suggestion: a 'go back' button in PDF viewer

dankelley
Zotero, which I use in version 6.0.4beta2 on macOS, is now the way I read all PDFs. I love how I can highlight and annotate the file, without modifying it.

As I'm reading, I often click references in the text, to jump down to the bibliography. But then I want to return to where I was in the text. I know that there is a "go back" pulldown menu item, but other users might agree with me that it would be helpful to also have a "go back" button in the navigation bar (i.e. where the up- and down-arrows are).

I searched the forums to see if this had already been suggested. However, I am not too familiar with using the forums, so I apologize if my suggestion is one that has been made before.

Thanks to the Zotero team, for a wonder product (and one that keeps on getting better).
  • malev
    Alt+left arrow?
  • adamsmith
    and CMD+[ on Mac
    I think between Menu and keyboard shortcut, this is quite usable and findable
  • dankelley
    Thanks, malev and adamsmith.
  • Gabriel_p
    Can anybody reproduce this behaviour with the back/forth navigation buttons?

    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/95524/bug-report-issue-with-navigation-buttons-shortcuts-in-zotero-6-pdf-viewer-editor#latest
  • FranzKnut
    While I am thankful for the keyboard shortcut Left Alt+left, I would also prefer clickable buttons in the navigation bar for going back. This way one could navigate the document using just the mouse.
  • adamsmith
    You can go back/forward using the mouse with "Go" and "Back/Forwards" from the menu, i.e. 2 clicks instead of one - I don't think the case for a dedicated toolbar button is strong -- crowding the UI has real usability downsides.
  • FranzKnut
    Thanks for you Answer! IMHO I would prefer Back/Forwards buttons to the Prev./Next Page ones that are present right now since I never use them. A customizable toolbar would obviously be best case but I guess it’s not easily done.
  • RuiyuanGAO
    I am also expecting back/forwards buttons rather than the prev/next ones. Since the functionality has already been implemented, please bring the buttons to the toolbar. Thanks!
  • aliakhavan89
    I didn't know about the CMD+[ shortcut on Mac. It would have been better, at least, to have the icon somewhere on the toolbar.
  • carljohann
    I don’t see any solution for iPad users. Maybe a context dependent button, as in PDF Expert?

    This functionality is essential to anyone who reads scientific papers (the prime target audience of Zotero?) and wants to quickly jump back and forth between references/citations.
  • carljohann
    Actually, my bad, there is a solution for iPad users: to go back after following a link, click at the bottom of the page; then a page scroller appears at the bottom, together with a button on the left hand side above it which allows you to go back where you came from.
  • jdake
    I agree that a clickable button would be a great addition to the toolbar. Keyboard shortcuts are nice, but they are easy to forget, especially for casual users. Additionally, on international keyboards, some of the characters are not readily available.
  • adamsmith
    Again, this is available via Mouse in the Go menu (I do think it's be nice if that would specify the keyboard shortcut next to it, but I believe that's hard to do for a cross-platform app)
  • cdancette
    I agree, I think back and forward buttons would be more useful than previous page and next page buttons.
  • dstillman
    "Back" is available as a toolbar button in Zotero 6.0.12, available now.
  • jankap
    Great, thx!
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