Feature request: Create bookmarks in the integrated PDF viewer

jonschulz

First of all, congratulations on the release of version 6.0! The intergrated PDF viewer is quite the improvement, and I see myself using it a lot in the future. I miss one feature that made me go back to the system PDF viewer: As far as I can tell, it is not possible to create new bookmarks in the viewer, but only open those already present. In the long PDF files I use, this is something I need quite frequently.

Thanks in advance!

chuyang.chen

Why does it seem that no one cares about bookmarks in the PDF reader？This feature is of vital importance for me when reading long papers…

liozzlee

Also need this. That is something really fundamental when you use a PDF reader.

adamsmith

Bookmarks are not a 'reader' but an 'editor' feature (i.e. they become part of the PDF file itself) and as such require significant, separate work. I think there's a good chance they'll happen, but also take some time to happen (FWIW, most people I know use bookmarks in PDFs for ToC navigation and very rarely actually write them).

Zotero's reader does remember the last page opened and, of course, you can use notes as literal bookmarks.

chuyang.chen

FYI: I'm working on adding this feature to Zotero by myself. I may post my further progress in this discussion https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/97455/feature-request-bookmarks-in-the-pdf-reader#latest

JimGrisham

Perhaps Zotero could implement bookmarks as a special kind of annotation (that is, hidden by default but appearing in exported annotated PDFs, e.g. as “Page bookmarked in Zotero; Description: ______”).

In other words, they would have nothing to do with official ‘PDF-standard’ TOC or Bookmark data structures.

These could function as simple page bookmarks (a-la Amazon Kindle and other e-readers) without a title for simplicity, at least in an initial incarnation, toggled in the Zotero PDF reader with a ‘bookmark’ flag-type icon.

ncserbest

I very much look forward to this feature. I think it's necessary for a more efficient use of the Zotero PDF reader.

murrayeinarson

I agree that adding & editing bookmarks is a fundamental feature needed for the Zotero PDF reader. Until then, I use the following work-around: I right click on the PDF attachment in Zotero, then click "show file." That brings up the PDF in its file folder. I then open the file in my desktop PDF editor & add/modify the bookmarks in that program. I then close the file and the the new bookmarks are saved. I then open the attachment in the Zotero PDF reader & add annotations, notes etc. Not ideal but it allows me to use the Zotero PDF app, which has other features that I like.

auralworks

+1. This would be extremely useful.

Londi

Another workaround is to highlight the chapter headings/sections in one color which you use only for this. If you toggle to view only one color of highlighted text, you get a makeshift TOC

kmtao

The claim bookmark is not the feature of reader makes no sense. When we read a book we need bookmark to know where we're.

Matthew-hu

Many pdf's have bookmarks which are active in Zotero. However, I have using a single highlight color as Londi suggested since V6 and it is better, since one doesn't need to switch panels, just filter for the bookmark color. One single click on the annotation jumps you right to the spot like a bookmark.

IMHO, what is very badly missing is a way to see recently opened pdfs, or much better, as I and others have suggested, a session manager for the reading of pdfs. That would enhance the usability of the pdf reader for research by an order of magnitude in my opinion.

adamsmith

I believe a recently opened function/view is planned. And yes, if you want a bookmark in the literal sense, use an annotation.
PDF bookmarks are named a bit misleadingly and are principally used to reflect document structure/ToC.
It'd be cool if those could be added to via Zotero, but as I say above, that's a significant update

aarondeng

I also think it is useful. I like to make bookmarks based on the article's table of contents before I read.

Plumerianer

I really miss this feature...

martynas_b

If you're requesting this feature, please clarify how you intend to use it.

adamsmith

I'm not the core constituency here, but for cases where bookmarks weren't properly created for a PDF when it was created, the equivalent of Acrobat's "Create Bookmarks from Structure" (i.e. following the heading structure in the doc) would be convenient.

There are some acrobat plugins that claim to do this even in the absent of a heading structure, but not sure how well they work/how possible that is -- never tried. I've never been inclined to add bookmarks by hand, personally, but clearly some people here are looking for that (as mentioned above, I'd generally discourage unintended use of bookmarks as actual 'bookmarks': they should reflect document structure in some way).