New version of ZotPad (iPad/iPhone client for Zotero) available

mronkko
ZotPad 1.1 is now available in the App store. The most important new features are:
- Works on both iPhone and iPad
- Downloads and uploads attachments from Zotero server, WebDAV, and Dropbox (Useful for annotating files on iPad and uploading annotated files back to Zotero)
- In-app user guide and support features
- Supports all attachment types (previously only stored files)


This release has been beta tested with about 25 testers and is much more robust that the initial 1.0 release. I am also looking for a few more testers for the 1.2 version, which will introduce support for notes and tags, and will be released in the fall.

Read more here
http://www.zotpad.com/node/48
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  • mronkko
    Some users are reporting crashes with the 1.1 build and there will be a maintenance release addressing these problems soon. Meanwhile, if you encounter crashes, turn off preemptive cache for attachment files.

    More information available here:
    http://www.zotpad.com/node/49
  • jesterca15
    edited August 28, 2012
    I am bummed that there is a charge for this app. I use Zotero with students and some of them have iPads but they won't pay for this.
  • adamsmith
    quite frankly - maybe your students should rethink their value system. They apparently have no problem shelling out $500 to the richest corporation on the planet, but spending 10$ to support a PhD student and independent developer - now that's unacceptable.

    Software doesn't develop out of thin air. There are hundreds of development hours behind an app like zotpad. I doubt Mikko is getting anything resembling a decent hourly wage for his work on ZotPad by selling it.
  • DWL-SDCA
    The cost is quite small. The developer effort was quite large and continuing. I'll bet that your students wouldn't think twice about spending the cost of ZotPad on a game. I have read the few complaints about ZotPad at the iTunes store and they seem to amount to, "this app does what it says that it does but I want it to do more and do it for free." ZotPad is a great expansion of Zotero's usefulness.
  • adamsmith
    edited August 28, 2012
    (also, a lot of the comments on iTunes refer to a prior version - Mikko has spent a lot of time on the current version to integrate more features and early reports are enthusiastic:
    https://twitter.com/markhlong/status/240504414492831744 )
  • fbennett
    Software is costly to develop. ZotPad exists because it is available for purchase.
  • mronkko
    10 dollars buys one beer in downtown Helsinki. If someone does not appreciate the software more than that, I do not want them using it.

    More seriously, I did increase the price of ZotPad by about 50% between 1.0 and 1.1., but there is a good reason for this. Also, there will be a free version in the future. You can read more about this here:

    http://www.zotpad.com/node/47

    What adamsmith is saying is quite true. I have not counted the number of hours that have gone into developing ZotPad, but I estimate that prior to the 1.1 release my hourly wages would barely exceed what people assembling iPads at Foxconn get.
  • poul hansen
    10usd is a problem? I just paid 120usd for an anatomy app and I didn't flinch because it is a great product. At 10USD it is a steal!
    I was about to give away my ipad to friends because I just bought a android tablet. Now I am stuck with both platforms :)
  • parapunter
    Now, the beer in Helsinki that is a rip off!
    The app does seem over-priced for the limited function it performs.
  • fbennett
    Also, there will be a free version
  • mronkko2
    The price of half a liter of beer in Helsinki is about 7USD (http://www.pintprice.com/region.php?/Finland/USD.htm), which is approximately what Apple pays for ZotPad after taking the 30% cut. Now, If I were to pay salary from ZotPad instead of saving the money for iAnnotate license, the Finnish government would take half of what remains as taxes and other fees. So a single license is sufficient to pay for half a beer.

    When you consider the price and functionality, you should consider also that the license is not time limited and will cover all the future upgrades (and user support, if you need it). If you think that the software needs more features, you can suggest these at http://zotpad.uservoice.com

    Also, you should consider the alternatives. ZotPad does not what I need it to do, so there is very little reason to develop it further if there was no upside for me. Also, there are expenses that need to be covered. Of course, it would be possible to cover these with grants or donations. The problem is that applying for grants takes time that would be away from coding and people are not exactly lining up to donate money for software projects. If someone wants to take up the task of being a grants and donations manager for the project and does a good job in that, I could consider making all the versions of the app free. For now it seems unrealistic.
  • Henny Denessen
    After installing the Zotpad app on my ipad and experimenting with it I opened zotero on my computer (Firefox add). Zotero than wanted to add some 50 files wich I knew were allready there and the sync arrow stayed rotating forever. I wonder now what exactly happens when you manipulate zotero items in Zotpad. I am always afraid to lose data.
  • mronkko2
    I wonder now what exactly happens when you manipulate zotero items in Zotpad.
    This depends on your configuration, and the answer is probably not very interesting. When you edit a file on the iPad and send it back to ZotPad, it is place in an upload queue. Then ZotPad checks the file MD5 sums and eTags locally and on the server to check if the file has been modified on the server. If these match the server values, it will attempt to upload a new file. This is a three step process where the ZotPad will first request a permission to upload, then uploads the file, and finally registers the newly uploaded file as a new file for the attachment item. I believe that the file MD5 sum is checked on the server side as well to ensure that the file was not corrupted when uploaded.

    The upload process is described in the Zotero server API

    http://www.zotero.org/support/dev/server_api/file_upload#zotero_server_api_file_uploads

    Because there are multiple checks in this process and ZotPad will never delete an attachment, the risk of loosing data is very low.
  • mark
    I was getting lots of crashes with 1.1. I turned of preemptive caching as directed, but that takes away most of the value of the app for me. I'm offline a lot and I would like to have a full copy of my library on my iPad for reading (and if necessary notetaking).

    Is there any indication of when the crashes will be fixed? Do you need more information from me on my library or setup?
  • mronkko2
    edited November 21, 2012
    Please use the ''contact support" feature in the app to send a support request. There will be a new version (1.2) probably by the end of the year and one maintenance release (1.1.2) before that.
  • mronkko2
    More generally, new feature releases are released when they are ready and thoroughly tested. However, if there are bugs that cause crashes, these will be fixed in maintenance releases as soon as possible. If you get a crash, you should contact ZotPad support so that the issue can be diagnosed and fixed.
  • mark
    Okay, will do.
  • kazar
    edited January 20, 2013
    I wonder whether we could have an update on the release of version 1.2, which apparently has been delayed. I just purchased Zotpad, but only after installation did it become clear that the main utility of the app in the 1.1 version is for people who mostly store pdf's and need a way to annotate & sync back to the server.

    This makes me wonder if I am an unusual Zotero user in that I have very very few pdf's in my library ... mostly I am clipping passages from ebooks which I paste into a note, and also saving web links or snapshots from which I then clip material I may wish to quote later into notes.

    I can use the Zotero bookmarklet to take webpage snapshots or save links and populate the item fields if working from a site that is coded for Zotero translators. Those new notes show up in Zotpad, but now I need to add child notes, which for web pages and books are the only way to "annotate" (for example, copy a passage in iBooks and paste into a note that is a child of the book's item in Zotero).

    So for now I will consider my $10 a contribution I'm glad to make to your efforts, since I don't see a way to "return" an item to the iPad App Store (sorta missing Android here!), and will just continue to use the zotero.org site in Safari for my research work, but it would be great to have a revised estimated release date for Zotpad 1.2, looking forward to being able to create notes (unless I misunderstand the upcoming notes feature)

    thank you in advance for your response.

    kazar

    PS: I wonder whether you are planning a feature to be able to edit items?
  • mronkko
    If you need a refund, you can request it from Apple directly. Apple does not provide an option for developers to issue refund directly. You can read more about it e.g. here:

    http://gizmodo.com/5886683/how-to-get-a-refund-from-the-app-store

    ZotPad 1.2 will be released in the near future. I may be able to get it in the AppStore review before the end of the month. I wrote about it on the ZotPad site a while ago, but recent updates to the site seem to have pushed it off the front page. I restored it on top, but some reason it is missing the images. I will add these as soon as possible, but that may be tomorrow. I will also update the article with the latest status.

    http://www.zotpad.com

    You need to be more specific about what you mean by editing items. For my own workflow, editing items means roughly "Fix missing page numbers right before submitting a paper". I do not really personally want to be doing that on iPad or iPhone. Other people might have different workflows. Item editing has not been really requested that much, but if there is a good use case for that, then why not. Adding items will most likely be implemented in 1.3 and there is very little difference between adding and editing, so these might be implemented at the same time.

    If you want item editing, you can help me by writing a feature request here:

    https://zotpad.uservoice.com/forums/172475-general
  • kazar
    Thank you for your kind and prompt response, mronkko. I thought about it more & I am very happy to leave my $10 in your pot for further development & license costs.

    I didn't realize until today that we can now add/edit/save notes directly on zotero.org within the iPad Safari browser ... so perhaps Zotpad ought to continue to focus on those users whose workflow revolves more around collecting and annotating pdfs?

    So ... I could write up a use case/feature request for editing items and some other things ... but why duplicate functionality that works in Safari. Still happy to write it up if you wish!

    Also, I will post any further questions or comments in the right place - the Zotpad forums (didn't realize there were any, sorry)
  • shuhuang
    edited February 1, 2013
    X
  • mronkko2
    The version 1.2 will be released soon after final testing is completed. This version will be a major update bringing new features and adding more robust implementations of existing features.

    If you want to get a preview, the user manual is available at

    https://github.com/mronkko/ZotPad/raw/master/Docs/UserManual.pdf
  • mronkko2
    ZotPad 1.2 is now available in the App Store. This is a major update that improves performance and stability and adds important features. The main new user-visible features in the 1.2 version are

    - Filtering the item list by tags and editing tags
    - Reading, editing, and creating notes
    - Adding items to favorites by "starring" them
    - Looking up items in library and citation databases
    - New file reader user interface with quick switching between recently viewed files

    All features support offline use so that you can work with ZotPad for example on a train or in an airplane and the changes will be synchronized back to Zotero server the next time you get online.

    Read more here: http://www.zotpad.com/node/57
  • djmo00
    Great update. Being able to view documents by tags is huge for me since that is crucial to my document review workflow. Being able to add notes is also great. I updated my App Store review to 5 stars.

    The one feature missing that still frustrates me a little is not being able to see if there are annotations without opening a pdf in another application. This can lead to confusion and losing track of documents. Fortunately, my workflow has a tag for annotated document so I will just have to add that information immediately (usually I wait until it all makes it to my desktop zotero).

    The ability to add notes is also great since I can stop using a third app for note-taking.

    Just curious, how safe is leaving items in the upload queue when offline. If my iPad reboots, will the queue be preserved? If I am going to use the app to add notes offline, I really need to know that I can trust the syncing. I don't expect you to know that the app to be 100% reliable, but are you comfortable with trusting it to retain notes offline for most of the day until being connected again in the evening? This doesn't concern me with PDFs since I usually only send them back to ZotPad when online.
  • mronkko2
    The one feature missing that still frustrates me a little is not being able to see if there are annotations without opening a pdf in another application. This can lead to confusion and losing track of documents. Fortunately, my workflow has a tag for annotated document so I will just have to add that information immediately (usually I wait until it all makes it to my desktop zotero).
    The reason why annotations are not displayed is now explained in a knowledge base article.

    https://zotpad.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/170621-why-doesn-t-zotpad-show-pdf-annotations-and-why-is

    To put it simply, showing annotations would require a third party PDF library. These are expensive, some costing more that the total sales of ZotPad this far, and this is the reason why one has not been integrated yet. But it will happen in the future.

    Just curious, how safe is leaving items in the upload queue when offline. If my iPad reboots, will the queue be preserved? If I am going to use the app to add notes offline, I really need to know that I can trust the syncing. I don't expect you to know that the app to be 100% reliable, but are you comfortable with trusting it to retain notes offline for most of the day until being connected again in the evening? This doesn't concern me with PDFs since I usually only send them back to ZotPad when online.
    The app is designed so that restarting it does not affect the upload queue. (Technically, there is no upload queue at all, but it is useful metaphor nevertheless.)

    The only possible problem that I see is that notes do not have conflict resolution yet. If you edit a note on iPad and the same note is edited on another computer or another iPad, then your edits will be discarded. Conflict resolution will be added in the 1.3 version.
  • djmo00
    Sounds good. Good to know about the notes. Since I am the only user, I just need to make sure I get my iPad online before doing anything on my desktop.
  • Gracile
    Mikko: That's great. ZotPad 1.2 is fantastic! Keep up the good work!

    My only (small) comment is that it would be nice to remove the empty space when there's no attachment, i.e. if you open an item which has no PDF/HTML, you've to scroll down to see the metadata.
  • hawraman
    hi guy

    am not sure I get all comment to my email. any thing I need to do to avoid getting those entries?
  • adamsmith
    you mean on the forum? You can unsubscribe from threads and categories on your left (also, again - please start new discussions for unrelated issues).
  • mronkko
    ZotPad 1.2.4 is now available in the App Store. This is a maintenance release that addresses the synchronization problems that were introduced in the 1.2.3 version and contains also a few other bug fixes.
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