Find doesn't work in Mac Preview when I upload PDF using add-on in Firefox

jerryplotnick

I want to switch back to the simpler and more elegant Preview from Adobe Pro in handling PDF files in Zotero, but I am finding that the find function often simply doesn't work, and the PDFs have recognizable, selectable characters. The PDFs usually get added to Zotero through the Firefox add-on. Does anyone know if this is a Mac issue or a Zotero issue?

Apple Care wanted me to copy all of my files onto a hard drive, start afresh with a new OS and an empty computer and basically start from scratch with copies of my files and newly downloaded apps. I wasn't willing to go there.

dstillman

This wouldn't have anything to do with Zotero. Zotero just saves the files from the web. If they have embedded text, that text should be searchable in any PDF reader.

dstillman

(You can see this easily just by downloading the same file from your browser. There's absolutely nothing different about a file downloaded by Zotero and a file downloaded from your browser.)

jerryplotnick

Thanks, I can now confirm what you say. I have since determined that the "user" on my Mac computer was apparently corrupted and was causing both Preview and Adobe Pro not to function correctly. One Apple senior advisor wanted me to delete everything on my computer, to transfer all of my files to a hard drive and back, and to reinstall all my applications. The next advisor resolved the issue easily using Disk Utility.