Tablet-imported notes are read-only

I'm using the 5.0.97-beta.65+15ae72d14 beta. I'm actually amazed how the Manage Attachments -> Sent to / Get from tablet functionality is working! (Using Onedrive, both on Windows, and on Ubuntu Linux.) However, whenever I annotate a PDF on my tablet, and then 'Get' it via the Zotero app on my laptop, the notes and highlights on my PDF display as 'read-only' in the Zotero PDF viewer / annotator. Is this the intended behavior? (So that one cannot undo any changes in the PDF made on a tablet?)
  • Annotations stored in the PDF file are read-only. You can still add those to Zotero notes, but if you want to edit them, you'll need to transfer them to Zotero from the PDF reader's File menu. Keeping annotations in the Zotero database allows for more advanced features (some existing, some still to come) and much smoother syncing/collaboration (e.g., the whole PDF doesn't have to be synced — possibly resulting in file conflicts — every time you edit an annotation).

    (Note that Manage Attachments is from the ZotFile plugin. It might make sense to add an option to ZotFile to automatically trigger importing of embedded annotations when fetching a tablet PDF.)
  • Oh, I see. File -> Import annotations. Thank you; to be honest, I had assumed my tablet-created PDF annotations had already become Zotero annotations after I'd clicked 'get from tablet'. (I hadn't noticed the 'Import annotations' option.)

    Thank you again!

    And yes, it's a little bit unexpected that there's the option for automatically *extracting* annotations to a separate note, but none for *importing* them.
  • edited February 4, 2022
    it's a little bit unexpected that there's the option for automatically *extracting* annotations to a separate note, but none for *importing* them
    Just to explain, this isn't an option because ZotFile doesn't know anything about Zotero annotations. The latest version no longer contains the manual Extract Annotations function specifically because it didn't work on Zotero annotations and was therefore causing a huge amount of confusion among Zotero beta users, whereas Zotero's built-in functionality works on both types of annotations. The get-from-tablet function wasn't changed, so that option will still run ZotFile's old annotation-extraction functionality. That option should really be updated to run Zotero's own annotation extraction instead, and whoever submits a patch for that (us, possibly) could add a second option to import the annotations.
  • Thank you very much for the additional explanation. The software seems to be moving in a great direction and, having made the jump from Mendeley to the Zotero beta which *seamlessly* imported my huge database, I'm really looking forward to using it as the main reference tool for my research group.
  • @dstillman Unfortunately, it seems I'm still missing some crucial info. The notes I imported display as 'read-only' for other members of my team. What's more, their notes display as 'read-only' for me, and the option to 'Import annotations' is grayed out for them! What should we do to collaborate when dealing with a PDF, e.g. respond to one another's comments?
  • In a group library you can only edit annotations you created.

    Commenting on existing annotations is planned but isn't yet possible.

    (Annotations have only been enabled in group libraries for a few days, so this functionality is brand new.)
  • Thank you! I'm a new user so I didn't realize this was new functionality...
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