[Ipad Zotero] Feedback for Zotero Beta in the Test Flight

edited September 13, 2022
First of all, thank you for creating such a fantastic app. I create this thread to give my feedback when using the Zetero IoS beta (test flight) on my M1 IPad Pro with IpadOS 15.6.1.

1) Version 1.04 (build 11):
The pencil writing with Zotero built-in pdf is not usable because the app will change my pencil writing to the state a few seconds ago. It happens always every time.

2) Version 1.04 (build 6 to 10):
The overall bugs for zotero IOS starting from version 6 until 10 during annotation with Apple Pencil are:

i) When I delete the writings from the pdf file (not using the eraser function), the built-in zotero pdf will close itself and return to the zotero navigation menu. It happens frequently - multiple times within an hour. Note that such issue exists in public stable version as well but less frequent.

ii) When delete the writings using eraser function, the erased writing would re-appear again while you are still erasing. It happens frequently - multiple times within an hour.

iii) When writing on the pdf, the written content would revert the state a few seconds ago. It happens a few times through out my few hours annotation.

iv) The app would do a forced quit. No pattern is observed. It happens one time per day.




A few attempt to solve the problems:

1. I have tried to change webdav from 4shared to Koofr but does not solve the problem.

2. I always use the desktop version of the Zotero (in Ubuntu) to view the pdf file while I am annotating the same pdf on my Ipad. I did suspect that syncing the same pdf file between desktop and ipad zotero simultaneously might be causing the issue. Therefore, I closed the desktop built-in Pdf while using the Ipad only, but issues remain but happen at lower frequency.

3. I have reset the sync history using the Zotero in the desktop but issues still remains.

Note that the above experienced bug is observed when I do annotations for multiple hours over a few sessions per day.




  • @boon1987 thanks for reporting your issues. There will be a build 12 available soon. Let me know if you can still reproduce any of them there.
  • edited September 13, 2022
    Glad to help.
  • edited September 14, 2022
    I have tested the version 1.04 build 12. Overall, it is more stable with following bugs/errors:

    i) I always receive the following error message even though the content is synched correctly.
    - "Invalid property 'pageindex'"
    - "Invalid property 'width'"
    It is possible this error contributes to other bugs that I am experiencing.

    ii) Sometimes, the Zotero erases my writing while I continue to write the new content. I know it erases because the "deleted" part reappears when I click the "back" button.

    iii) In some pdf files, after I completed one sentence, that sentence would change its position - Move to lower left. In extreme cases, it moves the written text multiple times (each time moves certain number of pixels) until it is out of the page boundary and you cannot see the content at all.

    iv) I encounter the performance issue - while writing content, sometimes I need to wait a split second for the software built-in annotator become responsive again before I can continue to write new content.

    Finally, I propose to add the feature to manually sync the content from ipad to cloud through WebDAV. It can help us to isolate out whether it is the WebDAV sync causing the bugs. It is because for me at least, I tends to open both Desktop Zotero and Ipad Zotero at the same to for my workflow.


  • These should mostly be fixed in 1.0.6, available now. Let us know if you're still having trouble.
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