Zotero PDF Reader: How do I know whether a PDF has annotations?

bjohas
How do I know whether a PDF has annotations? Previously we'd renamed file names that had annotations because Zotero "had no way of knowing". However, now annotations are part of the Zotero database.

Could PDFs that have annotations be marked in a special way? Maybe a different icon or some other way?

Something I would really love would be the ability to 'open' attachments with annotations in the middle pane. I.e., at the moment we have

> Item
  - attachment
> Item
> Item

What if attachments that had annotations could be opened to show the annotations?

> Item
  > attachment
    - Annotation 1
    - Annotation 2
> Item
> Item

That would be a really good feature for us. Even better would be the ability to move the annotations around (like child notes can be moved around).
  • qqbb
    Could PDFs that have annotations be marked in a special way? Maybe a different icon or some other way?
    A different PDF icon in the attachments column seems like a good idea to me.
    Something I would really love would be the ability to 'open' attachments with annotations in the middle pane.
    I'm not sure this is the best solution. You could have a huge number of annotations that include long texts and images. For notes, only the note's title is shown in the middle pane. But what's the title of a long highlight or image? You would need a significant portion of the middle pane in order to display annotations.

    Another option could be to follow the UI proposal here, but replacing the Annotations and Outline tabs with the PDF reader's Thumbnails/Annotations/Outline. So show the PDF reader's left pane in the library tab's right side. Clicking on a thumbnail, annotation, or outline item should open the PDF reader.

    Perhaps there could also be something like an annotation explorer that is similar to the new note explorer. It could show Item Annotations followed by All Annotations. Also, the note explorer should probably be accessible in the library tab. This would allow dragging several references from the items list to the note you're editing. Adding the Item/Notes toggle buttons to the library tab could make the UI more uniform, I think.
  • bjohas
    Yes - the UI proposal looks good to me! It was written ~ 7 years ago, with the PDF reader being very recent. However, obviously, you could adapt the proposal as you suggest.

    I.e., when a file is selected in the middle pane, the right pane header shows:

    ( Info | Thumbnails | Annotations | Outline )

    Those are all excellent suggestions, including an annotation explorer - would love to see that!
  • sdflewrit783
    +1
  • oplatek
    edited July 9, 2023
    I would love to use this functionality:

    Alternatively, I the annotated pdfs parent items (Article, Book, etc) could be given tags "Annnotated", "Annotated on iPad", "Annotated PC", "Annotated Mobile" etc.

    The advantage of automatically added tags is that one could filter the items based on the tags. The functionality which is already implemented.
  • nicolas.lienart
    +1
  • bjohas
    +1 still from me :)
  • scholz
    +1 to bump this suggestion
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