Using an external PDF reader

dstillman Zotero Team
edited March 19, 2021
This discussion was created from comments split from: Available for beta testing: Import Mendeley annotations.
  • stroom
    hi Zotero,

    For my use of Zotero it's essential that I can use a professional pdf-editor & keep my annotations stored in the pdf itself. For editing capabilities, sharing & security.

    Will this option be obsolete some day..?
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    @stroom: From the PDF reader announcement:
    It will always remain possible to set Zotero to open PDFs in an external reader if you prefer one to the internal reader. Externally created highlights and notes show up in the PDF reader and can be added to Zotero notes as easily as annotations you create in Zotero.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    @stroom: But I'm not sure what that has to do with this thread, so if your question is actually about Mendeley annotations, then no — Mendeley annotations are stored in the Mendeley DB, and those are transferred to Zotero as Zotero annotations. It will be possible in a future version to transfer Zotero annotations to the PDF file and remove them from the Zotero DB, but that's not something it would make sense for this importer to do.
  • stroom
    hi Zotero,

    I would like to import a Mendeley-database including pdf's & annotations (to be stored in local pdf-files). Is this possible with some workarounds? Maybe with the beta-importer from Mendeley to Zotero and then export from Zotero?
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    @stroom: Yes, as I say, it will be possible to transfer Zotero annotations to the PDF file in a future version, but it's not really relevant to this importer, which does a DB-to-DB transfer. But just to be very clear, it's not like Mendeley ever worked like what you're asking for. Its annotations are stored in the database.
  • stroom
    @dstillman: thank you. I hope this feature will be implemented! So I wrongly understood that pdf's were transferred as well. From https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/mendeley_import:
    "You must sync all data and files in your current version of Mendeley before downgrading", suggested to me that these 'files' might be attached pdf's. And imported to Zotero. But this is not the case?
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    edited March 19, 2021
    @stroom: I'm not sure what you're asking. Of course PDFs are transferred. But that doesn't have anything to do with Mendeley annotations, which are stored in the database in Mendeley and now in Zotero. That's what this thread is about. If you're storing annotations in the file, you're not using Mendeley annotations.
  • stroom
    @dstillman: In an earlier post I read: "..this importer, which does a DB-to-DB transfer". That suggested to me that only the database (the entries, metadata) are transferred, not including the pdf-files (as real, separate *.pdf-files).

    I do/did not use Mendeley at all. We just want to transfer a students Mendeley data to Zotero in order to switch. Including everything: database, pdf's. And the annotations & highlights in these pdf's. Of which I understand that they are not stored in the pdf but in the Mendeley-DB. And after transfer: in de Zotero-DB

    So the only issue for me seems to be: is there any way to get the highlights & annotations transferred to the actual *.pdf-files?
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    @stroom: From the PDF reader announcement:
    Annotations are stored in the Zotero database, not in the PDF file, which allows for much more advanced functionality as well as fast syncing. The File menu contains a new option to export PDFs, which will convert any Zotero annotations into standard annotations in the exported file. (An upcoming version will let you omit annotations, but in the meantime you can drag files to your filesystem to copy just the file.) Similarly, when exporting metadata from your library, there's a new “Include Annotations” option under “Export Files”. We plan to support other ways to export annotations in future updates. Your annotations will never be locked in Zotero.
    Please start a new thread if you have other questions. Your question is not related to this thread, which is about importing annotations from the Mendeley database to the Zotero database.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    @stroom: Actually, I've just moved this to a new thread, since it's about a different subject.
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