Available in preview: Zotero PDF reader and new note editor

12357
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    edited March 14, 2021
    The fact that you can put "tags" to annotations is very useful to consider doing data analysis. Is it planned to improve the search engine to allow this?
    @eporte: Yes, for sure. The new features aren't integrated into the search system at all now, but they will be.
  • eporte
    @dstillman : Thanks, that’s great.
  • AndrewRRM
    Thanks for the update. It's timely for me as I'm just getting back into academia and using Zotero again. I have been searching for the best PDF reader and editor - here it is!
    One comment: I'm on a MAc M1 big Sur 11.2.2. and the usual Contol + Tab shortcut doesn't switch tabs. I notice that this shortcut seems to be assigned to the Quick Search function in the main Zotero page and doubles up on Cmd + Shift + K as set in the Shortcuts preferences.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    the usual Contol + Tab shortcut doesn't switch tabs. I notice that this shortcut seems to be assigned to the Quick Search function in the main Zotero page and doubles up on Cmd + Shift + K as set in the Shortcuts preferences
    @AndrewRRM: Currently you can use Ctrl-PgUp/PgDn (Control-Fn-Up/Down on a Mac keyboard), though we need to fix some focus issues that can cause those not to work. There are a bunch of different standard shortcuts for switching tabs, and we'll be adding support for others soon, as well as improving keyboard navigation with the new features generally.

    (Control-Tab doesn't have anything to do with the search bar. I suspect you were just pressing Tab, and the search bar is first in the tab order.)
  • AndrewRRM
    Thanks for the quick reply.

    None of those shortcuts work for me, no big deal for now. Control + Tab definitely sends me to search but obviously is ignoring Control.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    None of those shortcuts work for me, no big deal for now.
    If you click on a tab and then press Control-Fn-Down, it should definitely work. It can stop working if you click within the PDF reader or a note, though.
  • AndrewRRM
    Yep that's working now after a restart, thanks.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    5.0.97-beta.5 updates:

    - Fixed search result highlighting (with a questionable shade of green that we'll change) (@mlhodge, @gagarine, @Xuwl)

    - Fixed internal links in PDFs (no back/forward yet) (@safonso, @ranza)

    - Fixed styling in Document Outline pane (@manonmr)

    - Added context menu with Copy and zoom options (doesn't yet appear when right-clicking on an annotation) (@peterpruitt)

    Previously:

    - Undo auto-conversion of lists/blockquotes in notes with Cmd-Z/Ctrl-Z (@Jvanhala)

    - Don't include quotation marks when copying text anywhere other than notes (e.g., into metadata fields) (@mschwarze)
  • AndrewRRM
    edited March 15, 2021
    Is this the right place for an observation?
    When adding a citation in the notes editor, "suppress author" doesn't seem to work for me.
  • 4chm
    edited March 15, 2021
    I really like these new features! It is definitely a step into the right direction.
    What I miss though is some functionality of the old note editor. As a chemist I appreciated the subscript/superscript options.
    I also liked the show source text option to copy the text with html tags to the title.
    Still I would love a simple way to do subscript/superscript editing for titles.
    So my question is whether there is a chance to keep the subscript/superscript and copy source text options under the new scheme.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    @4chm:
    As a chemist I appreciated the subscript/superscript options.
    Subscript/superscript will be added.
    I also liked the show source text option to copy the text with html tags to the title.
    The new notes aren't HTML-based, so this isn't really an option, but it will be possible to export notes as HTML.
    Still I would love a simple way to do subscript/superscript editing for titles.
    Not related to the new note editor but still generally planned.
  • 4chm
    @dstillman:
    Thanks for the quick reply!
    Glad to hear that subscript/superscript will come. It is important for me.
    I really appreciate all your work. Zotero is a fantastic tool!
  • 4chm
    @dstillman:
    Thanks for the quick reply!
    Glad to hear that subscript/superscript will come. It is important for me.
    I really appreciate all your work. Zotero is a fantastic tool!
  • mc
    I have standalone and child notes that include HTML tables. The beta version still renders the tables but without borders and no way I can see to edit them. Is there likely to be support for tables in future? (I saw on the ProseMrror website that there is a markdown schema extension that would do because my notes outside Zotero are in markdown but I do not have the experience to know what is involved in implementing it.)
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    @mc: Yes, table support in notes is coming.
  • erazlogo
    Feature request: Ability to convert external annotations/highlights into Zotero annotations/highlights. @dstillman your earlier advice to just open in an external editor to work with external annotations does not work if one wants to move entirely to working in Zotero. I can't even delete external annotations from within the Beta--is that right?
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    I can't even delete external annotations from within the Beta--is that right?
    @erazlogo: Correct, they're read-only for now. Being able to import and remove external annotations is planned.
  • Venkataragavan
    @dstillman I now understand your point, and why it would trigger a whole lot of issues. Thanks for the link and the explanation. I might have a few more comments as I keep using the new reader, but for now, I am loving this update, and thanks a lot for all the hard work!
  • Venkataragavan
    I am not sure if this is a problem in only mine, but anyway, here it goes: I open a pdf in the Zotero reader and I am reading along and annotating as normal. Suddenly, I need to open another pdf and I go into the 'My Library' collection.

    I see that all of my references suddenly disappear and I am left with a blank white screen. However, I am able to see details about a reference (Info, Notes, Tags, Related) on the right pane, and as I use my 'Down' arrow, the corresponding details change as expected. Same case for all of my collections. So, the problem is just that my list of references become invisible. Remains that way even if I give time for it to load.

    When this happens, I close and reopen Zotero, and everything becomes normal. Becomes a hassle if I need to read many pdfs in parallel.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    edited March 16, 2021
    @Venkataragavan: We're trying to reproduce and diagnose that here. If you can reproduce it reliably, let us know the steps from Zotero startup in that thread, along with a Debug ID.
  • robynlyn
    RE: (1) Availability of the feature in group libraries. We practically only use group libraries in our research, and it would be great to have this.

    Group libraries will certainly be supported — the new functionality is just disabled there for now to avoid causing problems for group members not trying the preview.


    Hope this is added to Groups soon! Really love the new editor. Since we have to opt in within "Preferences," why would it impact group members not using it? They'd just see our notes and annotations but not be able to add their own, yes? It would open in their outside reader, correct? Or do they not see anything without opting in? Really hoping this is turned on in Groups asap!! :)
  • jamesdg
    Minor comment:

    Notes show suggested spelling mistakes with a red underline. However, there is no way to right click and change the word or add it to dictionary.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    @jamesdg: That hasn't changed from the previous version of notes, but it's something we plan to fix.
  • gschrock
    Glad to hear that import/remove annotations is planned!

    Small suggestion: could you add an option to the context menu to open the PDF externally (in the default reader)? It just saves a step of "Open File" and then opening the doc.
  • zzdflyz351
    Nice feature! I have tried the beta version and found the annotation style is not rich enough, e.g. underline is missing. Could more annotation styles be added?
  • deepak-k
    edited March 17, 2021
    Thank you very much for this, the research community is indebted to your efforts!

    I have a few queries:

    1) PDFs that have been annotated in other viewers are `locked' in the native Zotero viewer, can an option be added to unlock and edit them?

    2) Can there be different text formats for type of annotation. For instance highlights remain the same but comments are italicised when exported as notes? At present it is difficult to separate the two.

    3) There are some hiccups with selecting the text. The selected text is sometimes excessive and at times less than intended. Can there be two `handles' at the beginning and end of the currently selected text that can extend or contract the (already) highlighted text by dragging them? (This exists in some popular PDF viewers like Xodo).

    4) Can the tags added to annotations be searched?

    5) Finally, are there any plans for OneNote integration? Particularly in terms of importing notes into ON and cross-compatibility of tags?


    Thank you very much!
  • b.n.lawrence
    I'm loving the new PDF tool!

    Is there any future where we could clip a figure out of a PDF into an attachment? My cup would runneth over would that be possible :-).
  • deepak-k
    You can select an area as annotation (which can be a figure or table) using the button next to `Add Note' and export it in the form of notes.
  • deepak-k
    Oh, there seems to be a bug, when you click any one of the annotations in the annotation pane the PDF shifts to the correct page but goes off centre.
  • adammpacker
    The PDF reader automatically uses English (US) so highlights things like 'centre/center', academic jargon or languages it doesn't recognise. Can multiple dictionaries be made available?

This is an old discussion that has not been active in a long time. Before commenting here, you should strongly consider starting a new discussion instead. If you think the content of this discussion is still relevant, you can link to it from your new discussion.

This discussion has been closed.