure out what's happening on the other sites on iOS.

erdoke

A potentially interesting addition.
Not even a preloaded PDF from science.org can be saved to Zotero via the Safari extension on the iPad. The same grayed out Save to… button.
I’m trying with this one now: https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.abm0829?download=true

jacobmpogson

I confirm that even the pdfs cannot progress beyond the iOS 'save to Zotero' share sheet on Neurology.com. This publisher is unrelated to Wiley, ScienceDirect, etc.