Foxit Reader in Zotero

Hello everyone!

I'm using Ubuntu 20.04 with Zotero standalone.

I've been using Okular as a PDF viewer and I'd like to try Foxit Reader. I've set up Foxit Reader as my default PDF viewer on my Linux system. However, when I open a PDF in Zotero, it still opens it with Okular. I've checked the Zotero Preferences and it is:
Open PDFs using: System Default

Then, I've changed "System Default" by "Custom..." and selected "~/opt/foxitsoftware/foxitreader/FoxitReader" and correctly get:
Open PDFs using: FoxitReader

Now, a PDF in Zotero correctly opens with Foxit Reader, but the keyboard doesn't work when I'm using comment tools (such as Typewriter) while it works fine outside Zotero.

Any idea how to fix this bug?

Many thanks!!
  • How did you install Zotero on Linux? Using the official tarball or one of the packages?

    https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/linux_packaging
  • Your previous issue with Foxit Reader was resolved after you installed the deb package:

    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/82436/trouble-with-pdf-viewer-in-zotero-standalone

    Did annotations work back then?
  • What do you mean by “ the keyboard doesn't work when I'm using comment tools (such as Typewriter)”?

    Zotero doesn’t interact with the functionality of the PDF program at all—it just opens the program.
  • Thanks for your replies.

    I got a new PC and have installed Zotero 5.0.94 from snap (snap-zotero). I've chosen this solution instead of the deb package because I thought it would be easier to keep the package updated.

    What I mean by "the keyboard doesn't work" is that if I open a PDF from Zotero with Foxit Reader and add a Textbox or a Note for example, a box appears but if I try to type something in it, nothing shows up.

    It seem's there is a kind of interaction between Zotero and the PDF program. If you look at this screenshot (https://ibb.co/6JB6HK4), you'll see that a PDF opened in Zotero appears in the Zotero icon of the dock (two dots below the icon).

    I was not using Foxit Reader on my old computer because this program happens to be very slow compare to Okular. I've just tried on this old machine and I get the same result: keyboard doesn't respond in Foxit Reader when opened from Zotero...

    Note this little bug (not related to the problem I guess): When I change the PDF program with "Open PDFs using: Customs...", I need to do it twice because the first time it complains about "Permission denied".

    Note 2 (not related either): If "Open PDFs using:" is set to "System Default", no matter if I change the default PDF viewer in my system, Zotero always opens a PDF with Okular.

  • Sorry, we can only provide support for the official tarball from this site or the deb (which is a lightweight, unsandboxed packaging of the tarball by a trusted community member).
  • I've installed the official tarball and it seems to work fine! Thanks!

    I've noticed it added zotero.list under /etc/apt/sources.list.d/. Does it mean updates will be done automatically if there is a new version on the GitHub repository?
  • edited January 24, 2021
    The maintainer of the package pushes out a new version whenever a new version of Zotero is released, if that's your question. It doesn't use Zotero's built-in auto-updater.
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