Annotated PDF sharing

samroyc
Dear All

I have annotated pdfs in a group/shared library. When I open the pdf, I can see my notes and highlights but other members of the group can not see the highlights when they open the same file.
b) Also when I open the pdf from the web library, I no longer see the annotations.
Is this expected behaviour? Does this depend on the viewer others are using?
Or can I change some settings so other members of my zotero group also see the my annotated pdf files.
Thanks
SRC
  • dstillman
    edited June 17, 2020
    Does this depend on the viewer others are using?
    Most likely it depends on the PDF reader you're using — you need to use one that saves annotations and highlights back to the original file rather than to a separate file. If you do that, Zotero will upload the modified file to the web library and other users. (Obviously you also need to make sure you have file syncing enabled.)
  • JenniferHunter
    Hi all! I am having the same issue as samroyc explained. My file syncing is enabled. I am using Preview as my PDF reader. Does anyone know if Preview usually saves annotations? If it doesn't, what other readers may allow you to and how would you switch to the other viewer?
  • dstillman
    edited July 6, 2020
    Yes, Preview saves annotations back to the file. (The one exception would be if you have your Zotero data directory within the /Users/:user:/Library/Application Support folder, where it used to be stored years ago, but it would warn you that it couldn't save the file in that case.)

    Make sure you're actually opening the PDF from within Zotero and not opening some other copy on your computer. If you do Show File on the attachment, you should see the size and timestamp change as you save the file in Preview. When that happens, Zotero will upload the updated file on its next file sync.

    For file syncing issues in general, see Files Not Syncing.
  • risch
    I'm having this same issue (to be clear, using Juris-M, but don't think it should make a difference). I make changes, the modified date changes locally, but it's just not uploading the PDF to the server, which continues to show the original modified date. I'm on Windows with Acrobat Pro DC
  • risch
    BTW, my debug log says the following, even though the modified date on the Juris-M screen is clearly different from what's in the Zotero repository.
    (4)(+0000001): Checking attachment file for item 2266654/FSVNYJT8
    (3)(+0000031): Mod time for 2266654/FSVNYJT8 matches remote file -- skipping
    (3)(+0000000): File has not changed
  • risch
    Final note (sorry, debugging in real time). It turns out that the modified file DID eventually get uploaded to the server and propagated to other clients. However, the modified dates do not match - which is odd.
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