Are my .pdf files saved on the Zotero website with my highlights?

Hi all,

I'm a Zotero newbie and planning on using it for my research here on out.

When I read .pdf files for my research, I tend to highlight key information with the .pdf "highlighter" tool.

When I open the .pdfs via Zotero, all my highlights and markings are there as they should be.

Let's say my computer crashed. This leads to my question. Can I re-download my .pdf files with the highlighted sections from my account on the Zotero website?


  • If you have Zotero sync set up (https://zotero.org/support/sync) and you have finished syncing the files up, then yes.
  • edited September 15, 2018
    I do have it synced. However, when I'm looking at "My Library", I can see all of my items, though I am not sure how to download them. I see options to download the .pdfs from the websites from which they were retrieved, but no option to download the version that I have added highlights to. Do you know how to do this?
  • The files have to be stored rather than linked. The files you've stored are available online. The ones you've linked (with a chain shown in the attachment icon) aren't.
  • The PDFs you see on the zotero.org web library are the versions you have uploaded. From the item view online, right click the PDF link at the bottom of the page and choose Save As.
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