Exporting annotations

Hi there,

I'm a new user to Zotero and really like it - thanks to al those who've built such a great product. I'm using version 5.0.97-beta.49 because I wanted an in-app PDF viewer. I'd really like to be able to export my annotations so I can easily copy and paste them into papers and my note-taking app. However I can't seem to do so.

I know that in previous versions users were able to use ZotFile to create an additional file alongside the PDF that contained all the annotations, and this could be viewed in a note section in the viewer (& then easily copy and pasted into other apps as required). I have tried 'Manage attachments' -> 'Export annotations' both with and without the ZotFile add-in but have not been able to export my annotations in either case.

I'd be very grateful for any advice from this group. Thanks in advance.
  • edited October 18, 2021
    You can add annotations to Zotero notes in various ways (drag, notes pane, context menu in PDF view, item context menu in items list) and copy the notes from there, or you can copy annotations to the clipboard directly from the PDF reader.

    If you're using the Zotero word processor plugin, you can use the new Add Note button to add notes with annotations directly to your document with active Zotero citations.
  • Thanks so much for the quick response! I'm sure I'm being really dense (sorry!), but I still can't work out how to easily export all my annotations, or have them all show as a list in one document. I add annotations by both highlighting and adding notes throughout my documents - these show on the left hand side of my screen when I'm viewing a PDF in Zotero in separate 'bubbles' that I can't copy & paste from. What are the steps that I need to go through to export all of these annotations as one into a single document / note?

    Thanks so much for your help, it's hugely appreciated!
  • 1) Open the Notes pane on the right-hand side of the PDF reader and create a note from all the annotations.

    2) Open a note in the PDF reader Notes pane and drag individual annotations as you type or select one or more annotations in the left-hand pane and use right-click Add to Note.

    3) Open a note in a separate window and drag annotations to that.

    4) Right-click on the parent item in the items list and choose Add Note from Annotations.

    5) Select one or more annotations in the left-hand pane in the PDF reader and just use Cmd-C/Ctrl-C to copy them to the clipboard.

    6) Click annotations in the PDF page itself and use Cmd-C/Ctrl-C.
  • Amazing thanks so so much, all sorted now! :-)
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