Zotfile Reader - Zotero plugin to work with tablet (iPad, Android tablets etc)

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  • Joscha
    edited January 6, 2012
    Hi, here is a new version with cross-platform extraction of pdf annotations! Joe Devietti, the developer of the cross-platform solution, is still doing some testing and there might still be some glitches. But my experience is that it already works great! Feedback is welcome... (including pdfs that don't get extracted properly)

    http://www.columbia.edu/~jpl2136/zotfile_200b5.xpi

    New Features in beta 5

    - extraction of pdf annotations for all platforms (thanks to Joe Devietti)
    This features is based on the pdf.js library and we are still testing how well it works. Mac users can choose between the old script and the pdf.js solution.
    - UI change: 'Attach new File' moved back to main right-click menu
    - accents and other special characters are removed from filenames
    - Move and remove from tablet was renamed to send and get

    Windows/Unix user: There still seems to be a problem with the 'advanced setting' pane for non-mac users. Just don't change the the extraction setting for now.

    Mac users of previous beta: You can now choose between the new and old method to extract pdf annotations. The old method might still be more reliable at this point and is faster. If you want to keep using (or switch to) the old method, you can do that in 'ZotFile Preferences->Advanced Settings' (poppler is the old method).
  • jflycn
    Hi Joscha,

    Is relative path available for desktop now?

    Since we can define the folder for zotfile in zotfile preference, is it possible to save the link as {zotfolder}/filename.pdf into database ? In such case, the user can always make adjustments by changing the zotfolder.

    I don't know how zotero actually works. This is just my uneducated guess :)
  • Joscha
    @jflycn: yes, I added that feature in an earlier beta (I assume you are speaking about tablet folder). I think it's the default now and should just work like that out of the box. Let me know if you are having problems with it.
    If you are not speaking about the tablet folder: no, that is not how linked attachments in zotero work.
  • jflycn
    edited January 9, 2012
    I mean the pc folder. If it is not how linked attachments in zotero work, does this mean it is impossible to make the zotfile folder portable on computer?

    Thanks.
  • Joscha
    I am still not 100% sure what you mean with 'zotfile folder'. I think you are not taking about the tablet folder, which is portable. I assume you mean the 'location of files' under general settings. You can make this portable by selecting 'Attach stored copy of file'. With this option your files are always located in your zotero profile folder and sync between different computers (but they are hard to access manually - i.e. not through zotero). If you want to use a 'Custom location', your files are not portable (which is always the case with linked attachments).

    Note that my references to preference names refer to the zotfile 2 beta 5, which also supports the extraction of pdf annotations on all platforms:
    http://www.columbia.edu/~jpl2136/zotfile_200b5.xpi
  • jflycn
    You are right, I do not want to use zotero profile folder, because the foldernames and filenames are not humanly readable. So I use a 'Custom location', and put the 'Custom location' in my dropbox folder, so that I can sync through dropbox. The problem is that the 'Custom location' could be different on different computers.

    What I am asking is that, if the 'Custom location' is, for example, 'E:\Dropbox\zotfiles\', and I have file abc.pdf in that folder, can you simply save the link as 'abc.pdf' into database and make zotero interpret it as 'E:\Dropbox\zotfiles\abc.pdf'. In addition, if I use zotero on a different computer, I can setup the 'Custom location' as 'D:\Dropbox\zotfiles\' and the link will be interpreted as 'D:\Dropbox\zotfiles\abc.pdf'.

    What I am thinking is a hook to be activated after links are retrieved from database, or before they are clicked. At that point, the links can be redirected to correct places according the setup of the 'Custom location'. However, I don't know whether zotero provide such mechanism to achieve this goal.
  • Joscha
    No, I can't do that. I am using zotero's linked attachments for 'Custom location' and they have a fixed location. That is the way zotero handels attachments and I won't create a third attachment type (next to stored and linked attachments). Here is a related discussion:

    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/13785/sync-linked-attachments/

    Again: If you only want certain files on dropbox to read them on your tablet, use the zotfile 2 beta 5. It's made for that purpose and supports the extraction of pdf annotations on all platforms:
    http://www.columbia.edu/~jpl2136/zotfile_200b5.xpi
  • mark
    Look forward to testing this.

    Here's me again on subfolders. I suggested before that the subfolder structure might be read in (and synced) from a Zotero collection with subcollections. Now I realize that whatever subfolders I defined can be found in Dropbox; so every new installation of Zotfile should be able to "read" my custom subfolders once I tell it where my base folder is. So there's another, perhaps easier way to make subfolders sync.
  • ajlyon
    Can you add the item key to the list of elements for use in renaming?
  • Joscha
    @ajlyon: Do you mean the item key of the parent item or the attachment? attachment is a little more complicated because of zotfile's structure. You might be interested to know that zotfile is on github now: https://github.com/jlegewie/zotfile

    @mark: There is still a bug in beta 5, which produces an errors in the preference window. But the extraction should work. The bug is already fixed on github and I will upload a new version soon.
    About subfolders: I will come up with something and reading the custom folders from dropbox might be an option. You would loose the labels and the order of the subfolders though. So maybe I will rather go through a txt file that is automatically created on dropbox and saves the options. This might still take some time though. I still like your other proposal but it's to much work for now.
  • Joscha
    edited January 23, 2012
    Here is a version that should fix the bug in the preference pane for non-mac systems. I can't really test on windows or linux it but I think it should work...

    http://www.columbia.edu/~jpl2136/zotfile_2b.xpi


    New Features in beta 5+
    - extraction of pdf annotations for all platforms (thanks to Joe Devietti)
    This features is based on the pdf.js library and we are still testing how well it works. Mac users can choose between the old script and the pdf.js solution.
    - UI change: 'Attach new File' moved back to main right-click menu
    - accents and other special characters are removed from filenames
    - Move and remove from tablet was renamed to send and get
  • Joscha
    edited January 23, 2012
    There was a bug that created an error in zotero 2.1.x. Here is a version that fixes the problem:

    http://www.columbia.edu/~jpl2136/zotfile_2b.xpi

    New Features in beta 5+
    - extraction of pdf annotations for all platforms (thanks to Joe Devietti)
    - UI change: 'Attach new File' moved back to main right-click menu
    - accents and other special characters are removed from filenames (only zotero 3+)
  • mronkko
    Followers of this thread might be interested in the news that ZotPad is now available in the App Store. You can read more about it here:

    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/20588/ipad-application/#Item_44
  • hcsiller
    I think it would be great to be able to use the *tag* name (say, the first tag only, if item has multiple tags) to create a subfolder-structure when renaming.
  • mark
    I love the latest Zotfile updates, Joscha!
  • theed
    Hi Joscha,

    Great work, thank you. Remember I reported that some files don't get transferred? This doesn't seem to happen anymore, did you work on that? I am asking because otherwise I'll try to find some buggy files (didn't have time so far).
    There is one small issue still. When I transfer files, and some are already on the tablet, then the notification window has two buttons, ok and cancel. However, cancel doesn't cancel the sync, but just doesn't sync the ones that are already on the tablet. Therefore, the button should say no ( and the ok button should say yes).
    Otherwise, working great so far.
  • Joscha
    edited February 2, 2012
    First, I guess you all saw that I submitted zotfile 2 to Firefox:
    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/5301/6/zotfile-zotero-plugin-to-rename-move-and-attach-pdfs-send-them-to-ipad-extract-pdf-annotations/#Comment_114704

    I would like to close this thread because zotfile reader is now integrated in zotfile 2 and I don't see a reason to have two threads for one addon. I will respond to your comments over there.

    thread closed and discussion moved to:
    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/5301/1/zotfile-zotero-plugin-to-rename-move-and-attach-pdfs-send-them-to-ipad-extract-pdf-annotations/

    ps: can someone actually close this?

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